MUNARI, TETHINA FROM THE SAHARA AND INLAND BIOTOPES 9 
23.1V.1992, M. v. TSCHIRNHAUS, 3 22 [cf. — specimens with a slightly protrudent facial cari- 
na]. 
Distribution 
Subcosmopolitan. Afrotropical: Cape Verde Islands, Senegal, Seychelles (Ald- 
abra), South Africa.- Australasian/Oceanian: Australia. - Oriental: Taiwan. — 
Nearctic: Bermuda, USA (Texas). - Neotropical: Chile, Mexico. - Palaearc- 
tic: Algeria, Azores, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Isra- 
el, Italy, Jordan, Madeira, Malta, Spain (including Balearic Islands), Tunisia, Turkey. 
— New to Jordan. 
Discussion 
This species is exteriorly similar to Tethina strobliana, with which it can be easily 
confused. It differs from the latter species chiefly by the following combination of 
characters: translucent, longitudinal stripe of gena distinctly broad, higher than one 
third of height of gena (in T. strobliana the stripe is as high as one third or less of ge- 
nal height), acrostichal setulae arranged in two more or less distinct rows, shape of 
surstylus of a peculiar form, ankle-boot shaped in lateral view and bearing numerous 
strong, stout spinulae on inner edge. On the basis of the currently available data it 
appears that this species is particularly thermophilous and perhaps dry resistant, 
thus replacing 7! strobliana in the torrid, desert biotopes of the Mediterranean sub- 
region, whereas the latter species is commonly found in the inland biotopes of some 
less extreme regions (see Introduction). Of course, it would be of basic interest to as- 
certain whether the identifications quoted in literature are correct, and refer to 
T. strobliana properly, or, conversely, whether they are misidentifications of the two 
closely related species 7. ochracea and T. strobliana. 
Tethina pallipes (Loew, 1865) 
Material examined [MCNV]. 
Israel: En Gedi/N. Arugot [western edge of the Dead Sea, about 81 km from the Mediter- 
ranean littoral], 31. V.2000, B. Merz, 16. 
Distribution 
Palaearctic: Bulgaria, France, Greece, Israel, ?Italy, Tunisia. 
Discussion 
I regard LoEw’s taxon as an obscure species possibly conspecific with Tethina 
strobliana (Mercier, 1923) or T. ochracea (Hendel, 1913). Unfortunately, the types of 
this species preserved in ZMHB are strongly damaged. In 1992 Dr. H. SCHUMANN, 
at that time curator of Diptera at ZMHB, communicated to me the poor condition 
of the type series: “Rh. pallipes Loew, 1865, Griechenland, 1 Syntypus ohne Abdo- 
men (auf Etikett das d-Zeichen), 12 ohne Kopf, ein Tier ohne Abdomen”. It 
should be stressed that specimens of Tethina in such bad conditions are not safely 
identifiable. Therefore, the identification of this specimen from Israel was based pri- 
marily on the concept of this species according to BEsCHovsk1 (1993, 1994). 
