Conops (Asiconops) stuckenbergi Camras, 1962

Stuke, Jens-Hermann, 2019, New conopid records from the Afrotropical Region (Diptera: Conopidae). Part 2: Conopinae excluding Physocephalini, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 49 (2), pp. 277-349 : 306

Conops (Asiconops) stuckenbergi Camras, 1962

( Fig. 54)

Material examined: Madagascar: 1♂, Andasibe E Moramanga , ca. 200 m S railway station, roadside near river, meadows [18°55.579'S 48°24.983'E], 901 m, 10.iii.2005, W. Barkemeyer ( ZMHB) ; 1♂ 2♀, Fianarantsoa, Miandritsara forest 40 km S Ambositra [20°47.56'S 47°10.54'E], 825 m, Malaise trap, 14.xi–26.xii.2004, M. Irwin ( CAS) ; 1♀, Atsinanana , 50 km S Farafangana [23°07.79'S 47°43.02'E], 33 m, Malaise trap, 26.i–4.ii.2007, M. Irwin, R. Harin’Hala ( CAS) ; 1♂, Fianarantsoa Province, Miandritsara Forest , 40 km S Ambositra, low altitude rainforest [20°47.56'S 47°10.54'E], 825 m, 26.xii.2004 – 5.i.2005, M. Irwin ( CAS) ; 1♂, Fianarantsoa Province, Ranomafana National Park , radio tower at forest edge, mixed tropical forest [21°15.05'S 47°24.43'E], 1330 m, Malaise trap, 25.xii.2009 – 11.i.2010, M. Irwin, R. Harin’Hala ( CAS) ; 1♂, same but 23–30.x.2005; 1♀, same but 13–23.vi.2006.

Remarks: The identification of C. stuckenbergi is relatively straightforward, for it is typically a large, dark, endemic Conops from Madagascar ( Fig. 54). It is, however, possible to confuse this species with very similar looking and similarly distributed Archiconops species. In addition, atypical light-coloured specimens of C. stuckenbergi can be confused with large specimens of the second Conops species known from Madagascar, C. unicolor . The male specimen from Ranomafana National Park referred to above has completely orange-brown legs, almost completely orange antenna and orange margins of the scutum.