(Fig. 1)
Agria japonica Rohdendorf, 1962: 937. Type locality: Japan, Honshu, Mt. Kanadzawa. References: Rohdendorf (1962: 937– 938, description of male; 938, fig. 7: male terminalia, lateral view); Xue & Zhang (1983: 296, checklist); Xue (1984: 3, checklist); Shanghai Institute of Entomology Academia Sinica (1992: 85, checklist); Wang et al. (2001: 265, checklist); Wang & He (2002: 13, checklist).
Sarcophila japonica: Verves (1982: 296, key and redescription); Verves (1985: 297, redescription, fig. 263: male terminalia); Verves (1986: 117, catalog, in part); Wang et al. (1992: 173, checklist); Fan & Pape (1996: 244, checklist); Pape (1996: 166, catalog, in part); Ma et al. (1998: 36, checklist); Wang et al. (2006b: 27, faunistics).
Chinese specimens examined. CHINA: Ningxia: 1 male, Yanchi, 24.VII.2009, J.X. Wu; 1 male, Lingwu, 19.VI.2012, Q. Gao & Y.R. Zhang; Xinjiang: 3 males, Altay, Kalamaili, 16.VIII.2009, D. Zhang (all MBFU).
Distribution. CHINA: Neimenggu (no further data), Ningxia (Lingwu, Tongxin, Yanchi), Shanxi (Hongdong, Pianguan, Lingqiu, Taiyuan, Tianzhen, Xiangyuan, Youyu, Yuanqu), Xinjiang (Altay, Ürümqi); Palaearctic Region.
Remarks. Verves (1982, 1985) provided a redescription of this species and reproduced Rohdendorf’s (1962) original figure of its male terminalia. There is a paucity of records for this species outside of Japan, and records of Sarcophila sp. “cf” or “near” japonica from localities around the Mediterranean (e.g., Castillo-Moralbés 2001, 2002; Prado e Castro et al. 2010) refer to the species recorded from this region as Sarcophila meridionalis Verves, 1982 (e.g., Cocquempot & Rungs 2009; Carles-Tolrá & Lencina 2010a, 2010b). Note that Lehrer (2003) confused S. latifrons [as correctly presented by Pape (1987)] with S. meridionalis. The genus Sarcophila is in need of a critical taxonomic revision. Here, we provide the first photographic documentation of Sarcophila japonica, which together with S. rasnitzyni Verves stands out for its deeply incised surstylus and straight cercal prong (Fig. 1 F–G). Verves (1982) mentioned the straight cross-vein dm-cu, the shorter and more cone-shaped cercus, and posterior lobe of surstylus with a rounded tip as the most distinctive features of S. japonica, while S. rasnitzyni has an Sshaped cross-vein dm-cu, a longer and more slender cercus, and posterior lobe of surstylus with a pointed tip. With no material of S. rasnitzyni at our disposal, we cannot fully assess the infraspecific variation and taxonomic implications of these characters, but at least for the cross-vein dm-cu the single Japanese specimen examined (Hokkaido, Wakkasakanai Soya prov., 26.VI.1986, M. Abe, in NRM) matches the condition found in other species of Sarcophila.