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20 April 2007
Key to species of the Philoliche aethiopica species complex

This key is based on my dissertation work which is in the process of publication.

Please cite information from this work as:

Morita, S. I.  2006.  A revision of the Philoliche aethiopica species complex (Diptera: Tabanidae). Pp. 64-128. in Doctoral Dissertation: The evolution of long-proboscis horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) in the genus Philoliche (Wiedemann). University of California, Davis, submitted to African Invertebrates (in review).

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About the Philoliche aethiopica species complex

Philoliche (Wiedemann 1828) is an old world genus of horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) including nine subgenera and 122 species, most of which are found in Africa (Oldroyd 1957; Chainey & Oldroyd 1980).  This genus represents almost all horse flies in the subfamily Pangoniinae found in sub-Saharan Africa and constitutes all but one species of the tribe Philolichini.  About a dozen of the species in the subgenera Philoliche (Philoliche Wiedemann 1828, 24 species) and P. (Stenophara Enderlein 1922, 22 species) have proboscis lengths one to three times their body length.  These proboscides are specialized for extracting nectar from flowers (Oldroyd 1957; Jobling 1976), and, although doubted by some (Mckeever & French 1999; discussed in Mitter 1918), females of these species still feed on blood (Mitter 1918; Tetley 1918; Sen 1931; Usher 1972; S. Morita pers. obs.). In southern Africa, several species groups in the subgenus P. (Philoliche) are involved in pollinator-mediated speciation of flowering plants (Goldblatt & Manning 1996; Johnson & Steiner 1997). In particular, the P. (P.) aethiopica species complex exhibits proboscis length variation believed to be due to local adaptation to floral resources (Oldroyd 1957; Johnson & Steiner 1995; Johnson 2000; Johnson et al. 2002; Johnson & Morita 2006; Morita 2006).

 The Philoliche (Philoliche) aethiopica species complex is a traditionally taxonomically difficult group. Previous to this work, the genus included five nominal species, P. aethiopica (Thunberg 1789), P. rondani (Bertoloni 1861, 1862), P. elegans (Bigot 1892), P. formosa (Austen 1920), and P. rubiginosa Travassos Santos Dias 1966.  This species complex occurs along the southeastern Great Escarpment and Lowveld of southern Africa, from southern South Africa to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.  Philoliche rubiginosa, was not previously recognized as occurring in South Africa and has been systematically misidentified as the more common P. elegans because they share the only diagnostic character previously available in any key, a grey hind margin on the mesothorax.  The two most common species, P. aethiopica and P. rondani, appear to have the longest proboscides and are frequently observed visiting flowers.  Historically, these two species have been difficult to separate (Oldroyd 1957; Usher 1972). Prior to this work, Philoliche rondani was separable from P. aethiopica based on three characters found only in males (J. Chainey, pers com.).  In this work I provide characters to distinguish P. rondani from P. aethiopica and show that the longest proboscis specimens previously assigned to P. rondani and confused with P. aethiopica are distinct, called here P. rondani 'Albany form.'

Works Cited

Austen, E. E. (1920). Notes on the nomenclature of certain African Tabanidae (sub-family Pangoniinae), with descriptions of a new genus and new species. Bulletin of Entomological Research 11, 139-152.

Bertoloni, G. (1861). Illustrazione dei prodotti naturali del Mozambico.  [Exhibit and description of new Ditpera from Mozambique.]. Memorie della Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna. Classe di scienze fisiche 1860-1861, 28-29.

Bertoloni, G. (1862). Illustrazione dei prodotti naturali del Mozambico. Dissertazione intorono ad insetti ditteri. Memorie della Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna 12, 41-60.

Bigot, J. M. F. (1892). Descriptions de Dipteres nouveaux. Tabanidi. Mémoires de la Société Zoologique de France 5, 602-691.

Chainey, J. E., and H. Oldroyd. (1980). Family Tabanidae. In Catalogue of the Diptera of the afrotropical region' (R. W. Crosskey, Eds.) pp. 275-306. (British Museum (Natural History) Publication no. 821: London.)

