Beris Latreille, 1802 - Latreille 1802: 447 (Type-species: Stratiomys sexdentata Fabricius).

Hexacantha Meigen, 1803 - Meigen 1803: 264 (Type-species: Musca clavipes Linnaeus).

Octacantha Lioy, 1864 - Lioy 1864: 586 (Type-species: Beris fuscipes Meigen).

Hemiberis Enderlein, 1921 - Enderlein 1921: 209 (Type-species: Beris quadridentata Walker).

Unlike other genera in this subfamily, this genus has a degenerated maxillary palpus and the scape and pedicel have almost the same length. In males, hind tarsomere 1 is particularly swollen (about two times wider than the hind tibia).

See following references for details: Nagatomi and Tanaka (1972), Woodley (1981), Rozkošný (1982), Yang and Nagatomi (1992), Woodley (1995), Yang et al. (2014).

Beris fuscipes Meigen, 1820 - Meigen 1820: 8 (Type-locality: England). ♂ Holotype [MNHN].

Beris sachalinensis Pleske, 1926 - Pleske 1926: 408 (Type-locality: Russia). ♂ Lectotype [ZMAS], synonymised by Pleske 1930.

Beris fuscotibialis Pleske, 1926 - Pleske 1926: 409 (Type-locality: Russia). ♂ Lectotype [ZMAS], synonymised by Nartshuk and Rozkošný 1976.

Beris sychuanensis Pleske, 1926 - Pleske 1926: 411 (Type-locality: China). ♂ Lectotype [ZMAS], synonymised by Nartshuk and Rozkošný 1976.

Beris petiolata Frey, 1961 - Frey 1961: 80 (Type-locality: Japan). 4♀ Syntypes [UZMH], synonymised by Nagatomi and Tanaka 1972.

Male. Body length (excluding antennae): 6.5–7.4 mm; wing length: 5.5–6.1 mm. Head: Black and somewhat sub-shining; compound eyes densely covered with pale brown hairs; occiput and vertex with pale brown recumbent hairs; postocular areas towards lower margin of eye slightly pale pollinose; face black pilose; lower frons with short dark brown to black hairs; antennae short, extreme apex of pedicel slightly tinged with yellowish-brown; flagellum 1.3-1.4 times as long as scape and pedicel combined; flagellomeres 1-2 abruptly swollen, about 1.6-1.8 times wider than pedicel (Fig. 1B). Thorax: Metallic green, scutum tomentose with pale brown hairs; postpronotal lobe tinged with brown; anepisternum, except anterior and posterior part, lower part of katepisternum and anepimeron, nearly bare. Legs: Mainly yellowish-brown, but the following parts tinged dark brown to black: all coxae, extreme apex of mid-femur, apical half of hind femur, except extreme apex, mid-tibia, except base, middle portion of hind tibia and tarsi (base of fore tarsus slightly paler); hind tarsomere 1 about 1.8-1.9 times wider than hind tibia (Fig. 1A). Wings: Tinged with dark brown; base of M₁ and M₂ convergent (Fig. 1C). Abdomen: Dark brown to black, lateral margin of tergites with conspicuous long yellowish-brown to brown hairs; sterna partly with recumbent pale yellow to yellowish-brown hairs densely; epandrium broad, semi-circular-shaped, posterior margin practically straight; surstyli inserted posterolaterally, feebly curved inwards; cerci parallel-sided and straight; proctiger nearly triangular, apex somewhat rounded (Fig. 1E); gonocoxite wider than long, posteromedian projection not well-developed, only slightly protruding; gonostyli blunt, not tapering (Fig. 1D); phallus slender, tripartite; lateral lobes slightly divergent from and slightly longer than median lobe (Fig. 1F and G).

Figure 1.  

Beris fuscipes Meigen, 1820: A. Male habitus, lateral view; B. Male head, lateral view; C. Male wing; D. Genital capsule, dorsal view; E. Epandrium, cerci and proctiger, dorsal view; F. Phallus, dorsal view; G. Ditto, lateral view. Scale bars: A = 1.0 mm; B, C = 0.5 mm; D–G = 0.1 mm.

Female: Specimen unavailable.

This species can be distinguished from other congeners by the following key diagnostic characters: flagellum short, basal flagellomeres 1-2 (or 1-3) abruptly swollen in both sexes (Fig. 1B), posterior margin of epandrium with well-developed surstyli (males) (Fig. 1E); frons about 1/5 to 1/4 of head-width (females) in anterior view (Rozkošný and Nartshuk 1980:416). This species is particularly similar to the nominate Palearctic species, B. chalybata (Forster, 1771) and B. strobli Dusek & Rozkosny, 1968, but the flagellum of the latter two species is long and not thickened basally, male genitalia without surstyli and the width of frons in the female is about 1/3 of head-width (Rozkošný 1982).

