Ischiodon Sack

Genus Ischiodon Sack The genus Ischiodon comprises four species with quite distinct distributions namely: I. feae (Bezzi) (Cape Verde Islands), I. aegyptius (Wiedemann) (Africa and southern Europe), I. scutellaris (Fabricius) (Oriental and Australasian Region) and I. astales Mengual 2018 (Africa) (Láska et al. 2006; Mengual 2018). The species of Ischiodon have a strong resemblance to the genus of the single species Simosyrphus Bigot, with which it has often been confused (e.g. Bryan, 1934). Species of both genera have been previously placed under one another several times (Mengual 2015) despite some important differences in the male genitalia (Vockeroth 1969). The generic key by Vockeroth (1969: 40) can be used to identify both genera. A synonymy of both genera was proposed by Láska et al. (2006) based on larval and pupal morphology, supported by a molecular study. Mengual et al. (2018) reported that the current evidence from molecular characters supports the generic rank of Ischiodon and Simosyrphus. The species of Ischiodon are predatory syrphids with an important role in the bio-control of aphid pests in different areas of the world (Láska et al. 2006; also for more references).
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 36, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4855.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4411181
{"references":["Laska, P., Perez-Banon, C., Mazanek, L., Rojo, S., Stahls, G., Marcos-Garcia, M. A., Bicik, V. & Dusek, J. (2006) Taxonomy of the genera Scaeva, Simosyrphus and Ischiodon (Diptera: Syrphidae): Descriptions of immature stages and status of taxa. European Journal of Entomology, 103, 637 - 655. https: // doi. org / 10.14411 / eje. 2006.085","Bryan, E. H. (1934) A review of the Hawaiian Diptera, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, 8, 399 - 468.","Vockeroth, J. R. (1969) Arevisionof the genera of the Syrphini (Diptera: Syrphidae). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, 62, 1 - 176. https: // doi. org / 10.4039 / entm 10162 fv","Mengual, X., Stahls, G., Laska, P., Mazanek, L. & Rojo, S. (2018) Molecular phylogenetics of the predatory lineage of flower flies Eupeodes scaeva (Diptera: Syrphidae), with the description of the Neotropical genus Austroscaeva gen. nov. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 56 (2), 148 - 169. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jzs. 12212"]}