Enderlein, G. (1922). Ein neues Tabanidensystem. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 10, 333-351.

Goldblatt, P., and J. C. Manning. (1996). Phylogeny and speciation in Lapeirousia subgenus Lapeirousia (Iridaceae: Ixioideae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 83, 346-361.

Jobling. (1976). On the fascicle of blood-sucking Diptera.  In addition a description of the maxillary glands in Phlebotomus papatasi, together with the musculature of the labium and pulsatory organ of both the latter species and also of some other Diptera. Journal of Natural History. London. 10, 457-461.

Johnson, S. D. (2000). Batesian mimicry in the non-rewarding orchid Disa pulchra, and its consequences for pollinator behaviour. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 71, 119-132.

Johnson, S. D., J. Edwards, C. Carbuttt, and C. J. Potgieter. (2002). Specialization for hawkmoth and long-proboscid fly pollination in Zaluzianskya section Nycterinia (Scrophulariaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 138, 17-27.

Johnson, S. D., and S. I. Morita. (2006). Lying to Pinocchio: floral deception in an orchid pollinated by long-proboscid flies. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 152, 271-278.

Johnson, S. D., and K. E. Steiner. (1995). Long-proboscid fly pollination of two orchids in the Cape Drakensberg mountains, South Africa. Plant Systematics and Evolution 195, 169-175.

Johnson, S. D., and K. E. Steiner. (1997). Long-tongued fly pollination and evolution of floral spur length in the Disa draconis complex (Orchidaceae). Evolution 51, 45-53.

McKeever, S., and F. E. French. (1999). Comparative study of adult mouthparts of fifty-two species representing thirty genera of Tabanidae (Diptera). In 'Contributions to the knowledge of Diptera: A collection of articles on diptera commemorating the life and work of Graham B. Fairchild. 14. Memoirs on Entomology International' (J. F. Burger, Eds.) pp. 327-353. (Associated Publishers: P. O. Box 140103, Gainesville, Florida 32614-0103, USA.)

Mitter, J. L. (1918). Note on the method of feeding of Corizoneura (Pangonia) longirostris Hardwicke, with a rediscription of the mouth parts. Indian Journal of Medical Research 5, 523-528.

Morita, S. I. (2006). 'The evolution of long-proboscis horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) in the genus Philoliche (Wiedemann).' Dissertation. (Univeristy of California, Davis.)

Oldroyd, H. (1957). 'The horseflies of the Ethiopian region. III. Subfamiles Chrysopsinae, Scepsidinae and Pangoniinae, and a revised classification.' (British Museum (Natural History): London.)

Sen, S. K. (1931). Notes on the bionomics and anatomy of Corizoneura longirostris Hardwicke (Diptera: Family Tabanidae; subfamily Pangoniinae.). Indian Journal of Veternary Science 1, 24-28.

Tetley, H. (1918). The structure of the mouthparts of Pangonia longirostris in relation to the probable feeding-habits of the species. Bulletin of Entomological Research 9, 253-267.

Thunberg, C. (1789). D. D. Museum Naturalium Academiae Upsaliensis. In Cujus Partem Septiman [= Part 7]' (Eds.) pp. [ii] + pp. 85-94: Upsaliae [=Uppsala].)

Travassos Santos Dias, J. A. (1966). 'Tabanídeos (Diptera-Tabanidae) de Moçambique.' (Contribuicao para o seu conhecimento: Lourenço Marques [=Maputo].)

Usher, P. J. (1972). A review of the South African horsefly fauna (Diptera: Tabanidae). Annals of the Natal Museum 21, 459-507.

Wiedemann, C. R. W. (1828). 'Aussereuropäische zweiflügelige Insekten. Erster Theil. [1st part].' (Schulz: Hammburg.)

Copyright © 2007 S.I. Morita
Please contact me if you would like to use any of these materials or images at simorita(a)ncsu.edu. Images produced by SEL, USDA/ARS are public property and can be used freely as long as they are clearly acknowledged. Other material and images presented here not owned by S.I. Morita remain the property of their authors. Please contact them directly concerning their use.