Korea (new record: Gangwon-do), China (Sichuan, Ningxia, Gansu), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu), Russia (Far East: Siberia), Mongolia, Europe, Canada and USA.

According to literature, this species has been reported to have intraspecific variation in the ground colour of antennal segments, hairs on head and thorax, parts of the legs and in wing venation and shape of surstylus (Woodley 1981, Rozkošný 1982, Woodley 1995). In the Korean specimens, these features are as follows: antennae black, but extreme apex of pedicel yellowish-brown; hairs on frons, face and scutum mainly pale brown to black; M₁ and M₂ touching proximally, M₃ invisible; basal part of femora and tibiae tinged with yellow; surstyli not straight, but curved inwards.

This Holarctic species is widely distributed in large regions of the Palearctic, Europe to Asia and Nearctic realms, North America. The distributional ranges are as follows: Palearctic: Europe [Central: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland; Northern: Finland, Norway, Sweden; Southern: Italy; Western: France, UK, Ireland; Eastern: Georgia, Roumania, Ukraine] and Asia [Central: Kazakhstan; East: China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia (Far East)]; Nearctic: Canada and USA (Rozkošný 1982, Woodley 2001).

Beris hildebrandtae Pleske, 1930 - Pleske 1930: 195 (Type-locality: Russia). ♂ Lectotype [ZMAS].

Beris angustifacies Nagatomi and Tanaka, 1972 - Nagatomi and Tanaka 1972: 91 (Type-locality: Japan). ♂ Holotype [KU]. New synonymy.

Beris liaoningana Cui et al, 2010 - Cui et al. 2010: 280 (Type-locality: China). ♂ Holotype [CAU]. New synonymy.

Male. Body length (excluding antennae): 5.3-5.4 mm; wing length: 5.0-5.1 mm. Head: Black and shining; compound eyes densely covered with black hairs; occiput and vertex with pale recumbent hairs; postocular areas towards lower margin of eye covered with pale yellow hairs; face mixed yellow and black hairs; lower frons with short pale hairs; antennae short, extreme apex of pedicel tinged yellowish-brown, both surfaces of flagellomeres 2-4 and inner surface of flagellomeres 5-6 tinged with yellowish-brown to reddish-brown; flagellum 1.4-1.5 times as long as scape and pedicel combined; basal flagellomeres not abruptly swollen (Fig. 2C). Thorax: Metallic green, scutum tomentose with yellow hairs; postpronotal lobe tinged with yellowish-brown; central part of anepisternum, katepisternum, except upper part and posterior part of anepimeron, nearly bare. Legs: Mainly yellow, but the following parts tinged dark brown: all coxae, except at extreme apex, fore and mid-tarsomeres 2-5, hind tarsomeres 3-5; all trochanters and basal half of femora pale; hind tarsomere 1 about 1.8-2.0 times wider than hind tibia (Fig. 2A). Wings: Tinged with brown; base of M₁ and M₂ separated (Fig. 3A). Abdomen: Dark brown, lateral margin of tergites mixed with conspicuous long pale yellow and black hairs; sterna wholly densely covered with recumbent yellowish-brown hairs; epandrium broad, anterior margin triangular, posterior margin straight; surstyli absent; cercus parallel-sided and straight; proctiger equilaterally triangular (Fig. 3C); gonocoxite wider than long, median projection on gonocoxite well-developed, bilobate with deep incision; gonostyli clearly curved inwards, tapering apically (Fig. 3D); phallus comparatively stout, tripartite; lateral lobes fairly divergent and with a short straight and pointed apex, somewhat longer than median lobe; median lobe broader at base, more slender and curved distally (Fig. 3E and F).

Figure 2.  

Beris hildebrandtae Pleske, 1930: A Male habitus, lateral view; B Female habitus, lateral view; C Male head, lateral view; D Female head, lateral view; E Female abdomen, dorsal view. Scale bars: A, B = 1.0 mm; C, D = 0.2 mm; E = 0.5 mm.

Figure 3.  

Beris hildebrandtae Pleske, 1930: A Male wing; B Female wing; C Epandrium, cerci and proctiger, dorsal view; D Genital capsule, dorsal view; E Phallus, dorsal view; F Ditto, lateral view. Scale bars: A, B = 0.5 mm; C–F = 0.1 mm.

