Hydrotaea villosa Stein, 1904

Hydrotaea villosa Stein, 1904 View in CoL

Fig. 8

CHILE, Los Lagos Reg., Chiloe Isl., Cucao , 42.64 ° S, 74.11 ° W, 24– 28.02.2017, A. Medvedev, 1♂ (Fig. 8, ZMUM) GoogleMaps .

COLOMBIA, Bogota, 201-62, 1♂, 1♀ ( MNHN, I believe these are syntypes of H. villosa ) .

Distribution. Known from the western part of South America from Colombia to Chile.

Remarks. When I examined our specimen from Los Lagos, my first identification was H. cyaneiventris Macquart, 1851 as it is the oldest name, it fitted the interpretation of H. cyaneiventris proposed by de Carvalho & Couri ( de Carvalho, Couri 2002) and it was collected at least in the same country. However, I have not seen the lectotype of H. cyaneiventris Macquart, 1851 in MNHN, which was designed by Pont ( Pont 2012) and, according to Pont, must be in a poor condition. On the other hand, I examined syntypes of H. villosa and made descriptive notes which entirely fit the specimen from Los Lagos, as well as Malloch’s ( Malloch 1923: 669) descriptive notes on H. villosa . Thus, the identity of H. villosa is clear and I refer to this name in the identification key below.

A separate question is if H. villosa is a junior synonym of H. cyaneiventris Macquart, 1851 . Its resolving requires collecting and examination of series of S American specimens and re-examination of the lectotype of H. cyaneiventris Macquart, 1851 . Untill that, I prefer to regard H. cyaneiventris as a species with doubtful identity.

It is necessary to note that Hydrotaea cyaneiventris Macquart , 185 1 should not to be confused with Hydrotoea cyaneiventris Macquart, 1855 , later described by the same author under the same name from Australia, which is a junior primary homonym of Hydrotaea cyaneiventris Macquart, 1851 and junior subjective synonym of Hydrotaea rostrata Robineau Desvoidy, 1830 ( Pont 2024).