Monoceromyia pulchra

Monoceromyia pulchra (Hervé-Bazin, 1913) (Fig. 44) Cerioides pulchra Hervé-Bazin, 1913: 91 Examined specimens. 1♂, Taif, Wadi Majarish, 12.ii.1983, sweeping, K. Guichard (KSMA). Distribution. This species was previously recorded for Saudi Arabia by Abu-Zoherah et al. (1993). It was described from Zaire and also recorded from the Afrotropical Regions: Nigeria, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and Zambia (Smith & Vockeroth 1980). Genus Paragus Latreille There are approximately 100 species of Paragus worldwide most of these found in the Palaearctic region (Thompson 2004). Paragus are thermophilous but most species prefer xerothermic conditions (van Veen 2004). Vujić et al. (2008) established two new subgenera within the genus Paragus. These are Serratoparagus Vujić & Radenkovićé and Afroparagus Vujić & Radenkovićé. With the addition of existing subgenera Paragus Latreille and Pandasyopthalmus Stuckenberg, therefore Paragus consists of four subgenera. These divisions are based on molecular data and the data set of morphological characters including some features of the male terminalia not previously used in the systematics of the Paragini. Most species of Paragus are very variable, sometimes difficult to identify and easily confused with one another, and characters of the genitalia are essential for species identification. The species of the subgenus Pandasyopthalmus are difficult to identify, differing mainly in the structure of the male genitalia. Stuckenberg (1954a) was the first to describe the intraspecific variability in the structure of the male genitalia in some species of the subgenus Pandasyopthalmus. The females of most of these species can be identified only based on the characters of the accompanying males (Stuckenberg 1954 a, b). The larvae of all the species of Paragus are known to be predators of aphids and can be used in biological control of plant pests (Coe 1953). Paragus normally fly very close to the ground (Speight 2020).
Published as part of Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A., Ahmad, Syed Kamran, Al-Dhafer, Hathal & Turner, James, 2020, An overview of the Syrphidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, pp. 1-69 in Zootaxa 4855 (1) on page 39, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4855.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4411181
{"references":["Herve-Bazin, J. (1913) Syrphidae (Diptera) recueillis au Congo belge par le Dr J. Beauaert. 1. Genre Eumerus Meigen. Revue de Zoologique Africaines 3, 68 - 84.","Abu-Zoherah, R., Al-Taher, K. & Tilkian, S. (1993) List of Insects Recorded from Saudi Arabia. Ministry of Agriculture and Water, National Agriculture and Water Research Center, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Academic Publishing & Press, Ministry of Agriculture and Water, Riyadh, 394 pp.","Smith, K. G. V. & Vockeroth, J. R. (1980) 38. Family Syrphidae. In: Crosskey R. W. (Ed.), Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afro- tropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. 488 - 510.","Thompson, F. C. (2004) Biosystemtic database of world diptera. Available from: http: // www. sel. barc. usda. gov / Diptera / biosys. htm (accessed 30 August 2020)","van Veen, M. P. (2004) Hoverflies of Northwest Europe. KNNV Publishing, Utrecht, 254 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1163 / 9789004274495","Stuckenberg, B. R. (1954 a) Studies on Paragus, with descriptions of new species (Diptera: Syrphidae). Revue de Zoologieet de Botanique Africaines, 49 (1 - 2), 97 - 139.","Coe, R. L. (1953) Diptera Syrphidae. Handbooks for the identification of British insects. 10 (1). Royal Entomological Society of London, London, 98 pp.","Speight, M. C. D. (2020) Species accounts of European Syrphidae (Diptera), 2020. Syrph the Net, the database of European Syrphidae (Diptera). Vol. 104. Syrph the Net publications, Dublin, 313 pp."]}