Female. Similar to males, but differing as follows: Body length (excluding antennae): 5.0–5.8 mm; wing length: 4.2–5.0 mm. Head: Hairs on compound eyes relatively shorter and fewer than in males; postocular area with distinct pale pruinosity along towards lower margin of eye; antennae mostly tinged reddish-brown, flagellomeres 6-8 dark brown to black; flagellum 1.7-2.0 times as long as scape and pedicel combined; terminal flagellomere more pointed apically (Fig. 2D). Thorax: Hairs on side of scutum shorter than in males. Legs: All coxae completely pale to pale yellow; hind tarsomere 1 less swollen than in males (Fig. 2B). Wings: Tinged with pale yellow (Fig. 3B). Abdomen: Yellow to yellowish-brown and generally glossy; hairs on lateral margin of tergites shorter than in males; posterior margins of tergites 2-6 with transverse black stripes; middle of tergites 2-6 tinged with brown; sterna normally pale yellow, but middle part of sternites 2-5 sometimes dark brown; sternites wholly densely covered with recumbent pale yellow hairs (Fig. 2E).

This species can be distinguished from other congeners by the following key diagnostic characters: legs, except coxae and tarsomeres 2-5, mainly pale yellow to yellow (males) (Fig. 2A); wings tinged with pale yellow (Fig. 3B), posterior margin of tergites 2-6 with transverse black stripes (females) (Fig. 2E) (Nartshuk and Rozkošný 1975).

Korea (new record: Gangwon-do), China (Liaoning), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu) and Russia (Far East: Siberia).

This species was discovered by Pleske in 1930 from the Russian Far East and 45 years later, it was re-described in detail by Russian entomologists, Nartshuk and Rozkošný (1975). It has noticeable intraspecific variations, including sexual dimorphism (see Figs 2, 3). Although there are some variations, i.e. colouration of antennal segments 2-3 and coxae, the Korean specimens collected in Gangwon-do Province highly matched with the original description and re-description (Pleske 1930; Nartshuk and Rozkošný 1975) and we identified these materials as B. hildebrandtae Pleske. In the case of B. liaoningana Cui, Li and Yang, 2010, this species was described, based on the difference of the phallus structures, i.e. the gap, relative length and divergences of three lobes, in comparison with B. hildebrandtae Pleske. However, in the process of genital examination for Korean materials, we confirmed that the phallus structures of B. hildebrandtae Pleske appeared very similar to the drawing made by Cui et al. (2010) depending on the observation angle in glycerine jelly. When drawing a three-dimensional genital structure like a phallus complex, it often causes some distortions, which leads to the taxonomic problem that the same species are described as different species. Furthermore, the external morphology (except variations) and the other genital characters of this Chinese species significantly agreed with the re-description of B. hildebrandtae Pleske. Therefore, there is no doubt that B. liaoningana Cui, Li et Yang is identical with B. hildebrandtae Pleske. As for B. angustifacies Nagatomi and Tanaka, 1972, it was described, based on specimens from Japan and Russian Far East without comparison with B. hildebrandtae Pleske (Nagatomi and Tanaka 1972). They also illustrated B. angustifacies as having a bifurcate phallus, which is different from B. hildebrandtae (tripartite phallus). However, Nartshuk and Rozkošný (1975) included the personal communication of Nagatomi that “B. angustifacies Nagatomi and Tanaka is probably separated from B. hildebrandtae Pleske by the female’s abdominal colour (B. angustifacies more darkened) and these two species are very similar or possibly conspecific”. The authors confirmed that the abdomens of several Korean female specimens were also partially yellowish-brown to brown. Moreover, as in the example of Beris clavipes (Linnaeus, 1767), there is a possible intraspecific variation in the colour of the abdomen (Rozkošný 1982). In other words, the colour of the abdomen is not the main character to distinguish species-level. In conclusion, it is reasonable to treat B. angustifacies as a junior synonym of B. hildebrandtae Pleske.

The males of this species show intraspecific variations on their thoracic hairs, colour of coxae and tarsi. In the Korean specimens, these features are as follows: thoracic hairs usually pale yellow to yellow; all coxae dark brown to black, but extreme apices yellow, mid-coxa sometimes completely pale; tarsi mainly yellow, but fore and mid-tarsomeres 2-5 and hind tarsomeres 3-5 dark brown. The females of this species also have some variations on their colouration of antennae, darkening on abdomen and wing venation. For Korean materials, the antennae are mostly tinged with yellow to reddish-brown, but flagellomeres 6-8 dark brown to black. Additionally, the following variations are occasionally noted in some individuals from Korea: scape and pedicel tinged with reddish-brown and yellowish-brown, respectively; extreme base of scape dark brown to black; flagellomere 6 orange brown, not darkened like flagellomeres 7-8. The abdomens of Korean materials are mainly yellow to yellowish-brown and middle of tergites 2-7 more darkened; these segments are fully dark brown or pale yellow depending on individuals. Furthermore, M₁ and M₂ are generally well-separated proximally, but in some individuals, these veins touch at their bases.

