Limnophora aculeipes Stein, 1913 : 521

Couri, Márcia & Pont, Adrian, 2017, Afrotropical Limnophora Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera, Muscidae) with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 4216 (6), pp. 501-536 : 503

Limnophora aculeipes Stein, 1913: 521 .

( Figs 9–12 )

The single surviving syntype (a male in ZMHU, see Pont and Werner 2006: 16; Pont 2013: 52) was not seen during the present study . A series of males and females is deposited in the BMNH .

Diagnosis. Postsutural dorsocentrals 3; anterior postsutural intralar present; fore tibia without a posterior median seta; mid femur with 2 posterior preapical setae; mid tibia with 1 posterior seta and without anterodorsal seta; hind tibia without a posterodorsal seta; lower katepisternal seta more or less equidistant from the upper two; costal spine indistinct; sternite 5 ( Fig. 9 ).

Terminalia. Cercal plate and surstylus as in Figs 10–11 . Aedeagal complex as in Fig. 12 .

Notes. L. aculeipes has been considered until now to be represented by three subspecies ( Pont 1980): L. aculeipes aculeipes , L. aculeipes latilamellata Malloch, 1921 and L. aculeipes eurymetopa Emden, 1951 . Emden (1951) differentiated them mainly by the chaetotaxy of fore and hind tibiae. One male paratype of L. aculeipes eurymetopa and one male of each of the other two subspecies were dissected. The morphology of the terminalia of L. aculeipes latilamellata and L. aculeipes eurymetopa is identical, while that of L. aculeipes aculeipes is very different from the other two. We therefore consider L. aculeipes and L. latilamellata (stat. rev.) to be valid species, with L. aculeipes eurymetopa as a junior synonym of the latter (syn. nov.).

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 24. Sternite 5; cercal plate and surstyli in dorsal view; epandrium, cercal plate and surstyli in lateral view; aedeagus in lateral view: 9 – 12. Limnophora aculeipes Stein. 13 – 16. Limnophora alta sp. nov. 17 – 20. Limnophora apicalis Zielke. 21 – 24. Limnophora exigua (Wiedemann).