A Review of the Species of the Subgenus Trirhithrum, Bezzi (Trypetidae, Diptera)

Abstract

Many years ago Bezzi realised that the species placed in the genus Ceraiitis, MacL., needed division into smaller groups. Among those he first delimited, Carpoph-thoromyia, Aust., may well be retained as a genus, but most of the others, Parda-laspis, Bez., Perilampsis, Bez., Trirhithrum, Bez., etc., have hardly more than sub-generic value. It is therefore proposed to study all the species concerned in order to discover the true limitations of the groups; and also with a view to stabilising the species themselves for a further study involving dissection of specimens. The last point is of some importance because more detailed work on the morphology cannot be carried out at all satisfactorily until one is quite sure of the specific identity of the specimens used. Further, as the dissection of insect types may be undesirable and few institutions, if any, would allow it to be done, it becomes essential to have specimens critically compared with types, and until this is done, there must always remain some element of doubt in identifications. This paper is thus a beginning of a series on a nreliminarv studv of the subsrenera of Ceratitis.