Beris hirotui Ôuchi, 1943 - Ôuchi 1943: 487 (Type-locality: Japan). ♀ Holotype [SCI].

Beris hisotui (sic): Ôuchi 1943: 487.

Beris hirotsui (sic): Nagatomi and Tanaka 1972: 98; Nartshuk and Rozkošný 1975: 85; Rozkošný and Nartshuk 1988: 46; Yang and Nagatomi 1992: 167; Li et al. 2009: 130.

Male. Body length (excluding antennae): 5.9–7.4 mm; wing length: 5.0–6.0 mm. Head: Black and subshining; compound eyes densely covered with pale yellow hairs; occiput and vertex with pale recumbent hairs; postocular areas towards lower margin of eye slightly pale pollinose; face black pilose; lower frons with short black hairs; antennae short, apex of pedicel and inner surface of flagellomeres 2-6 tinged with pale yellow; flagellum 1.1-1.2 times as long as scape and pedicel combined; flagellomeres 3-6 swollen, about 1.5-1.6 times wider than pedicel (Fig. 4C). Thorax: Metallic green, scutum tomentose with pale yellow hairs; postpronotal lobe tinged with yellow; central part of anepisternum, katepisternum, except upper part and meron nearly bare. Legs: Mostly yellowish-brown, but the following parts tinged dark brown: fore and hind coxa, except apex, apical portion of hind femur, except extreme apex, hind tibia, except base, apices of tarsomeres 1 (but hind one slightly pale), and tarsomeres 2-5; hind tarsomere 1 about 2.4-2.6 times wider than hind tibia (Fig. 4A). Wings: Tinged with yellowish-brown; base of M₁ and M₂ convergent (Fig. 4E). Abdomen: Dark brown to black, lateral margin of tergites with conspicuously long pale yellow hairs; sterna wholly densely covered with recumbent pale yellow hairs; epandrium long, median margin quite concave, anterior margin semicircular; long surstyli inserted posterolaterally, strongly curved inwards; cerci nearly parallel-sided and straight; proctiger narrow and triangular (Fig. 4G); gonocoxite longer than wide, median projection incised rather than protruding, subquadrate; gonostyli clearly bent inwards; phallus comparatively thick, bifurcate; lobes bent and with diverging apices, three dorsal processes present (Fig. 4F, H).

Figure 4.  

Beris hirotui Ôuchi, 1943: A Male habitus, lateral view; B Female habitus, lateral view; C Male head, lateral view; D Female head, lateral view; E Male wing; F Genital capsule, dorsal view; G Epandrium, cerci and proctiger, dorsal view; H Phallus, lateral view. Scale bars: A, B = 1.0 mm; C, D = 0.2 mm; E = 0.5 mm; F–H = 0.1 mm.

Female. Similar to males, but differing as follows: Body length (excluding antennae): 5.0–6.2 mm; wing length: 4.4–5.8 mm. Head: Hairs on compound eyes relatively shorter and fewer than in males; occiput properly visible in anterior view; inner surface of flagellum, except apex tinged with brown to reddish-brown; flagellum nearly 1.3-1.5 times as long as scape and pedicel combined (Fig. 4D). Thorax: Hairs on side of scutum shorter than in males. Legs: Distal part of hind tibia paler rather than dark brown; hind tarsomere 1 less swollen than in males (Fig. 4B). Abdomen: Hairs on lateral margin of tergites shorter than in males.

This species can be distinguished from other congeners by the following key diagnostic characters: flagellum about 1.5 to 2 times as long as scape (Fig. 4C), hind tarsomere 1 about 2.5 times wider than hind tibia (Fig. 4A) (males); flagellomere 8 less than 2 times as long as wide (Fig. 4D) (females). This species is particularly similar to the Japanese species, B. nebulosa Nagatomi and Tanaka, 1972, but the latter species has characteristics as follows: flagellum about 2.4 times as long as scape, hind tarsomere 1 as wide as hind tibia (males); flagellomere 8 more than 2 times as long as wide (Nagatomi and Tanaka 1972:112).

Korea (new record: Gangwon-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Daegu-si), China (Hubei, Sichuan), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu), Russia (Far East: Siberia) and Taiwan.

See Nagatomi and Tanaka 1972 for detailed description.