The first collections of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), (Diptera: Tabanidae: Chrysopsinae: Bouvieromyiini) from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River are reported, and the Nearctic species of the Tribe Bouvieromyiini are discussed

Goodwin, James T.

Williams, Emmanuel D.

English

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CENTER FOR SYSTEMATIC ENTOMOLOGY, INC., Gainesville, FLThe first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson),tribe Bouvieromyiini (Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texasand from west of the Mississippi RiverJames T. Goodwin and Emmanuel D. WilliamsDivision of Arts and SciencesJarvis Christian CollegeP. O. Box 1470Hawkins, TX 75765Date of Issue: June 6, 2008INSECTAMUNDI A Journal of World Insect Systematics0036James T. Goodwin and Emmanuel D. WilliamsThe first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson),tribe Bouvieromyiini(Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texas and from west of the Mississippi RiverInsecta Mundi 0036: 1-2Published in 2008 byCenter for Systematic Entomology, Inc.P. O. Box 147100Gainesville, FL 32614-7100 U. S. A.http://www.centerforsystematicentomology.org/Insecta Mundi is a journal primarily devoted to insect systematics, but articles can be published onany non-marine arthropod taxon. Manuscripts considered for publication include, but are not limited to,systematic or taxonomic studies, revisions, nomenclatural changes, faunal studies, book reviews, phylo-genetic analyses, biological or behavioral studies, etc. Insecta Mundi is widely distributed, and refer-enced or abstracted by several sources including the Zoological Record, CAB Abstracts, etc.As of 2007, Insecta Mundi is published irregularly throughout the year, not as quarterly issues. Asmanuscripts are completed they are published and given an individual number. Manuscripts must bepeer reviewed prior to submission, after which they are again reviewed by the editorial board to insurequality. One author of each submitted manuscript must be a current member of the Center for System-atic Entomology.Managing editor: Paul E. Skelley, e-mail: insectamundi@gmail.comProduction editor: Michael C. Thomas, e-mail: thomasm@doacs.state.fl.usEditorial board: J. H. Frank, M. J. PaulsenPrinted copies deposited in libraries of:CSIRO, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaMuseu de Zoologia, São Paulo, BrazilAgriculture and Agrifood Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaThe Natural History Museum, London, EnglandMuzeum I Instytut Zoologii Pan, Warsaw, PolandNational Taiwan University, Taipei, TaiwanCalifornia Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USAFlorida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Gainesville, FL, USAField Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USANational Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USAElectronic copies in PDF format:Printed CD mailed to all members at end of year.Florida Center for Library Automation: purl.fcla.edu/fcla/insectamundiUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln, Digital Commons: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/Author instructions available on the Insecta Mundi page at:http://www.centerforsystematicentomology.org/insectamundi/Printed Copy ISSN 0749-6737On-Line ISSN 1942-1354CD-ROM ISSN 1942-136210036: 1-2 2008The first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson),tribe Bouvieromyiini (Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texasand from west of the Mississippi RiverJames T. Goodwin and Emmanuel D. WilliamsDivision of Arts and SciencesJarvis Christian CollegeP. O. Box 1470Hawkins, TX 75765Abstract. The first collections of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), (Diptera: Tabanidae: Chrysopsinae: Bouvieromyiini)from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River are reported, and the Nearctic species of the Tribe Bouvieromyiiniare discussed.The genus Merycomyia Hine contains two medium to large-sized species, M. microcera (Walker) 11-15 mm long, known from northern Florida and south Georgia and M. whitneyi (Johnson), 16-23 mm long,known from northern Florida to southern Canada east of the Appalachian Mountains and from Indianaand Tennessee west of the Appalachian Mountains. These species are the only Nearctic representatives ofthe Bouvieromyiini, a tribe with mainly an Old World, southern hemispherical distribution. TheBouvieromyiini includes 40+ Australasian and 70+ Afrotropical species but fewer than 10 Oriental and 5Neotropical species (Chainey and Oldroyd 1980, Daniels 1989, Fairchild and Burger 1994, Stone 1975).Pechuman (1964) referred to species of Merycomyia as mystery insects because of the paucity ofinformation. Merycomyia whitneyi was then known from 20 specimens and M. microcera from 11, in-cluding some adults reared from field collected larvae. Pechuman (1964) stated the only information onadults of M. whitneyi, other than data on specimen labels, was Dr. Frank R. Shaw informs me that themaleM. whitneyi he collected was hovering about 8 to 10 feet above the treeless top of Sargent Mountain.Although described in 1956, the only biological data related to the capture and/or rearing of the 11known adult M. microcera were provided by Jones and Anthony (1964). These authors provided a photo-graph of M. microcera ovipositing and discussed the capture of two adults (one the holotype) and visualobservation of other adults. They provided information on egg masses, newly hatched larvae, field col-lected larvae of various sizes, and discussed unsuccessful attempts to rear larvae hatched from eggs andsmaller field collected larvae. They did, however, rear adults from field