Rhigioglossa (Mesomyia) decora Macquart, 1850 - Identification
This species looks like a Tabanus with the abdominal pattern of Haematopota.
Frontal callus large. Eyes hairy; eyes of male brown, eyes of female with thick and conspicuous white hairs. Wings clear with dark basal costal cell and stigma. Body blackish or dark brick-reddish; abdomen with white-haired spots (triangles forming a median line and two lateral lines of roundish-oblong spots). Thorax dark, but covered with white hairs and with three longitudinal pale stripes. Thorax and abdomen of the male obscured by thick silvery hairs.
Photos of Macquart's holotype (MNHN - Museum national d'Histoire naturelle):
https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1265038337
Original description by Macquart:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109525#page/520/mode/1up
Description by Loew (Silvius decipiens):
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/35325#page/43/mode/1up
Illustration of frons in Chainey 1987:
https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA03040798_420
Widespread and common; recorded from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa (type locality: Durban).
iNat observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60180150
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133465624
Comments
Thank you so much @traianbertau for all this valuable information.
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