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BRITISH BLOOD-SUCKING FLIES
The localities quoted bv Fnr T unusualncss oi this locality.
Moss, Lancash?re- 'h'4! , t ^^ «olke^
at an'alt.ude o T L s ; t \ r t ^ t ^ ^ ^ ^ B ^ ' ^ tl^-^^^T/"' ^^
Plain of York It is clenr ^^'^'ch is well out on the
other than n^ountalnoul dSrictl ^^ ^ ^ ^^^ tn
a n c ^ r s S ^ : , : ? ^ ^ ^ ^ ' -- Europe,
recorded as British o Sn. ' t e^ot --
the solitary ntale (the s p e c ™ ro^G en l o n ' ^ r " " v f ^
based, shows that the late Mr A'e" al goo f
in referring this indn.dual to the prisenlTp'e'cfes ' ' " " -^oubtedly correct
Of t i n : - ™ the prey
record of a Tabanid ps f r^ t^'ympton, Dartmoor, and the
Tabanus distinguendus Verrall.
(Fig. 29 and Plate 26)
.his species is disdnguished by
FIG. 29.—R. disihiguendus Verrall. O IIGJ^J
he is „ ,„e„e ce„
1'.,» li' i
B R A C H Y C E R A — T A B A N I D A E 95
as forms of distmguendus. The two species are here listed separately to
facilitate the naming of the common typical form of distinguendus, and following
the practice of Krober (1925, pp. 58, 64).
Typical disti7i.guendus is one of the commonest British representatives of
its genus. Goffe (1935, p. 108) found the males " exceedingly numerous " at
pools in the New Forest, and took one hundred and thirteen specimens. Like
bisignatus they darted several times over the surface of the water before rising
rapidly away. The specimens in the British Museum were taken from early
June to the end of July, and Goffe (1931, p. 98) says " even September."
A female of distinguendiis in the British Museum was reared in August,
1922, by Mr. H. St.-J. K. Donisthorpe from a pupa found by him near Norwich,
in a rotten and moist pine stump. The length of the puparium of this specimen
is 19 mm., and the female which emerged is sub-normal in size (13-5 mm.).
The males in the Museum range in length from 14-5 to 16 mm., and the
females from 15 to 17 mm.
Tabanus solstitialis Meigen
(Fig. 30 and Plate 26)
A species closely resembling T. tropicus Linn., though as far as can be seen
from the two specimens in the British Museum, solstitialis can be recognised
by having the line of pubescence on the dorsal (extensor) surface of the hind
tibiae entirely white on the basal half, not with black hairs over the whole
length as in tropicus. Mr. Goffe tells me that he finds solstitialis readily
distinguished by the more sharply defined red and black areas on the
abdomen. Female with orange markings on only three segments (cf. distinguendus,
p. 94), and with some
black hairs at sides of segments two
and three.
In life the eyes of male solstitialis,
according to Brauer(i88o, p. 150) are
" dark green with a strong purple
sheen above, with two purple bands
on the lower third and with rudiments
of a similar band on the edge of the
larger facets," while those of the
female are described as " bright
green, with a coppery sheen, or bluishgreen
with three narrow purple bands
which often have a yellow edging."
FIG. 30.-7". solstitialis Mg. Head.
Jones (1922, p. 41) writes of this species : " . . . solstitialis (next to T.
bromius the commonest present) was much more casual in its mode of flight,
and not infrequently ' rested ' for a short space on some convenient leaf overhanging
the stream. The ' rest ' was presumably for the purpose of imbibing
the water collected on the fore legs during the ' dip ' . . . for, so far as I could
make out . . . this was the method used in drinking, although possibly a
certain amount of moisture is gathered in the beak-like proboscis as well .