collected full grown larvae andprovided information on the life history and larval habitat, but they did not describe the immature stages.Excluding rearing of adults, Goodwin (1971) provided similar information on M. whitneyi based onthe collection of two adult females in South Carolina, one of which was ovipositing. He reported collectingthe unfinished egg mass and three completed egg masses. Eclosion had already occurred in one egg mass,but the other three egg masses hatched in the laboratory. However, his attempts to rear the larvae toadults were unsuccessful.The immature stages of M. whitneyi were described by Teskey (1969), and those of M. microcera weredescribed by Goodwin (1973). All reared adults were obtained from full-grown larvae. Although collectionsof larvae, as reported by Jones and Anthony (1964), Teskey (1969), Goodwin (1973), and Tidwell (1973),have ranged from 1 to 5 larvae at a single site, Goodwin and Drees (1995, p. 34) stated: In Florida,however, the larvae are collected commercially and sold as bass bait. The senior author, and others(Philip et al. 1973), have seen between 600 and 1000 more or less full grown larvae in Florida bait shopson various occasions. The wide range of the species and the infrequency of its collection in the adult stagepreclude its elimination as a possible component of the Texas fauna.We report here the first Texas collection of M. whitneyi, also the first record of this species from westof the Mississippi River. The Texas collections were made at Jarvis Christian College, U. S. Highway 80East, Hawkins, Wood County, Texas in undeveloped wetlands at a single site north of Highway 80.Approximate coordinates for the collection site are 32.591111oN, 95.173611oW. Twelve larvae were foundin very wet, highly organic, silty material in the center of a slowly flowing outfall from a pond betweenearly May and late June, 2007. Larvae returned to the laboratory for rearing did not feed, and all died.2 I NSECTA M UNDI 0036, June 2008 GOODWIN AND WILLIAMSBecause of difficulties in rearing, an old 6-meter malaise trap was modified by cutting away all but the topand ends of the trap so it could be used as an emergence trap. The modified trap was placed over part ofthe area where larvae had been collected with the edges of the top and ends in contact with the water orsoil and the collecting funnels elevated about one meter above the surface. This modified trap yielded asingle adult female of M. whitneyi captured between the 1st and the 8th of August, 2007. This specimen isin the collection of the Department of Biology, Stephen F. Austin State University, accession #3930.The Texas collections of larvae and a single adult significantly expand the known distribution of M.whitneyi. However, the behavior of the adults of these moderate to large-sized insects, except for oviposi-tion, remains as much of a mystery as ever.AcknowledgmentsI wish to thank Drs. William Godwin and Gary Steck for reviewing and providing constructive sug-gestions and corrections to this manuscript.Literature CitedChainey, J. E., and H. Oldroyd. 1980. p. 275-308. In: R. W. Crosskey (ed.). Catalogue of the Diptera ofthe Afrotropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London. 1437 p.Daniels, G. 1989. p. 277-294. In: N. L. Evenhuis (ed.). Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian andOceanian Regions. Bishop Museum Press; Honolulu. 1155 p.Fairchild, G. B., and J. F. Burger, 1994. A Catalog of the Tabanidae (Diptera) of the Americas south ofthe United States. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 75: 249 p.Goodwin, J. T. 1971. Notes on the biology of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson) (Diptera: Tabanidae) inSouth Carolina. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 64: 1182-1183.Goodwin, J. T. 1973. Immature stages of some eastern Nearctic Tabanidae (Diptera). IV. The GenusMerycomyia. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 48: 115-118.Goodwin, J. T., and B. M. Drees. 1995. The horse and deer flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) of Texas. South-western Entomologist Supplement 10: 140 + iii p.Jones, C. W., and D. W. Anthony. 1964. The Tabanidae of Florida. United States Department ofAgriculture Technical Bulletin 1295: 85 p.Pechuman, L. L. 1964. A synopsis of Merycomyia (Diptera: Tabanidae). Proceedings of the Entomologi-cal Society of Ontario 94: 62-67.Philip, C. B., H. V. Weems, Jr., and G. B. Fairchild. 1973. Notes on eastern Nearctic Haematopota,Merycomyia, and Chrysops and description of the male of C. zinzalus (Diptera: Tabanidae). FloridaEntomologist 56: 339-346.Stone, A. 1975. p. 43-81. In: M. D. Delfinado and D. E. Hardy (eds.). A catalog of the Diptera of theOriental Region, Volume II. Suborder Brachycera through Division Aschiza, Suborder Cyclorrhapha.The University of Hawaii Press; Honolulu. 459 p.Teskey, H. J. 1969. Larvae and pupae of some eastern North American species of Tabanidae. Memoirs ofthe Canadian Entomological Society 63: 147 p.Tidwell, M. A. 1973. The Tabanidae (Diptera) of Louisiana. Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 19: 1-95.Received march 24, 2008; accepted April 23, 2008

The first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), tribe Bouvieromyiini (Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River

Goodwin, James T., Williams, Emmanuel D. (2008): The first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), tribe Bouvieromyiini (Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River. Insecta Mundi 2008 (36): 1-

The first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), tribe Bouvieromyiini (Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River

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