Travaux du Muskum National dlhistoire Naturelle ((Grigore Antipaw Vol. XLVI pp. 227-232 8 Sept. 2004 DYSMACHUS CRISTATUS (WIEDEMANN, 1820) (DIPTERA: ASILIDAE) IN ROMANIA MEDEEA WEINBERG, ANGELA PETRESCU Abstract. The species Dysmachus cristatus (Wiedemann, 1820) is mentioned for the first time from Romania, from Southern Dobrogea. RksumC. On mentionne I'espece Dysmachus cristatus (Wiedemann, 1820) pour la premiere fois dans la faune de Roumanie (Dobrogea du Sud). Key words: Diptera, Asilidae, Romania, Dysmachus cristatus, new record. Southern Dobrogea has a particular aspect, as regards the relief, flora and fauna. That is why, between 1993-1996, the specialists of " Grigore Antipa" National Museum of Natural History (Bucharest) began the study of this area, within the "Reasearching Programme of the Fauna of Southern Dobrogea". The studied ecosystems were especially the deciduous forests from Southern Dobrogea: Canaraua Fetii, Negureni forest, Dumbriiveni forest, Hagieni forest (Fig. 3). Negureni forest is placed near locality Negureni. It does not have a reservation statute, but it offered us the surprise of a rich special fauna, partly generated by the complex floral associations which, in their turn, influence the number and the diversity of the invertebrate and vertebrate populations. The main producers within these ecosystems are Quercus pedunculijlora, Quercus pubescens, Fraxinus ornus, Fraxinus excelsior, Carpinus orientalis, Carpinus betulus, Acer tataricum, Acer campestre, Acer pseudo-platanus, Tilia tomentosa, Populus tremula, Cornus mas, Cerasus avium, Crataegus monogyna, Ligustrum vulgare, Viburnum lantana, Pyrus communis, Malus silvestris, Prunus spinosa, Sambucus nigra, a very rich brush to which a similar varied grassy layer joined. In comparison with other studied forests, this one has a large surface covered with false acacia plantations (Robinia pseudacacia) and less cleared terrains and cultivated with agricultural plants. MATERIAL AND METHOD In the trip from 1993, in Southern Dobrogea, made by the junior author of this paper, some dipterans were collected together with other animals. On 18th of May, in Negureni forest, Angela Petrescu collected two female asilids, of a large size of 17 mm one, and the other one 19 mm. Both of them have a long, strong, thick pilosity, which covers the median areas of the thorax, from scutellurn to the area of humeral calluses. The length of the dorso-central and acrostichal hairs, which are present on thorax, is specific in the Asilinae of the genus Dysmachus. The ridge shape of the thoracal hairs gave the name of Dysrnachus cristatus (Fig. 2) to this beautiful species of Dysmachus. English translation by Mihaela Barcan Achim.
228 MEDEEA WEINBERG. ANGELA PETRESCU RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS After confronting our specimens with the specialized literature (Engel, 1930; Weinberg & Bachli, 1995) senior author established that they can be included perfectly in the diagnosis of the species Dysmachus cristatus, to which they belong. The species was described in Portugal and the syntypes are preserved in Berlin (Schumann, 1973). To this mention we can add a few sure one, which come from the southern part of Europe (SCguy, 1927; Perez & Portillo, 199 1 ; Weinberg & Bachli, op. cit.) (Fig. 1). In the Palaearctic Catalog of Asilidae, Lehr (1988) shows the presence of this species in Portugal, Spain, France, England and Czechoslovakia. In 1997, Jaroslav Bosak published family Asilidae in the list of dipteran species from Czech and Slovak republics, mentioning for the genus Dysmachus 10 species, where Dysmachus cristatus is not present. Lehr's mention from 1988 of this Dysmachus species in Czechoslovakia is wrong. Bosak's list from 1997 is good. Lehr's error originates in the paper from 1970 (Weinberg, Rozkosni), where 1 d and 2 QQ of Gibraltar of Dysmachus cristatus are mentioned, making the specification that they are not present in Czechoslovakia. We underline that the importance of finding Dysmachus cristatus in Romania also imposed the critical analysis of its previous mentions (Lehr, op. cit). In Romania, as it results from the fascicle of fauna of the Romanian Asilidae (Ionescu & Weinberg, 1971), genus Dysmachus is represented by 124 species, among which Dysmachus cristatus is not present. Although other 5 species belonging to this family were mentioned since 1971, the date when the Asilidae fascicle was published, none of them belonged to the genus Dysmachus. It has to be mentioned that, according to the present data, from the 46 valid Dysmachus species all over the world, 44 are Palaearctic, only 30 being mentioned from Europe. As yet, in Romania, the number of the known Asilidae species is of 127, out of which 14 belong to the genus Dysmachus. By finding the species Dysmachus cristatus in Southern Dobrogea, the number of the species of this genus increases up to 15 in Romania, representing half of the number of the known species in Europe (Fig. 1). Now, in Romania, 128 Asilidae species are known. In conclusion, if we take into account the lists of Asilidae species published between 1995-1998, namely: Majer (1995) for Italy, where he mentions 9 Dysmachus species; Bosak (1997), for Czech and Slovak republics mentions 10 species of this genus; Weinberg & Bachli (1998) mention 7 Dj~smachus species for Switzerland, this is the single list in which Dysmachus cristatus is included. According to these data it results that this European genus is the best represented in Romania, with 15 species. Also, this mention from the Southern Dobrogea, points out that Romania is the limit line of its distribution in the eastern side of the Palaearctic region. It has to be made a special mention regarding the finding of the species Dysmachus cristatus in the Negureni forest. None of the regions of Romania were so systematically studied by the specialists as Dobrogea, since 1962. No other area of the country offered so many scientifical novelties on Asilidae as Dobrogea. Dobrogea has been remaining a mirific region of Romania, which can offer the key in solving many cases regarding the distribution of the animals.
