Calliphora peruviana Robineau-Desvoidy 1830

Calliphora peruviana Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 438 Robineau-Desvoidy gave a short description, but the sex was not given. He stated that “[c] ette belle espèce, orginaire du Pérou, fait partie de la collection du comte Dejean [this beautiful specimen, collected in Peru, belongs in the collection of Count Dejean]”. Parts of Dejean’s collection were bought by Bigot, whose collection was obtained by Verrall and is now in OUMNH (Pont, pers. comm.). Macquart (1844: 288) observed that “[l] ’individu que M. Robineau-Desvoidy a décrit sans distinction de sexe, et que nous avons vu, est une femelle… [the specimen which Mr. Robineau-Desvoidy described without indicating its sex, and which we have seen, is a female …]”. Furthermore he illustrated the wing (Macquart 1844: Plate 16, fig. 9). Hall (1948: 301), citing the name as a senior synonym of and the valid name for Calliphora nigribasis Macquart, 1851, claimed that the type “male from Peru, …” is “in the Bigot collection, Newmarket, England [= OUMNH]”. James (1970: 12) followed Hall and cited peruviana as the senior synonym of Calliphora nigribasis Macquart, 1851. However, it seems that neither Hall nor James had actually studied the OUMNH specimen or its labels. According to Pont (pers.comm, and unpublished notes on the Bigot collection of Calliphoridae in Oxford, in KR’s possession) there are two specimens, one male and one female, under the drawer label reading “S. [= Somomyia, where Bigot placed all the Robineau-Desvoidy and Macquart Lucilia and Calliphora names] Peruviana 3 / Calliphora. id. R.D. / Peruvi. Rob.Desv.”. The male, not a type, is Calliphora nigribasis Macquart. The female, the type, carries a label in Robineau-Desvoidy’s own handwriting reading “ Calliphora peru / viana RD”. James Dear has labelled this specimen with (1) a holotype label reading: “ HOLOTYPE / Calliphora / peruviana R-D / 1830: 438. / det. J.P.Dear 1977 ”; and (2) an identification label reading “= Lucilia / peruviana R-D / J.P.Dear 1977 ”. Dear thus considered the holotype to belong in ...