Dasyrhicnoessa ferruginea

Dasyrhicnoessa ferruginea (Lamb, 1914)

Figs 11, 18, 23, 26, 31.

Distribution. Afrotropical: Kenya, Madagascar, Mascarenes (Mauritius *, Réunion *, Rodrigues*), Oman, Seychelles (Aldabra, Anonyme, Aride, Astove, Long, Mahé,?Praslin), Tanzania, United Arab Emirates. Australasian/Oceanian: Australia (Queensland), Caroline Islands (Yap), Mariana Islands (Guam, Saipan), Palau, Papua New Guinea. Oriental: China (Hong Kong - Lantau), Malaysia (Sabah, Singapore), Philippines (Balabac, Busuanga, Calicoan, Culion, Leyte, Masbate, Mindanao, Negros Oriental, Palawan), Singapore. Palaearctic: Qatar, Saudi Arabia. South Indian Ocean Islands: Amsterdam Island.

Material examined (all “A.H. Kirk-Spriggs & B.S. Muller, sweeping intertidal zone and coastal vegetation”, unless otherwise stated). La Réunion: 4♂, 1♀, Pointe de Tremblet, 21°17′34″S, 55°48′21″E, 0–9 m, 9.xi.2015, M.J. Ebejer, general sweeping; intertidal zone & sandy beach (deposited MJEC). Mauritius: 23♂, 17♀, Black River, Le Morne Brabant, 20°27′32″S, 57°19′42″E, 1–3 m, 28.i.2018 (1♂ deposited LMC); 5♂, 4♀, Black River, Petite Case Noyale, 20°24′23″S, 57°22′10″E, 1–3 m, 28.i.2018 (2♂, 1♀ deposited LMC); 1♀, Flacq, Poste de Flacq, 20°09′40″S, 57°44′49″E, 1–3 m, 26.i.2018; 2♂, Flacq, Poste Lafayette, 20°07′02″S, 57°45′05″E, 1–3 m, 30.i.2018; 60♂, 86♀, Grand Port, Grand Sable, 20°19′12″S, 57°46′12″E, 1–3 m, 27.i.2018 (2♀ deposited LMC); 2♀, Grand Port, Pointe d’Esny, 20°25′28″S, 57°43′22″E, 1–3 m, 27.i.2018; 50♂, 56♀, Pamplemousses, Le Goulet, 20°06′14″S, 57°31′02″E, 1–3 m, 30.i.2018 (1♂, 1♀ deposited LMC); 3♂, Pamplemousses, Trou aux Biches, 20°02′36″S, 57°32′14″E, 1–3 m, 29–30.i.2018; 1♂, 4♀, Rivière du Rempart, Grand Gaube, 20°01′00″S, 57°40′55″E, 1–3 m, 29–31.i.2018; 1♀ (cf.), Rivière du Rempart, Pointe des Lascars, 20°05′14″S, 57°42′26″E, 1–3 m, 31.i.2018; 2♂, 6♀, Savanne, Bel Ombre, 20°30′00″S, 57°23′34″E, 1 m, 11.xii.2016, sweeping coastal rocks and sandy beach. Rodrigues: 1♂, Anse aux Anglais, 19°40′15″S, 63°26′19″E, 1–3 m, 10.ii.2018; 1♂, Baie du Nord, 19°42′33″S, 63°22′20″E, 1–3 m, 9.ii.2018; 1♂, 4♀, Petite Gravier, 19°43′40″S, 63°29′03″E, 1–3 m, 10.ii.2018 (1♂ deposited LMC); 3♂, 5♀, Plaine Corail, 19°46′05″S, 63°22′36″E, 1–3 m, 9.ii.2018 (all deposited BMSA, unless otherwise stated).

Comments: A rather common Indo-Pacific species, characterised primarily by the peculiar chaetotaxy pattern of the posteroventral armature of the male mid femur (see above identification key and Fig. 11). Additionally, the morphological form of the external male terminalia is also distinctly dissimilar from that of the other two Mascarenian species of Dasyrhicnoessa (compare Fig. 18 with Figs 16, 17). In fact, D. insularis (Aldrich, 1931) and D. vockerothi Hardy & Delfinado, 1980, share a similar structure of the surstyli with each other (Figs 16, 17), so much so, that they can be assigned, along with a few other Pacific species, to a thus far unnamed species-group. Dasyrhicnoessa ferruginea is newly recorded here from the Mascarenes.