DYSMACHUS CRlSTA TUS (DIPTERA: ASILIDAE) IN ROMANIA 229 Dysmachus cristatus, known from North Africa, was described after specimens from Portugal. As we have already mentioned, the syntypes, 1 d' and 2 99, are preserved in the Museum of Berlin (Schumann, op. cit.). Then, the mentions from France (SCguy, op. cit.) and Spain (Perez & Portillo, op. cit.) followed, which are sure as the recent one from Southern Switzerland (Weinberg & Bachli, 1995, 1998). Taking into consideration that in the Hand Book of the European side of the ex-soviet Union (Richter, 1969) Dysmachus cristatus is not included, we can assert that this species stoped in his Palaearctic travel1 in Romania, for the time being. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We want to thank to our colleagues dr. Iorgu Petrescu and Gabriel Chi~amera for the photos put at our disposal and to the anonimous referees for improving the manuscript. DYSUACHUS CRISTATUS (WIEDEMANN, 1820) (DIPTERA: ASILIDAE) IN RO~NIA REZUMAT Dysmachus cristatus (Wiedemann, 1820) este semnalat pentru prima data in fauna Romlniei, din sudul Dobrogei, pidurea Negureni. Prin aceastk semnalare, numirul de specii de Dysmachus cunoscute in Romlnia se ridici la 15, iar de Asilidae la 128. Totodati aceasti specie are in Romlnia, in sudul Dobrogei, plni in prezent, cel mai estic punct al risplndirii ei in regiunea Palearctici. LITERATURE CITED BOSAK, J., 1997 - Asilidae. Pp. 46-48. In: M. Chvala (ed.). Check list of Diptera (Insecta) of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Prague. ENGEL, E. O., 1930 - Asilidae. In: E. Lindner (ed.). Die Fliegen der palaearktischen region. Stuttgart, IVl2: 1-491. IONESCU, M. A,, M. WEINBERG, 1971 - Asilidae. In: Fauna Republicii Socialiste Romlnia, Bucure~ti, 1 1 : 1-288. (in Romanian) LEHR, P. A, 1988 - Family Asilidae. In: A. L. Soos, L., Papp (eds.). Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera, Budapest, 5: 197-326. MAJER, I. M., 1995 - Asilidae. In: A. Minelli., S. Ruffo. (eds.) Checklist delle specie della fauna Italiana, 68: 14-18. PEREZ, G. A., M. R. PORTILLO, 1991 - Los Asilidos (Diptera, Brachycera, Asilidae) de la Sierra de Gredos. Institucion "Gran Duque de Alba", 16: 222. RICHTER, V. A., 1969 - Asilidae. In: Opredeliteli nasekomah evropeiscoi ceasti SSSR, 5 (1): 504-53 1. (in Russian) SEGUY, E., 1927 - Diptera (Brachyceres) (Asilidae). Faune de France, 17, Paris. SCHUMANN, H., 1973 - Die Asiliden - Typen der Dipteren - Sammlung des Zoologischen Museums in Berlin. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum, Berlin, 49 (I): 81-174. WEINBERG, M., G. BACHLI, 1995 - Asilidae. In: Insecta Helvetica Fauna, 1 1, Geneve. WEINBERG, M., G. BACHLI, 1998 - Asilidae. In: B. Merz, G. Bachli, J.P. Haenni, Y. Gonseth (eds.). Fauna Helvetica 1, Diptera - Checklist, Geneve. WEMBERG, M., R. ROZKOSNI, 1970 -Uber die Asiliden und Leptogastriden (Diptera - Sammlung aus der Universitat J.E. Purkyne (Briinn). Travaux du Museum d'histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa", 10: 195-206. Received: March 10, 2004 Accepted: April 15, 2004 Muzeul National de Istorie Naturals' " Grigore Antipa" 60s. Kiseleffnr. 1, 011341 Bucure~ti 2, Romcinia Angela Petrescu: e-mail: angelap@antipa.ro
230 MEDEEA WEINBERG, ANGELA PETRESCU Fig. 1 -The map of the sure mentions of the species Dysmachus cristatus from Portugal, France, Spain, Southern Switzerland (up), and Romania, Southern Dobrogea (down).
DYSMACHUS CRISTATUS (DIPTERA: ASILIDAE) IN ROMANIA 23 1 Fig. 2 -Dysrnachus cristatus (up); Detail of the anterior side of the body where the thick pilosity on the thorax is obvious, as well the ridge-shaped thoracal hairs (down) (photo: Gabriel Chivamera).
232 MEDEEA WEINBERG, ANGELA PETRESCU Fig. 3 -Images of the forest belts from Southern Dobrogea (Romania). (photo: Iorgu Petrescu)