Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June
2019 | 11(8): 14062–14064
First
record of black scavenger fly of the genus Meroplius
Rondani, 1874 (Diptera:
Sepsidae) from Pakistan
Noor
Fatima 1, Ansa
Tamkeen 2 & Muhammad Asghar Hassan 3
1,3 Department
of Entomology, Pir Mehr Ali
Shah Arid Agricultural University, Muree Road, Shamsabad, Rawalpindi, Punjab 46000, Pakistan.
2 Department of
Entomology, The University of Poonch, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu & Kashmir 12350, Pakistan.
1 noorfatima8482@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 ansatamkeen@upr.edu.pk, 3 kakojan112@gmail.com
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4797.11.8.14062-14064 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FE57993E-D74C-4B09-9679-7BC22B767AF7
Editor:
R.M. Sharma, Zoological Survey of
India, Pune, India. Date of publication: 26 June 2019
(online & print)
Manuscript
details: #4797 | Received 06
January 2019 | Final received 01 June 2019 | Finally accepted 12 June 2019
Citation: Fatima, N., A. Tamkeen &
M.A. Hassan (2019). First record of black scavenger fly of the genus Meroplius Rondani, 1874 (Diptera: Sepsidae) from Pakistan. Journal
of Threatened Taxa
11(8): 14062–14064. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4797.11.8.14062-14064
Copyright: © Fatima et al. 2019. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License. JoTT
allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any
medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Abstract: A new record is added to the black scavenger fly fauna
of Pakistan by the reporting of Meroplius minutus (Wiedemann, 1830), a rare species from Rawalakot, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan. The genus is also a new record for the
country. Diagnostic characters of both
the genus and the species are provided in detail with the help of images. In addition, detailed distribution notes and
information about their habitats are provided.
Keywords: Meroplius minutus, new record, Rawalkot,
saprophagous fly.
The family Sepsidae (Diptera) is a moderately large, cosmopolitan group of
saprophagous flies with over 300 extant species recorded from all zoogeographic
regions (Ozerov 2005). About 23 species have been described under
the genus Meroplius Rondani,
1874 till date. At present, this genus
is known from all zoogeographic regions except the Antarctic (Ozerov 2018). The
majority of the Meroplius species is
distributed in the Afrotropical region (13).
At present, eight species are listed from the Oriental region by Ozerov (2005), namely M. beckeri
(de Meijere, 1906), M. elephantis
Iwasa, 1994, M. maximus Iwasa, 1994, M. mirandus Iwasa, 1994, M. sauteri
(de Meijere, 1913), M. wallacei
Iwasa, 1994, M. fasciculatus
(Brunetti, 1910), and M. minutus (Wiedemann,
1830). Meroplius
fasciculatus is widely distributed in
the Australasian/Oceanian, Oriental, and Palaearctic regions and M. minutus (Wiedemann, 1830) in the Nearctic, Oriental,
and Palaearctic regions and in Europe and northern Africa.
Taxonomic work on Sepsidae from
Pakistan was done by Iwasa (1989) and Hassan et al.
(2017a,b). So far, 27 species under the
subfamily Sepsinae in eight genera have been recorded
from Pakistan. The objective of this
study was to determine the occurrence of the genus Meroplius
Rondani, 1874 in the country.
Materials and Methods
During the collection of saprophagous flies from
Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir, in
2016–2018, four male specimens of Meroplius
minutus (Wiedemann, 1830) were collected from Rawalakot (Azad Kashmir).
Specimens were deposited at the National Insect Museum, Pakistan. Identification was done with the help of Iwasa (1995), Pont & Meier (2002), and Letana (2014). The
specimens were photographed using a Nikon Digital camera attached to a Olympus
SZX7, Model SZ2-ILST stereo-microscope.
Adobe Photoshop CS 6.0 was used to achieve clarity in the images. Morphological terminology follows Pont &
Meier (2002).
Results
During the present study, we reported Meroplius minutus
(Wiedemann, 1830) for the first time from Pakistan. The detailed diagnostic characters of both
the genus and species, their images, distribution, and information on habitats
are provided.
Taxonomy
Family Sepsidae
Genus Meroplius Rondani, 1874
Diagnostic characters: Head: roundish or slightly flattened dorsoventrally,
arista bare. Chaetotaxy: fronto-orbital bristle developed and outer vertical setae
present (Fig. 1a). Wing: devoid of black
spots (Fig. 1); cells bm (basal medial cell) and br (basal radial cell) separate, alula well-developed or
moderate and completely covered with microtrichose. Thorax: humeral bristle present and acrostichal setae absent, forelegs in male with distinct
setae. Abdomen: without constriction
after syntergite 1+2 (Fig. 1c).
Meroplius minutus (Wiedemann, 1830) (Image 1a–c)
Synonyms: Sepsis minuta Wiedemann, 1830: 468; Sepsis lutaria
Fallén, 1820b: 22; Nemopoda
stercoraria Robineau-Desvoidy,
1830: 745; Nemopoda nigrilatera
Macquart, 1835: 481; Sepsis rufipes
Meigen, 1838: 349; Nemopoda
varipes Walker, 1871: 345; Nemopoda
polita Duda, 1926a: 96,
98.
Material examined: National Insect Museum, Diptera
Section, Reg. No. 200, 4 ex., male, 25.ix.2016, Pakistan, Azad Jammu
& Kashmir, Rawalakot (Thandi Kasi), 33.8500N
& 73.8000E, 1,524m, coll. M.A. Hassan.
Diagnostic characters: This species can be easily diagnosed by the presence
of outer vertical and orbital seta with basal scutellar
seta absent, apical distinct. The wings
are devoid of black spots. Male fore
femur on distally two ventral spines, straight (Fig. 1b); forelegs yellow, mid-
and hind legs basally yellowish, remaining brownish (Fig. 1c). The detailed diagnostic characters of both
the adult and the juvenile were provided by Pont & Meier (2002).
Distribution: Pakistan (new record), Nepal, China, Japan, Korea,
Republic of Georgia, and Russia in Asia, Europe, and Egypt in northern Africa (Ozerov 2005).
Discussion
The adult species of Meroplius
Rondani, 1874 are particularly attracted towards
unclean habitats: human excrement, the faecal mass of cattle in pens, pig dung,
rotting fungi, rabbit hutches, decaying cabbages, rotting vegetables, and fish
and animal carrion (Pont & Meier 2002).
The species also carry forensic importance as they are abundant in the
mid- to late stages of decomposition of
carcasses (Tabor 2004). During our
present study, we recorded M. minutus from
rotten meat and the bones of animals near a slaughterhouse. This was the only record of the species from Rawalakot (Azad Kashmir) during our extensive collection of
saprophagous flies in 2016–2018 in the mountainous areas of Gilgit-Baltistan,
forest areas in Poonch District of Azad Jammu &
Kashmir, and Pothwar region of Punjab; this indicates
that the species is not common in Pakistan, as Van der Goot
(1987) suggested. He stated that the
decline of this species might be due to improved methods of sewage management
and the liberal use of poisonous toilet-cleaning chemicals. The species is considered rare in Japan (Iwasa 1984) and in central and eastern Europe (Pont &
Meier 2002).
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