Puliciphora sobria Borgmeier

Disney, R. Henry L., 2005, Rudimentary halteres of some flightless female Phoridae (Diptera) reassessed, and some taxonomic implications, Zootaxa 1042, pp. 39-54 : 48

Puliciphora sobria Borgmeier

( Fig. 19 )

Puliciphora sobria Borgmeier, 1960: 317 .

Puliciphora cavatica Disney, 1995: 431 . Syn. nov.

The type series of P. cavatica , from Trinidad, comprised a series of males and a single female specimen that was badly discoloured (probably by being preserved in alcohol when still partly teneral). Since then Dr Will Reeves sent me two good female specimens from Dominica (Parish of St Joseph, Springfield Estate, humid forest, 15–17 April 2004). In addition he has sent a single, slightly teneral, female from the U.S.A. (Alabama, Baldwin Co., Ft Morgan Rd, 22 March 2004). The measurements of the specimens from Dominica are close to those given in the description of P. sobria , but the specimens have a paler thorax. The failure to recognise Borgmeier’s species stems from inaccurate depiction of tergite 6 in his figure of the dorsal aspect. Fig. 19 depicts T4–T6. The male of this species was described under P. cavatica .

The specimen from Alabama (deposited in the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology) is the first record of this species for the Nearctic Region

Figures

FIGURES 18 – 19. Puliciphora females: (18) P. s u a v i s from above (after Borgmeier, 1960); (19) P. sobria, abdominal tergites 4 – 6. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.