SIMULIIDAE OF AFRICA 113 



from Java has the incomplete larval postgenal bridge of Gnus but a non-fenestrate 

 cocoon, while 5. eximium de Meijere from Java has the usual shorter postgenal cleft 

 and complete bridge of Simulium in the larva, but the front of the cocoon is widely 

 open with loop-like strands as in Gnus ; S. gaudi Grenier & Faure from Morocco has 

 the typical cocoon of Gnus but a simple female claw and short postgenal cleft as in 

 typical Simulium, whereas S. degrangei Dorier & Grenier has the larva with incom- 

 plete postgenal bridge as Gnus but cocoon and female claw as Simulium. These are 

 but a few instances among many similar that force me to conclude that Gnus cannot 

 be maintained as a valid subgenus, and that the name must be relegated to the 

 synonymy of Simulium s. str. 



Several other names are synonyms of Simulium in the restricted sense and atten- 

 tion must be briefly drawn to these : 



Simulium nobile de Meijere, of which the male holotype (in Zoologisch Museum, 

 Amsterdam) and other material of all stages have been examined, has all the 

 characters of Simulium s. str., and the generic name Gynonychodon Enderlein (for 

 which nobile is the type-species) therefore falls in synonymy. 



The variegatum-gvoup, which Rubzov (1959-1964 : 480) includes in Odagmia, has 

 the pleural membrane bare and the larval postgenal cleft large and helmet-shaped, 

 and does not fit into Odagmia as this subgenus is defined in the present work ; 

 instead I place it in Simulium s. str., and the genus-group name Pseudodagmia 

 Baranov (of which variegatum Meigen is type-species) therefore falls as a synonym of 

 Simulium s. str. and not of Odagmia. It may be remarked at this point that the 

 mottfo'co/a-group (which Rubzov, op. cit. : 487, also places in Odagmia) has the pleural 

 membrane bare and all other essential characters of Simulium s. str., and this group 

 too I assign to Simulium : no genus-group name is however based on any species of 

 this group. 



Simulium argyreatum Meigen and Simulium rupicolum Seguy & Dorier from 

 Europe, and S. hunteri Malloch from North America, all have the characters of 

 Simulium s. str. and the genus-group names based upon these type-species, viz. 

 Pseudosimulium Baranov, Cleitosimulium S6guy & Dorier, and Aspathia Enderlein 

 respectively are all synonyms of Simulium in the strict sense. No type-material 

 now exists for objective comparison of either Rhagio colombaschensis Fabricius (type- 

 species of Simulium) or of Culex columbaczensis Schonbauer (type-species of Danubio- 

 simulium Baranov), but since both names apply to the infamous Golubatz fly that is 

 responsible for the great black-fly outbreaks of the Danube valley there is no doubt 

 that the specific names are synonyms, and therefore that Danubiosimulium is an 

 isogenotypic synonym of Simulium Latreille. 



Stone (1963) placed the names Psilocnetha Enderlein and Pselaphochir Enderlein 

 as synonyms of Simulium s. str., but it is now clear that these names apply to quite 

 other segregates of Simulium s.l. and are not synonyms of Simulium in the restricted 

 sense : Psilocnetha Enderlein is a synonym of Byssodon Enderlein and Pselaphochir 

 is a junior synonym of M or ops Enderlein, an endemic Australasian subgenus allied 

 to Eusimulium (for diagnosis and discussion of M or ops see Crosskey, 1967a), and 

 there is no doubt about the segregates to which the names Psilocnetha and Pselapho- 



