(Diptera, Bibionidae) in the National Museum, Prague
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ACTA FAUNISTICA ENTOMOLOGICA MUSE! NATIONALlS PRAGAE VaL 11, No. 108 Edit. 20. 12. 1965 (Acta faun. ent. Mus. Nat. Pragae, 11: 285-298} Bohemian March-flies (Diptera, Bibionidae) in The National Museum, Prague PAVEL PECINA Chair of Systemaue Zoology, Faculty of Natural History, Charles University, Prague Even though the March-flies are frequently collected because of their awkwardness and their abundance, and in spite of the fact that all the species of this family have an etonomic importance, in our dipterological literature there are not many papers dedicated to the study of the family Bibionidae. Horn1k & Nolc ( 1931], Robek ( 1930) and Baudys ( 1913) studied the phytopathological importance of the species Bibio marct ( L.) and B. hortulanus ( L.], Uzel ( 1908) also mentions the darnage done by Bibionid larvae. Vimmer ( 1911, 1925] has dealt with the larval morpho logy of several species. The distribution of the family Bibionidae as a member of the order Diptera in Czechoslovakia, was dealt with in the papers of Kowarz ( 1894], Thaihammer ( 1899], Landrock ( 1908], Czizek (1908], Brancsik (1910 ), Vimmer [1913] and Fekete (1914 ). Two papers by Loew ( 1870) and Bobek [ 1890) are of the same kind . and deal with the dipterous fauna of the Polish part of tile Tatra Mountains and are, therefore, of importance for the study of Slovakian Diptera. Recently, especially from the faunistic point of view, this family has been investi gated by Pecina [1962, 1965a, b, c). The monograph of Duda (1930], the works of Seguy ( 1940) and Enderle in ( 1936) and the rather antiquated work of Schiner [ 1864) are of fundamental significance for the syste matics, bionomy and ecology of the Bibionidae of Central Europe, besides a number of less-extensive publications on European and palaearctic March-flies. In Czechoslovakia, Vimmer ( 1931) studied the biölogy of several species of this family. The economic importance of Bibionid larvae is really great and is based on the fact that all the organic remains in the soil and on its surface are very quickly transformed into humus by the phytosapro phagous larvae of Bibionidae. The destruction of forest litter is largely brought about by the larvae of Bibionidae. Besides the formation of the soil itself, Bibionid larvae contribute to the aeration of soil. The larvae of the subfamily Bibioninae, which live in numerous colanies containing a large nurober of individuals, are a significant food component for insectivorous birds and feathered game. The imagines, during their mas- 285 sive occurrence, may serve as carriers of pollen especially of Umbelli ferae and fruit-trees. The darnage done by the larvae reported in many works of' phyto pathological character which were published in Central and Western Europe and also in North America in the thirties of this century as well as some earlier solitary papers, is occassional and brought about by scarcity of food. In most cases, a considerable number of larvae which have been introduced with manure to the field, start to feed on fine particles of living vegetables, owing to the scarcity of organic remains. The majority of eurytopical and prairie species were considered to be fields pests. After the year 1930, the phytopathological literature began to write about the "new pest of suggar-beet and spring-corn". Never theless the case of damages caused by Bibionid larvae need not be taken into consideration at the present, this anachronism of data on injurious Bibionidae appears in the majority of handbooks of agricultural entomo logy. Bibionid larvae are very susceptible to all fertilizers and that is why their occurrence has recently been made entirely impossible in field cultures. Up to this time, 19 species of family Bibionidae have been found in Czechoslovakia, of this number 17 species are found in Bohemia. All these species are represented in the collections of the National Museum. In this paper the author presents a list of the Bohemian species, which are deposited in the National Museum in Prague, compares their loca lities with the older data and characterizes the species from the eco logical and phenological point of view. He takes this opportunity to express his thanks to Dr. J. Moucha, CSc., for having kindly placed the material of the National Museum at his disposal. In consequence of the considerable diversity of stylization of data on the localities, the autbor was obliged to arrange their wording uni formly. The abbreviation "coll." designates the specimens from the col lection of Vimmer only; this collection is kept in its original arrangement among the material of Diptera in the National Museum. If there are abbreviations of other collector's collections mentioned the abbreviation "lgt." is used instead of "coll." The months are marked with Roman ciphers, the German names of localities are translated. For example: the data "Mader, 8. 