Epithalassius Explained

Epithalassius is a genus of flies in the family Dolichopodidae,^[1] with eight known species. They are generally found in the Palaearctic, occurring on sand beaches near the coast.^[2] An exception to this is E. africus, which was described from a damaged female specimen collected near Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo. The generic assignment of this African species has been doubted.^[3] E. corsicanus has also been recorded from Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, and is probably an introduced species to the island.^[2]

Species

The following eight species are included in the genus:^[2]

• Epithalassius africus Parent, 1930^[4] – Congo (near Brazzaville)
• Epithalassius caucasicus Becker, 1918^[5] – Bulgaria, "Black Sea coast of the Caucasus"
• Epithalassius corsicanus Becker, 1910 – France (Corsica), Israel, Saint Helena (introduced?)
• Epithalassius elegantula Villeneuve, 1920^[6] – France (Royan, Finistère)
• Epithalassius gloagueni Grichanov, 2021^[2] – France (Brittany)
• Epithalassius sanctimarci Mik, 1891 – Corsica, Italy, Spain
• Epithalassius stackelbergi Besovski, 1966^[7] – Bulgaria, Romania
• Epithalassius susmani Grichanov, 2008^[3] – Israel

Notes and References

1. Book: Yang. D.. Zhu. Y.. Wang. M.. Zhang. L.. World Catalog of Dolichopodidae (Insecta: Diptera).. 2006. China Agricultural University Press. Beijing. 9787811171020. 1–704.
2. Grichanov. I.Ya.. 2021. A new species of Epithalassius (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from Brittany, France. Nature Conservation Research. 6. 2. 1–5. 10.24189/ncr.2021.021. free.
3. Grichanov . I.Ya. . Systematics of the genus Epithalassius Mik, 1891 (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) . Caucasian Entomological Bulletin . 2008 . 4 . 1 . 131–136 . 10.23885/1814-3326-2008-4-1-131-136 . free .
4. Parent . Octave . Espèces nouvelles de Dolichopodides (Diptères) conservés au Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris . Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles. Série B. Sciences Physiques et Naturelles . 1930 . 50 . 86–115.
5. Becker . Theodor . Dipterologische Studien. Dolichopodidae. Dritter Teil. . Nova Acta Acad. Caesar. Leopold. Carol . 1918 . 104 . 35–214.
6. Villeneuve . Joseph . Diptères inédites . Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France . 1920 . 1919 . 352–355.
7. Besovski . V. L. . Epithalassius stackelbergi n. sp. une nouvelle espece de Diptera (Dolichopodidae) du littoral bulgare de la Mer Noire . Comptes Rendus de l'Académie Bulgare des Sciences . 1966 . 19 . 1079–1082.