Ditaeniella patagonensis, (Macquart), 1851: 251

Murphy, William L., Abercrombie, Jay, González, Christian R. & Knutson, Lloyd, 2023, Overview of the Sciomyzidae (Diptera: Sciomyzoidea) of the Americas south of the United States, Zootaxa 5345 (1), pp. 1-113 : 15-16

patagonensis (Macquart), 1851: 251 ,

pl. 25, fig. 15 ( Sciomyza ) [ Rozkošný 1987: 18]

HT: ♂ “Patagons, D’Orbigny, 1834” [Carmen de Patagones, Río Negro , Argentina], MNHN, No. 1911, Box 62 [examined by LK, 1980]. Footnote by “F. W. E.” [F.W. Edwards] in Malloch (1933: 308): “Macquart’s type ♂ of S. patagonensis , kindly lent from the Paris Museum, agrees with the specimens determined by Mr. Malloch as Ph. grisescens , and also with British specimens of the species. It is labelled Patagones (D’Orbigny, 1834).” Macquart (1851: 252) noted “Patagonie” as the location at which the holotype was collected.

Note: Malloch (1933) synonymized D. patagonensis with the Palearctic D. grisescens after examining specimens from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Steyskal (1963) refuted this synonymy, recognizing D. patagonensis as a valid species. Steyskal provided drawings intended to show differences in the terminalia among D. grisescens , D. parallela , and D. patagonensis . The lack of substantial morphological differences between D. grisescens and D. patagonensis , both in Steyskal’s drawings and in current studies, led Vikhrev & Murphy (2022) to suggest restoring Malloch’s synonymy. They hypothesized that the population of D. patagonensis in South America is derived from D. grisescens introduced relatively recently from Eurasia into South America. Confirmation of the synonymy awaits molecular analysis.

DIST: ARGENTINA (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires; Córdoba: Cosquín; La Rioja: Patquia; Mendoza: Aconcagua; Río Negro ; Santiago del Estero: Monte Quemado). BRAZIL (Espírito Santo: Baixo Guandu; Rio Grande do Sul: Pelotas). CHILE (Araucanía: Icalma; Los Lagos: Puerto Varas, Rio Pescado ; Valparaíso: Reserva Nacional El Yali). ECUADOR (Imbabura: Choucho). PERU (Cusco: Quispicanchis; Province of Lima: Lima). URUGUAY (Montevideo: Montevideo). Map: none

Note: D. patagonensis also is reported from Cartario in Lima, Peru, but we cannot confirm that location.

FIGS: Steyskal 1963 (♂ terminalia), this paper (habitus, dorsal and lateral head, prosternum, pleura, inner posterodorsal margin of hind coxa)

BIOL: J. Zuska, unpublished rearing notes

IMMATS: Puparia pinned with reared adults, immature stages in alcohol, reared by J. Zuska, in CUIC

CHR: Boyes et al. 1969 (karyotype)