The first faunistic records of soldier flies (Stratiomyidae: Diptera) from Oman with taxonomic notes

Stratiomyidae is a diverse family of orthorrhaphous Brachycera. It exhibits great morphological variation and is the largest family in the infraorder Stratiomyomorpha. The present communication deals with the recording of five species of soldier flies from Oman, of which Odontomyia angulata (Panzer, 1798), Odontomyia xanthopus Bezzi, 1906, Oplodontha pulchriceps Loew, 1858, Nemotelus (Nemotelus) niloticus Olivier, 1811 from northern Oman and an unidentified specimen of Tinda Walker, 1859 from southern Oman, in Dhofar region.

Soldier flies (Stratiomyidae Latreille, 1802) are a worldwide group of flies of the suborder Brachycera, with circa 2700 described species within 12 subfamilies (Hauser 2009). The size of these flies varies from 2-20 mm, and they have different body colors, some are wasp mimics marked with different color patterns such as black and yellow, green, and sometimes metallic (Woodley 2001;Hauser 2009;Hassan et al. 2017). The adult soldier flies usually prefer to live near the larval habitats, mostly found visiting flowers or landing on leaves whereas the larvae are found in various substrates: decaying organic material (Beridinae Westwood, 1838, Sarginae Walker, 1834, Clitellariinae Brauer, 1882, ant nests (Clitellaria Meigen, 1803), under bark (Pachygastrinae Loew, 1856), as well as in standing or slow moving water (Nemotelinae Kertesz, 1912, Stratiomyinae Latreille, 1802 (Hauser 2009).
There are no published records of Stratiomyidae from Oman. Two papers have been published by Martin Hauser with the description of two new species and the record of seven species from United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Hauser 2009;Hauser 2014). The arid climate of the Arabian Peninsula is not the ideal environment for soldier flies, because the family is more likely to be found in moist habitats with abundant vegetation. Also, some of the species with aquatic larvae have very few and small habitats in which they could maintain stable populations in the Arabian Peninsula, and could therefore be locally endangered (Hauser 2014). Oman is located in the southwestern corner of Asia and it is biogeographically located at the junction of the Palaearctic and the Afrotropical Regions. The faunal affiliation of Oman is mainly Palaearctic with exception of Dhofar region (Personal observation).
This paper is not a complete checklist of Stratiomyidae for the whole Oman because most of the specimens were collected from few locations in northern and southern Oman, and with limited collecting methods like hand net. However, this paper aims to present the first faunistic records of Stratiomyidae, with four new records of species and one morphospecies for Oman.
The specimens were collected using sweeping net from vegetation on flowers. The collected specimens were killed with ethyl acetate and were deposited in the private collection of the author. The specimens were collected legally under the Permit n° 6210/10/87 issued by the Ministry of environment and climate affair. Species are listed alphabetically. Records are presented following a standardized format: [town, locality name, geographic coordinates, date of collection (day, month, year), number of specimens and collecting method].

Stratiomyinae Latreille, 1802
Stratiomyini Latreille, 1802 Odontomyia Meigen, 1803 Morphological characteristics: This genus is characterized by short antennal scape and pedicel, together distinctly shorter than flagellum, both segments sometimes subequal, but scape frequently longer than pedicel. The scutum of the male is not clothed with dense silvery pilosity (see Hauser et al. 2017 for identification key).
Remarks: The long snout and the yellow postalar callus in the specimens are indicative that they belong to the N. niloticus group. For now, there are several species synonymized under N. niloticus, with a lot of variation including N. fasciatus Olivier, 1811, N. albifasciatus Becker, 1902, N. theodori Lindner, 1974and N. duofasciatus Woodley, 2001. The presence of the white spot on the face to the eyes is the same in N. theodori, which is a synonym of N. niloticus.
Distribution: Afrotropical, Australasian and Oriental Regions (Hauser et al. 2017). New record for Oman (south Oman) and Arabian Peninsula.
Morphological characteristics: Tinda is characterized by scutellar spines shorter than scutellum; scutellum and mesonotum in the same plane; abdomen distinctly longer than wide, only marginally wider than thorax (see Hauser et al. 2017 for identification key).
Remarks: This specimen could only be identified to generic level because no males were available. This genus is a taxonomic mess and there are multiple species in Africa and Asia. Therefore, the exact identification of the species is not possible right now.