Published October 30, 2020 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Musca (Lissosterna) albina Wiedemann 1830

  • 1. Centre for Environmental Research and Studies, Jazan University, P. O. Box 2095, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
  • 2. Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, PO Box 9004, Abha- 61413, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. mohd _ robiya @ hotmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 3323 - 3623
  • 3. National Museum of Wales, Department of Natural Sciences, Entomology Section, Cardiff, CF 10 3 NP, UK. john. deeming @ museumwales. ac. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6703 - 8180

Description

Musca (Lissosterna) albina Wiedemann, 1830 (Fig. 8)

Musca albina Wiedemann, 1830: 415.

Specimens examined. 1f, Asir, Abha, Hay Al-Nusub (Abha farm centre), 1–25.v.2013, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah (CERS); 1m, Asir, Abha, Madenate Al-Ameer Sultan, Hay Al-Sad, 25.ii.–25.v.2002, Malaise trap, H.A. Dawah (NMWC); 1m, same data but, 4–25.v.2013 (CERS).

Distribution. This species was previously recorded from Saudi Arabia by van Emden (1948); Büttiker (1979); Dawah & Abdullah (2009); El-Hawagry et al. (2013; 2016; 2017). It was described from “Ostindien” [= East Indies]. In the Middle East it has been recorded from Egypt, Iraq, Israel and Oman (Pont 1980; Pont 1991; Marshall & Pont 2013).

Biological remarks. It is primarily a desert species (Büttiker 1979), recorded as pestering cattle and buffalo. It was reared from a dead tortoise (Vlassov & Stackelberg as quoted by Hennig 1964), but it can be assumed to breed usually in dung (Pont 1991). Marshall & Pont (2013) reported that M. albina demonstrates kleptoparasitic behaviour on the dung-rolling scarab beetle Scarabaeus damarensis Janssens in Namibia by ovipositing in partially buried dung balls. As far as is known this is the first record of kleptoparasitism in Muscidae. M. albina is a sunloving species feeding on sweat and other secretions, and on the faeces of domestic animals (Sychevskava 1956).

Notes

Published as part of Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, pp. 1-54 in Zootaxa 4869 (1) on pages 11-12, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4869.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4418246

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Collection code
CERS , NMWC, CERS
Event date
2002-02-25 , 2013-05-01
Verbatim event date
2002-02-25/2013-05-25 , 2013-05-01/25
Scientific name authorship
Wiedemann
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Order
Diptera
Family
Anthomyiidae
Genus
Musca
Species
albina
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Musca (Lissosterna) albina Wiedemann, 1830 sec. Dawah, Abdullah & Deeming, 2020

References

  • Wiedemann, C. R. W. (1830) Aussereuropaische zweiflugelige Insekten (concl.). Vol. 2. in der Schulzischen Buchhandlung, Hamm, xii + 684 pp.
  • van Emden, F. I. (1948) Diptera: Muscidae. In: Expedition to South-West Arabia 1937 - 1938. Vol. I. British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. 161 - 175.
  • Dawah, H. A. & Abdullah, M. A. (2009) The Muscidae (Diptera: Brachycera: Muscomorpha) of south-western Saudi Arabia. Fauna of Arabia, 24, 373 - 396.
  • El-Hawagry, M. S., Khalil, M. W., Sharaf, M. R., Fadl, H. H. & Aldawood, A. S. (2013) A preliminary study on the insect fauna of Al-Baha province, Saudi Arabia, with description of two new species. Zookeys, 274, 1 - 88. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / zookeys. 274.4529
  • El-Hawagry, M. S., Abdel-Dayem, M. S., Elgharbawy, A. A. & Al Dhafer, H. M. (2016) A preliminary account of the fly fauna in Jabal Shada al-A'la Nature Reserve, Saudi Arabia, with new records and biogeographical remarks (Diptera, Insecta). Zookeys, 636, 107 - 139. https: // doi. org / 10.3897 / zookeys. 636.9905
  • El-Hawagry, M. S., Abdel-Dayem, M. S., El-Sonbati & Al Dhafer, H. M. (2017) A preliminary account of the fly fauna in Gard Raydah Nature Reserve, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with new records and biogeographical remarks (Diptera: Insecta). Journal of Natural History, 51 (25 - 26), 1499 - 1530. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222933.2017.1347299
  • Pont, A. C. (1980) 85 Family Muscidae. In: Crosskey, R. W. (Ed.), Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afrotropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. 721 - 761.
  • Pont, A. C. (1991) A review of the Fanniidae and Muscidae (Diptera) of the Arabian Peninsula. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 12, 312 - 265.
  • Marshall, S. A. & Pont, A. C. (2013) The kleptoparasitic habits of Musca albina Wiedemann, 1830 (Diptera: Muscidae). African Invertebrates, 54 (2), 427 - 430. https: // doi. org / 10.5733 / afin. 054.0221
  • Sychevskava, V. I. (1956) Flies of medical importance in Kara-Kalpakia. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 35, 347 - 358. [in Russian]