Euribia shirakii.jpg (4.9 MB)
Myopites shirakii (Munro, 1935)
Munro (1935) described Euribia (Asimoneura) shirakii from Taiwan based on a single female, without an illustration.
Since then, it has not been re-examined or redescribed, so Norrbom et al. (1999), Freidberg & Norrbom (1999) and Korneyev & Ovchinnikova (2004) assigned it to the genus Asimoneura Strobl based on the combination of the long labellum and widely opened cell r4+5 as described by Munro.
Since then, it has not been re-examined or redescribed, so Norrbom et al. (1999), Freidberg & Norrbom (1999) and Korneyev & Ovchinnikova (2004) assigned it to the genus Asimoneura Strobl based on the combination of the long labellum and widely opened cell r4+5 as described by Munro.
In 2012, I had an opportunity to study the holotype briefly and photographed it by a compact digital camera through the eyepiece of a dissecting microscope. Despite the poor quality, the picture clearly show the head shape and body coloration more typical to Myopites and Rhynencina, but the wing pattern is entirely lacking, as in the Afrotropical M. delottoi Munro, 1955. It certainly does not belong therefore to Asimoneura (which always have short oral cavity and entirely black body) and apparently forms a sister-group to the Afrotropical and Mediterranean species of the genus Myopites, which possess apically narrowed cell r4+5, but in my opinion, can be included in Myopites.
The male of M. shirakii remains unknown, and the key characters separating it from Rhynencina and Stamnophora remain unknown. Freidberg & Norrbom (1999) reported about several undescribed Afrotropical species of Myopites and Stamnophora, which show odd combination of key characters; the limits and diagnoses of those genera apparently need further clarification after more detailed description of all members and phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data.
Freidberg, A. & Norrbom, A. L. 1999. In: M. Aluja, and A.L.Norrbom, eds. Fruit Flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior. CRC Press, Boca Raton: 581-627.
Norrbom, A. L., Carroll L. E., Thompson F. C., White I. M., Freidberg A. 1999. Systematic database of names. In: F.C.Thompson, ed. Fruit Fly Expert System and Systematic Information Database. Myia, 9(1998), Backhuis Publishers, Leiden: 65—299.
Munro, H. K. 1935. Observations and comments on the Trypetidae of Formosa. Arb. Physiol. Angew. Entomol. Berlin-Dahlem 2: 195-203, 253-271.
