Merodon pumilus, MACQUART IN LUCAS, 1849

MERODON PUMILUS MACQUART IN LUCAS, 1849 View in CoL

Diagnosis: Eye pile black at least in upper half; eye contiguity in male short, between 5 and 10 ommatidia, about two times shorter than length of vertical triangle ( Fig. 12C); female of M. pumilus ( Fig. 17A) similar to M. aureus , but differs with shorter distance between posterior ocellus and eye margin (in Fig. 13B: yellow line) comparing distance between two posterior ocelli (in Fig. 13B: pink line), while in M. aureus distance between two posterior ocelli (in Fig. 13A: pink line) comparing distance between posterior ocellus and eye margin (in Fig. 13A: yellow line) shorter; ocellar triangle isosceles, two lateral sides shorter than basal ( Fig. 13A); pile on metafemora pale ( Fig. 18A).

Material examined: Type material: Merodon pumilus Macquart in Lucas, 1849 : 466. Type locality: Algeria, Constantine. Merodon pumilus was described from a single female. Holotype: ♀, ALGERIA, Constantine, ‘ pumilus Macq. sp. nova / Type’ (MNHN).

Biology and preferred habitat: Marcos-García et al. (2007) and Speight (2018) listed some biological data. Preferred environment: Forest/open ground; open areas in thermophilous Quercus forest and evergreen oak forest; maquis and matorral; xeric grassland. Adult habitat and habits: No data. Flowers visited: Apiaceae ; Anthericum ramosum , Leucanthemum vulgare , Mentha , Ranunculus , Solidago , Taraxacum . Flight period: April to June.

Distribution: Distributed in north-western parts of Africa (the Atlas mountain range in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) and south-western parts of Europe ( Portugal and Spain). According to available data, the elevation range is from sea level to 1700 m ( Figs 9, 16).