Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
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C. W. Johnson.
A Note on the species of Fucellia of eastern North America.
Psyche 17:76-78, 1910.

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76 Psyche [April
A NOTE ON THE SPECIES OF FUCELLIA OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
I have been greatly interested in the paper by Prof. P. Stein, "Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Fucellia Rob. Desv.," (Wiener Entom. Zeit., XXIX, p. 11, 1910). A study of all the material at hand (over 60 specimens), shows that all are referable to Fucellia marina Macq. and not to F. fucorum Fall. In referring to the distribution of the latter in Europe, Prof. Stein says :- "The true F. fucomm, as Lund- beck comprehends in his "Diptera groenlandica," is found very rarely on our German coasts and belongs more to the far North. I did not find it in any collection of my dipterological friends, for all that were sent to me under the name fucorum belonged to maritima Hal. I my- self caught only a single male in Thiessow on the Island of Ruegen, together with maritima Hal. But as I took with it comparatively few specimens, that I at that time held for the same species, it is possible that after all fucorum is also more abundant on Ruegen. On our Baltic coasts I have never yet observed it. When Lundbeck declares that the species is spread over the greater part of Europe as far as Trieste, this rests on the assumption that the fucorum quoted by the author is Fallen's species, which is, in fact, not the case. Aside from a type of Lundbeck's, specimens are before me that were caught in Alaska (St. Paul Isl.), Friday Harbor (Washington, U. S.), and in Behring Str. (Miednaja)."
Among some diptera obtained by several collectors in Labrador and Newfoundland I find only 3'. marina. Still there is little doubt but that F. fucorzim is to be found on those shores, but very doubtful if it will be found as far South as New England. The following table comprises the four species from Eastern North America:- MALES.
1.
Posterior femora on the underside at the base with a thick tuft of short bristles, apex of the wing not clouded. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Posterior femora without the thickened tuft of bristles at the base, but on the underside along the whole length with rather strong bristles of nearly equal length, apex of the wing clouded. . . . . . . . . pictipemis Beck. Pu&e 17:76-77 (1910). hup ttpsychu einclub org/17/17-076 html



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19101 Johnson - Fucellia 77
Middle tibiae without bristles on the inside, tibiae and palpi for the ..........
greater part reddish yellow, rarely darkened. marina Macq.
Middle tibiae on the inside with one or two distinct bristles, palpi and ............................................. legs entirely black. .3
Posterior femora only on the underside with a rather small bristle tuft, ..............................
halteres blood red. ariciiformis Holmgr. Posterior femora in addition to the bristle tuft, on the underside with a knob-like swelling turned toward the body and set with short bristles, ......................................
halteres yellow. fucorum Fall.
FEMALES.
Tibia for the most part yellow, tarsi and femora for the most part black, middle femora on the underside only with very fine, short hairs. marina Macq.
..................................
Tibiae for the most part black.
.2
Posterior lower sternopleural bristles wholly wanting; or only indicated by a quite fine short hair, apex of the wing distinctly clouded. pictipennis Beck.
Posterior lower sternopleural bristles distinct even if short, apex of wing not clouded. ................................................... .3 Middle femora only on the underside behind with a few longer bristle- like hairs, halteres yellow. ............................. f ucorum Fall. Middle femora not merely on the underside behind, but also on the under- side in front with several comparatively strong bristle-like hairs, halteres ......................................
blood red. ariciiformis Holmgr.
A study of all the original descriptions of the species suggested as synonyms by Prof. Stein, seems to point conclusively to the fact that the synonymy will have to stand as follows:- Fucellia marina Macquart.
Scatophaga marina Macq., Ann. Soc. Ent., France, VIII, 242, pi. 11, fig. 3. Oct., 1838.
Scatophaga (Halithea) maritima Haliday, Ann. Nat. Hist., 11, 186, Nov., 1838.
Fucellia arenaria Desv., Ann. Soc. Ent., France, X, 272, 1841. Fucellia intermedia Lundbeck, Dipt. Groenl.,- Videns. Meddel. Nat. Foren., Kjoebenhaven, 1901, p. 291, fig. 1 b. Fiicellia maritima Stein, Wiener Ent. Zeit., XXIX, 18, 1910. In referring to the synonymy in his introduction, Stein shows that the type of Fucellia is F. arenaria, the only species mentioned by 'Desvoidy under his generic diagnosis, and suggests that Desvoidy's statement that the female has the tuft of bristles on the posterior femora was undoubtedly a slip of the pen. Prof. Stein further states




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