Originally included specimens: Described from six males.
Name-bearing type: Holotype ♂: Neimenggu, Qog B/ Mt. Langshan/ Chinese Academy of Sciences [white label in Chinese, in black print except “Qog B/ Mt. Langshan” handwritten in black ink]// 1978. VI. 29 / Collected by C.M. Chao [“ 1978. VI. 29 ” handwritten in black ink, remaining in black print, in Chinese]// HOLOTYPE [red label, in black print]// IOZ(E) 216021 [blue label, in black print]// ♂ [white label, in black print]// Sarcophila / mongolica / Zhao & Zhang [white label, in black print]// Sarcophila / mongolica Chao et Zhang / Identified by C.M. Chao [“Identified by C.M. Chao” in black print, in Chinese, remaining handwritten in blue-black ink].
Holotype in good condition except a crack on presutural area of scutum.
Current identity: Sarcophila latifrons ( Fallén, 1817), as treated by Pape ( 1987) and here proposed as a senior synonym of Sarcophila mongolica Chao & Zhang, 1988, syn. n.
Additional specimens: Sarcophila mongolica Chao & Zhang: Paratypes 3 ♂♂: China: Neimenggu, Erenhot, 8.VII. 1972, Coll. by C.M. Chao; 2 ♂♂: China: Neimenggu, Erenhot, 31.VII. 1972, Coll. by C.M. Chao ( NZMC). Sarcophila latifrons (Fallén): 1 ♂: Netherlands: Noord Holland, Zandvoort ann Zee, 18.VII. 1976, Coll. by P.H. Arnaud; 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀: Italia: Firenze, 10−18.V. 1986, Coll. by T. Pape; 1 ♂: Italia: Trentino/Garda, Gargnano d. Garda, 9−16.VII. 1986, Coll. by S. Andersen; 2 ♂♂: Italia: Trentino, Terlago, Trento, 9−16.VII. 1986, Coll. by S. Andersen; 2 ♀♀: Hungary: Nat. park Kiskunsάg, 23.VIII. 1986; 1 ♂: Belgium: Sliven 15km N, pasture, 42 ° 30 ′00.00′′N, 26 °09′00.00′′E, alt. 900m, 21.VII. 1987, Coll. by Bartak; 1 ♂: Turkey: Konya Prov., nr Karaömerler, 38 ° 6 ′ 9.30 ′′N, 32 ° 40 ′ 51.49 ′′E, alt. 1050m, 1.VI. 2011, Coll. by T. Pape & D. Whitmore; 1 ♂: Turkey: Isparta Prov., nr Kovada Gölü, 37 ° 36 ′ 43.65 ′′N, 30 ° 51 ′ 48.38 ′′E, alt. 1100m, 2−3.VI. 2011, Coll. by T. Pape & D. Whitmore; 9 ♂♂, 1 ♀: Croatia: Zadarska Co., 2km, Nine Tribanj-Krušćica, Ljubotić, 44 ° 21 ′ 55.26 ′′N, 15 ° 19 ′ 23.90 ′′E, alt. 255m, 14.VI. 2012, Coll. by T. Pape, E. Buenaventura & D. Whitmore ( ZMUC); 7 ♂♂: China: Xinjiang, Altay, Kalamaili, 45 ° 14 ' 30.12 ''N, 89 ° 4 ' 28.86 ''E, alt. 950m, 15.V − 9.VI. 2014, Coll. by M. Zhang ( MBFU).
Remarks: The genus Sarcophila Rondani has proven to be a complex of highly similar species ( Verves, 1982, 1985), and the taxonomic notes by Lehrer ( 2003) have added to the complexity by confusing S. latifrons and S. meridionalis Verves. Chao & Zhang ( 1988 a) refer to differences in the male terminalia between their S. mongolica and S. latifrons, but they do not cite which authority they have used for the latter. We find the male terminalia of S. latifrons (e.g., Pape, 1987, figs. 188–191) to be a sufficiently good match to consider the two nominal taxa as conspecific.
Redescription of Male: Body length 5.0– 6.5 mm ( Fig. 19 A). Eye bare, deep red. Fronto-orbital plate, parafacial and postocular strip black with silvery gray pollinosity; parafacial with two rows of fine bristles, 0.9 × as broad as fronto-orbital plate. Frontal vitta 1.4 × as broad as fronto-orbital plate at the narrowest point; frons at vertex about 0.4 × head width ( Fig. 19 C); frontal row of 6 bristles; outer vertical bristle differentiated from postocular bristles, one upper orbital and two proclinate orbital bristles. Ocellar bristles directed antero-laterally. Gena ground color black, with sparse and short black bristles and silvery gray pollinosity, height 0.17–0.20 × eye height in lateral view ( Fig. 19 E). First antennal flagellomere yellowish brown, not reaching the level of vibrissal insertion, 1.7 × as long as pedicel ( Fig. 19 D); arista with short plumose in basal half. Palpus brown, slightly expanded in distal part.
Thorax ground color black. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals 1 + 1, dorsocentrals 2 + 3, intra-alars 0+ 2, supra-alars 2, postalars 2, postpronotals 3, notopleurals 2, scutellum with 1 marginal, 1 subapical, 1 basal and 1 discal bristles. Pleuron with meropleurals 4, katepisternal bristles 3: 1, prosternum, metasternum, proepisternum and postalar wall all bare.
Wing hyaline; subcostal sclerite and basicosta yellow, bare; tegula yellow; costal spine not differentiated ( Fig. 19 A); vein R 1 bare, two ventral bristles at node of R 2 + 3 -R 4 + 5, vein R 4 + 5 setose dorsally from junction of R 2 + 3 nearly to crossvein r-m; lower calypter yellow.
Legs black, claw and pulvillus small. Fore femur with one row of dorsal bristles (about 7) and one row of posteroventral bristles (about 10), fore tibia with one sub-median posterior, two posterodorsal and four anterodorsal bristles; mid femur with two median anterior, one apical posterior and one apical posterodorsal bristles, one row of ventral bristles (about 5, all strong, in basal half), mid tibia with three anterodorsal, one sub-median ventral, two posterior and two posterodorsal bristles; hind femur with one apical posterior and one apical posterodorsal bristles, one row of anterodorsal bristles (about 7), hind tibia with one row of anterodorsal bristles (about 6), three anteroventral bristles and three posterodorsal bristles.
Abdomen long oval with yellowish gray pollinosity, tergites with black spots; tergite 3 without median marginal bristle, tergite 4 with one pair of median marginal bristles, tergites 5, 6 and syntergosternite 7 + 8 with complete row of marginal bristles; tergites 1 + 2 with large black spot except lateral part, tergites 3 and 4 with three black stripes ( Fig. 19 F), epandrium yellowish black. Terminalia: cercus small with basal part broad, distal half narrow with round apex; surstylus significant broad, posterior margin with round tip ( Fig. 19 B).