Lispe leucocephala Loew 1856

Lispe leucocephala Loew, 1856

(Figs. 1 H; 23–25; 31KL)

Lispa leucocephala Loew, 1856: 49.

Lispe leucocephala Loew: Hennig, 1960: 438; Pont, 1986: 187. Lispe frontalis Zielke, 1972: 148. syn. nov.

Lispe frontalis Zielke: Pont, 1980: 751.

Material examined. Type material. HOLOTYPE of Lispe frontalis Zielke, male, labeled (1) MADAGASCAR Maj./ Amborovy/ 28.VI.58 / F.KEISER [printed]; (2) Lispe frontalis n. sp. ♂/ det. E. Zielke 1970 [handwritten]; (3) HOLOTYPUS [printed on red label]; in MNHN. SYNTYPES of Lispe leucocephala, 1 male, labeled (1) Aegypten / Frauenf. [handwritten]; (2) Coll. H. Loew [printed]; (3) Zool. Mus. Berlin [printed]; (4) Cotypus/ Nr. [printed on red label with broad margin]; 1 female, labeled (1) Suez/ Frauenf [handwritten]; (2) Coll. H. Loew [printed]; (3) Zool. Mus. Berlin [printed]; (4) leucocephala Lw. / det. Becker [first line handwriten, second line printed]; (5) Cotypus/ Nr. [printed on red label with broad margin]. Both in ZMHU.

Redescription. Male. Body length 4.9–5.3 mm. Head (Figs. 23 B, C): Eye bare, facet slightly expanded on anterior margin in median part; frons broad on vertex, becoming narrow anteriorly, median part about 0.37–0.39 times of head-width; frontal vitta, frontal triangle and frontal-orbital plate with obvious boundary; frons, face and gena with silver grey pollinosity; upper orbital setae 2, frontal setae 2 and with 1 short setae row on outer part; parafacial bare, slightly shorter than width of postpedicel; facial ridge low, slightly concave; antenna grey and small, postpedicel about 1.5–1.7 times as long as broad (1.1–1.3 times as long as pedicel), arista plumose, longest setula shorter than width of postpedicel; face planate, without facial carina; epistoma not projecting to vibrissal angle; vibrissa absent; genal height about 1/3 of eye height; postocular setae 3 rows, posteriormost row situated in occiput; postgena with black setulae; proboscis short, labella small, with 2 prestomal teeth on posterior margin, prementum shinning; palpi yellow, compressed, expanded in distal part, towards apex becoming spoon-shaped, both inner and outer surfaces slightly setulose on apex.

Thorax: Ground color black with dense silver grey pollinosity; scutellum with brown pollinosity on posterior; acr 0+1 (thin); presutural 5 rows of acrostichal setulae; dc 2+3; ia 0+2; without pra; basal and apical scutellar setae all developed; scutellum bare on lateral surfaces and underneath; notopleuron bare; anepimeron with numerous hairs; prosternum, meron and katepimeron bare; spiracles brown, posterior one small; katepisternal setae 1+2.

Wing: WIPs without continuous demarcated bands, but with large yellow portion at posterior part (Fig. 31 K).

Legs: Black but knees yellow, with dense silver grey pollinosity; fore tibia with 1 submedian d; mid tibia with 1 preapical ad; hind femur with 1 developed ad row and 1 developed pv row; hind tibia with 1 submedian pv, 1 preapical v; first hind tarsomere distinctly swollen, with ventral tuft (Fig. 1 H).

Abdomen: Oval; with silver grey pollinosity; tergites without any patches (Fig. 23 D).

Female. Body length 5.1–5.3 mm (Fig. 25 A). General characters as in male but differing from male in: vibrissa present but weak; genal height about 1/4 of eye height; thorax with brown pollinosity; antenna with dark brown pollinosity; WIPs with large yellow portion and some cyan portion; fore tibia with 1 submedian pd; hind tibia with 1 median ad, 1 submedian av and 1 strong preapical d; first hind tarsomere not swollen.

Remarks. Zielke (1972) described L. frontalis as a new species from Madagascar but did not provide any illustrations. When examining the holotype of L. frontalis and the syntypes of L. leucocephala, we found they share with the same distinctive characters in male: face, gena and frontal vitta all with silvery grey pollinosity; antenna grey and small, postpedicel about 1.5–1.7 times as long as broad (1.1–1.3 times as long as pedicel); vibrissa absent; swollen hind tarsi in same shape; abdomen with grey pollinosity and without patches. The holotype of L. frontalis lost the abdominal pollinosity but according to the original description its abdomen is “uniformly grey dusted without any dark pattern”. Therefore, we are confident that L. frontalis should be a junior synonymy of L. leucocephala.

Distribution. Egypt, Madagascar.