Hydrotaea fumifera Walker, 1853

Vikhrev, Nikita E., 2024, Review of Hydrotaea dentipes species group (Diptera, Muscidae), Amurian Zoological Journal XVI (4), pp. 1008-1020 : 1015

Hydrotaea fumifera Walker, 1853

Fig. 7

Hydrotaea fumifera abyssinica Emden, 1943 syn. nov.

TANZANIA, 10 km NEE of Mbeya, Mbeya Range pass, 8.847 ° S, 33.532 ° E, 2390 m, N. Vikhrev: 17– 18.02.2017, 2♀ ; 24– 29.12.2021; 10♂, 19♀ ( ZMUM) .

Distribution. Widespread in East Africa.

Synonymy. H. f. abyssinica was described in a key without the indication of type series ( Emden 1943: 81–82). Such descriptions were prohibited from 1961, while earlier described taxa are valid. There are several problems with the description of that subspecies. (1) I suppose that Emden compared Walker’s type with fresher specimens of H. fumifera in the British Museum of Natural History. Being 100 years older, Walker’s type had red-brown legs, not black, because of fading rather than because of real differences in coloration. (2) The description of subspecies implies discussion of distributional boundaries between the nominotypical and new subspecies. This was not discussed. (3) I found it difficult to identify my Tanzanian series as H. f. fumifera or H. f. abyssinica, since their characters are contradictive. I see no reason to consider H. f. abyssinica as a valid taxon, so, Hydrotaea fumifera Walker, 1853 = Hydrotaea fumifera abyssinica Emden, 1943 syn. nov.

Hydrotaea fumifera abyssinica Emden, 1943

Synonymized here, see H. fumifera .