


REVISIONARY CLASSIFICATION OF RUTILIINI 123 
diagnoses): chersipho, decora, formosa, imperialis and splendida belong in the sub- 
genus Chrysorutilia Townsend; lepida, pellucens and regalis in the subgenus Dono- 
vanius ; and setosa and vivipara in Rutilia s.str.; serena is considered to be a synonym 
of rubriceps, a species of Chrysorutilia, and durvillei is a synonym of vivipara (the 
type-species of Rutilia). 
The names of the nominal species for which neotypes are designated in the follow- 
ing list are arranged in alphabetical order of their original binomina; data and 
depository of each neotype are cited first, followed by any appropriate annotation. 
Dexia chersipho Walker, 1849 : 864. 
NEOTYPE ¢g. AvusTRALiA, Western Australia, Waroona, 21.xi.1908 (G. F. Berthoud) (in 
British Museum (Natural History), London). 
This species was described from a specimen of unknown locality in Children’s collection. 
The specimen is not among those in the BMNH from Children’s collection, has never been 
located and appears certainly lost. Walker’s description of the very distinctive colour pattern 
and his placement in the Rutilia group of Dexia fit perfectly the common Western Australian 
species later called evichsonii Engel, 1925, and there is considered to be no doubt about the iden- 
tity of chersipho: it is an older name for evichsonii, which is herein placed in new synonymy with 
chersipho. 
Dexia serena Walker, 1849 : 865. 
NEOTYPE®. Inp1a, Maharashtra, Purandhar, near Poona, c. 3000 ft, on bush (E. P. Sewell) 
(in British Museum (Natural History), London). 
Described from a female specimen from Madras presented to BMNH by Walter Elliott but 
now lost. The description clearly indicates that this is the only species of Chrysorutilia so far 
described from India, and fits exactly with the holotype female of Rutilia nitens Macquart, 
1851, from India. Enderlein (1936 : 403) placed nitens as a synonym of serena and this synony- 
my is here upheld, the primary types being undoubtedly conspecific. In the present revisionary 
work, however, no differences have been found between the Indian material and Rutilia rubriceps 
Macquart from Australia, so that both serena and nitens are herein treated as new synonyms of 
vubriceps. 
Musca splendida Donovan, 1805 : plate figure, unpaginated description. 
NEOTYPE 3. Avustratia, Queensland, Brisbane, 8.xi.1907 (A. J. C. Wightman) (in British 
Museum Natural History), London). 
Townsend’s (1932 : 39; 1938 : 416) statement of ‘Ht [=holotype] in London’ for splendida 
is based on the mere supposition that Donovan’s type must be in the British Museum (Natural 
History). In fact there is no such specimen in BMNH collection, and no original material has 
ever been located. Donovan’s figure was based on a specimen from McLeay’s cabinet from New 
South Wales, but the specimen has not been found in the McLeay Museum, Sydney. Donovan’s 
coloured plate of splendida shows, at natural size, a large metallic blue-green Rutilia species 
with yellow head and metallic spots on the abdomen, clearly a species of Chrysorutilia. The 
name splendida as used in the literature refers to a complex of three species characterized by 
three quite distinct forms of male genitalia, one of which was figured by Malloch (1929 : 296) 
under the name splendida. As the species figured by Malloch is apparently the commonest 
of the three, occurring widely in New South Wales and Queensland (and therefore the most 
likely to have been seen by Donovan), it is from this species that the neotype has been desig- 
nated and to which the name sPlendida is therefore restricted. 
Malloch (1928c : 660) and Townsend (1938 : 416) cited the publication date of splendida as 
1798 in error. The correct date is 1805, as cited by Enderlein (1936 : 407). 
