First record of Polietes meridionalis Peris et Llorente, 1963 (Diptera: Muscidae) from Slovakia

¹ Mládežnícka 265, 013 06 Terchová, Slovakia [muchafero@zoznam.sk]
² Department of Biology and General Ecology, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Technical University in Zvolen, T. G. Masaryka 24, SK – 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia [obona@vsld.tuzvo.sk]

Received 16 October 2012 ~ Accepted 17 October 2012 ~ Published 22 October 2012

Abstract

We give a first record of the Polietes meridionalis Peris et Llorente, 1963 (Diptera: Muscidae) from the territory of Slovakia. One female was found in Malá Fatra Mts – Vrátna dolina Valley. The species’ European distribution is reviewed and shortly discussed.

Key words

Diptera, Muscidae, Muscini, Polietes meridionalis, first record. 

Muscidae is a large and cosmopolitan family of Diptera that belong to the Calyptrata family group. This family of small and middle-sized flies, with a very diversified ecology includes some of the most common synanthropic flies (Pont 1986; Gregor et al. 2002). In the Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera (Pont 1986) 835 valid species are listed, but in recent years many new species have been described. In Europe 578 species are recorded so far (Pont 2005; Gregor & Rozkošný 2007; Pont & Grach 2008; Pont & Gregor 2008; Gregor & Rozkošný 2009a), 251 of which occur in Slovakia. Faunistic data for the Slovak Muscidae are summarized in the Checklist of Diptera of the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Gregor & Rozkošný 2009b).

One female of P. meridionalis was found and photographed near Starý dvor in Malá Fatra Mts – the Vrátna dolina Valley in Slovakia. Gregor et al. (2002) was used for identification.

Family: Muscidae
Subfamily: Muscinae
Tribe: Muscini

Polietes meridionalis Peris et Llorente, 1963 (Figure 1)

Material examined: Slovakia, Starý dvor, Malá Fatra Mts – Vrátna dolina Valley, 49° 13’ 49.6’’ N, 19° 2’ 7.35’’ E, 700 m a. s. l., 18. 9. 2011, 1 F, F. Mucha photo, N. Vikhrev det.

Distribution: P. meridionalis is recorded from Albania, Bulgaria, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sicily, Spain and Ukraine, recently from Sardinia (Pont 2007, Avesani 2011). New species for fauna of Slovakia.

Polietes meridionalis is the third species of the genus Polietes recorded from Slovakia. It is characteristic by yellow anterior spiracle and yellowish white to golden yellow shine in anterior part of head (see also Figure 1). P. meridionalis was unknown from the territory of Slovakia until now (Gregor & Rozkošný 2009b, Rozkošný (pers. comm.) and Straka (pers. comm.)). Description of preimaginal instars and the biology of this species was given by Rojo & Marcos-García (1990, 1995). It is a typical late autumn species. We suppose, that thanks to the ongoing climate change P. meridionalis changes its expansion area. Is very likely that P. meridionalis is already present also in Czech Republic, but it is overlooked.

Figure 1. Polietes meridionalis, dorsal and lateral view, photograph by František Mucha (18. 9. 2011, Starý dvor, Terchová).

Avesani D, 2011: Records on Muscidae from centralsouthern Sardinia, with particular regard to the region-owned forests of Marganai and Montimannu (Diptera). Conservazione Habitat Invertebrati, 5: 749–758.

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Gregor F & Rozkošný R, 2009b: Muscidae Latreille, 1802. In: Jedlička L, Kúdela M & Stloukalová V (eds): Checklist of Diptera of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Electronic version 2. http://zoology.fns.uniba.sk/diptera2009. Accessed 9. 9. 2012.

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