9. 82, coll. Seda" of male specimen from the collection of Vimmer has been re-designated by the author in the following way: "Modrava ( Mader], 8. IX. 1882, lgt. Seda, coll. Vimmer" . On the other hand, the designation "lgt. Vimmer" is used only, as far as the respective specimen was designated "coll. Vimmer", but it had not been arranged in the collection of Vimmer. This form of designation makes it possible to distinguish the specimens determined by Vimmer and deposited in his collection, which served as the basis of his works. The older literary data clocumented with the captures and the localities of recerit captures which are given in the literature, are marked with an exclamation mark. 286 THE SURVEY OF SPECIES PLECIINAE P e n t h e t r i a Meigen, 1803 P. holosericea Meigen, 1818 A species inhabiting moist soils with the mouldering remnants of vegetables, without special requirements of height above sea level. It is most commonly found on· the banl{s of bodies of water where the larvae develop under the litter of deciduous trees, especially of alders and poplers, or in .moist meadows. The appearance of the imagines begins in the middle of April and is over in the middle of May; they may also be found singly later. The larvae of this species live solitarily in the soil, in contradistinction to the larvae of the subfamily Bibioninae. Lit.: Vimmer ( 1913) stated these data: Dr. Vavra lgt., Kaclehy, Cerne jezero in the Sumava Mountains. V. Zavist!, cfs. r. Vesely. Vimmer took P. holosericea for an "inhabitant of places in high altitudes", i. e. for a mountain species. Material: Bojov pr. Pr aha, 1 d, 2 ~ ~, V., lgt. V immer; · Bysti'ice pr. Mlade Buky, (Klinge), 7 rJ .cJ, 3. V. 1936, lgLKl. Spacek; Kärov, 3 c!d, V., lgt. Nickerl ; Kamenice, 1 d, 3 !i! ! ~, V., lgt. Vimmer; Krc near Praha, 3 d d, 3 ~ ~, 2. V. 1890, lgt. Klapälek; Krusovice, 4c]d, 12. V.1955; Libice pr. Dobi'!S, 1d, 1!?, V., lgt. Vimmer; Lnäi'e, 5 id 'd , 4~!?, V., lgt. Vimmer; Modrava (Madet], 1 6, 3 !i! !i! 24. VI. 1867, lgt. Seda, coll. Vimmer; Modi'any, 3 dd, 1 !i! , lgt. Cepeläk; Muchovice, 1 !i!, VI., lgt. Vimmer; Pysely, 1 d, 1 !i!, VI., lgt. Vimmer; Ricany, 3 ~ !i!, VI., lgt. Vimmer; Struhai'ov, 1 !i!, 1 d, lgt. Vimmer; Suchdol pr. Praha, 2dd , 1!?, 11. V. 1957, lgt. Boucek; Veltrusy, 2 dd, 1!?, V. 1927; Vinoi', 2 id 'rJ, lgt. Vimmer; Vrane, 3 rJ rJ, 2 !i! ~ , V.; dtto, 3 d rJ, 1 ~, 20. III. 1927, lgt. Rambousek; dtto, 1 i,J, 1 !i!, IV., lgt. Vimme r; dtto, 2 !i! !i!, 5. IV., lgt. Vimm.er, coll. Vimmer; Vüznice, 1 rJ, V., lgt. J. Obenberger; Zävist !, 1 rJ; dtto, 2 d rJ, 6. V. 1923, lgt. Ram.bousek; dtto, 1 rJ, 9. V. 1907, lgt. Vim.mer, coll. Vimm.er; Zbraslav, 1 !j!, 10. V. 1940, lgt. Cepeläk. BIBIONINAE P h i I i a Meigen, 1800 P. febrilis ( Linne, 1758) One of our most frequent species of the family, more or less eury topical. This species is common in low-ly.ing lands as well as in the high mountains. Seguy ( 1940) stated that it also occurred in the Scandinavian mountains higher than 2000 m above sea level. In our conditions, also, P. febrilis appears above the upper tree-line. The flight period is in spring from the middle of April-May, and in autumn in August and September. The interval between the two flight periods is shorter in the higher localities, so that the suggestion of two cycles during one year does not seem likely tobe true. There are probably two populations of this species which are morphologically uniform but in which there are different flight periods. The author has not succeeded hitherto in acquiring convincing arguments to support this idea. 287 ) 3 05 b 0,5 5 4 0,2 c Fig, 1. a) Philia humeralis ( Zett.). b) P, femorata Meig.; head of female laterally. Fig. 2. Philia femorata Meig,, male hypopygium dorsally Fig, 3. P. humeralis (Zett.). male hypopygium, a) dorsal view, b) ventral view. Fig. 4. P. febrilis (L.). male hypopygium dorsally. Fig. 5. Right harpago dorsally: a) P. f ebrilis (L.). b) P. femorata Meig., c) P. humeralis ( Zett.). d) harpago of the other specimen of this species in anonher position. It is necessary to prepare the male genitalia in order to correctly determine the species of the genus Philia. The author gives figures of distinguishing characters on the head of the females and on the male hypopygia, even though the hypopygia have already been figured and described by Lundström ( 1913] and Mikola j czy k ( 1962]. Lit.: Kowarz ( 1894] reported this species from Bohemia und er the synonym Dilophus uulgaris Mg. Vimmer ( 1913): VI., VII., VIII., in the north-eastern and south-eastern Bohemia, common on Umbelliferae.