Bombylella auricoma Bezzi 1924

Bombylella auricoma (Bezzi, 1924)

(Fig. 10)

5. Bombylius auricomus ɗɗΨΨ Ethiopia: Hurso iii. 1911 (Kovács); Jerer Shet’ vi. 1911 (Kovács). MS page 3.

Bezzi, 1924: 44 – key and diagnosis; listed specimens: 2 specimens [only 1ɗ remaining], ‘S Abyssinia’ (R.J. Stordy) in poor condition. Malawi: 2ɗ, Mt Mlange, 26.xi.1912 & 1.i.1913 (S.A. Neave); [1ɗ], Florence Bay, 1.xi.1909 (J.B. Davey). South Africa (Kwa­ Zulu­Natal): [1ɗ], Durban (J.P. Cragoe) (BMNH).

Greathead, 1995: 56 – transferred Bombylius auricomus to Bombylella.

Greathead, 1999: 1007 – key and diagnosis based on the syntypes from ‘S Abyssinia’ and Malawi in BMNH and other specimens from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda.

Evenhuis & Greathead, 1999: 100 – 5 syntypes located in BMNH; an indeterminate number of syntypes in MSNM noted as lost.

Types: The syntypes in HNHM were destroyed in 1956 and those in MSNM are lost, leaving only the six syntypes (not five as stated in Evenhuis & Greathead, 1999) in BMNH. Of these, the specimen in best condition is the male from Mt Mlange, 1.i.1913, which is here designated lectotype (Fig. 10).

Remarks: The status of B. auricoma is not in doubt. It is readily identified as the only species of the genus with predominantly yellow hair and gold depressed hair­like scales on the dorsal surface of the thorax and abdomen.