10 STUTTGARTER BEITRAGE ZUR NATURKUNDE Ser. A, Nr. 683 
Tethina sp. near salinicola Beschovski, 1998 
Discussion 
Muwnari (2004) recorded this species from Morocco: Tamri (Agadir), and Taliou- 
ine (Ouarzazate), the latter being a desert locality situated about 310 km inland. Pos- 
sibly an undescribed species closely related to T. salinicola Beschovski, 1998, or a 
geographical race of it. 
Tethina strobliana (Mercier, 1923) 
Tethina sp. of CANZONERI & Munari (1984). 
Material examined [MCNV] 
Italy: Montegrotto [province of Padua, about 30km inland], sorgenti calde [hot springs], 
7.IX.1957 and X1.1958, A.G.S., 3 dd, 1 2,1 undet. sex. 
Distribution 
Palaearctic: ?Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, 
Greece (Crete), Hungary, Israel, Italy (including Sardinia), Kazakhstan, Malta, Po- 
land, Russia (Sea of Azov), Spain, Tadjikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uz- 
bekistan. 
Discussion 
The biotope in which this species was collected in 1957 and 1958 has since been 
dramatically modified by human activities. It is now a famous tourist resort with ho- 
tels, shops, houses, and spa structures. Originally, the hot springs of Montegrotto 
were characterized by hot salty waters (up to 87 °C in the Montirone spring) where 
some relict halophytes such as Crithmum maritimum L., Sonchus maritimus L., and 
Puccinellia palustris (Seenus) Hayek grew undistutbed (CANZONERI & MUNARI 
1984). Furthermore, a peculiar algal microflora formed by Oscillatoriaceae was and 
is still particularly abundant in the reservoir “fango” (clay mud from Italy used in 
the treatment of rheumatic diseases). The specimens from this site are chiefly cha- 
racterized by having acrostichal setulae rather impoverished in numbers (2 rows, 
sometimes with a few additional, lateral, thin setulae) and thickness, as well as for the 
somewhat stumpy surstylus, similar to that figured by BEscHovsk1 & NARTSHUK 
(1997, pl. 5, figs. 2, 4-5). CANZONERI & Munart (1984) hypothesize that the speci- 
mens from Montegrotto belong to a Würmian glacial relict population of Tethina, 
but this needs to be supported by evidence. 
3.2 Conclusions 
In this brief paper it has been broadly corroborated that many Tethina species 
should be regarded as halophilous/thermophilous rather than strictly thalasso- 
philous flies. In all probability, saline biotopes provide a species-rich microalgal pa- 
bulum as well as chemical-physical factors that are indispensable for feeding and 
breeding habits respectively, and are likewise basic for the preimaginal development 
of these insects. Conversely, the remaining seven world genera of the subfamily Te- 
thininae, as well as all the species in both the subfamilies Horaismopterinae and 
Apetaeninae (the family is subdivided into five subfamilies that include 17 genera 
with approximately 160 species), seem to be strictly dependent on the proximity of 
