Rhamphomyia, Meigen, 1822

Shamshev, Igor V. & Barták, Miroslav, 2024, New species and records of the Rhamphomyia subgenus Holoclera (Diptera, Empididae) from the Palaearctic Region, Zootaxa 5512 (4), pp. 512-530 : 513

Rhamphomyia ( Holoclera Schiner )

Holoclera Schiner, 1860: 53 (as genus). Type species: Holoclera pulchra Egger, 1860: 346 (by subsequent monotypy of Egger, 1860) [= R. nigripennis (Fabricius) ].

Diagnosis. Small to mid-sized, slender species (wing length from 2.5 to 6.5 mm), with body varying from yellow to black. Male eyes holoptic or narrowly dichoptic, female frons relatively narrow; postpedicel at least twice as long as broad, stylus shorter than postpedicel; labrum usually longer than head height. Thorax with bare prosternum; presutural intra-alar seta absent ( R. (H.) nigripennis group) or present (R. (H.) flava group), acrostichal setae absent or present. Legs slender, never pennate in female; fore femur with specialised, rather spine-like anterior setae ( R. (H.) nigripennis group) or with simple setae (R. (H.) flava group); hind tibia without long seta in posteroapical comb ( R. (H.) nigripennis group) or bearing long seta (R. (H.) flava group). Wing with axillary angle slightly acute to slightly obtuse; cell dm small and narrow ( R. (H.) nigripennis group) or more truncate (R. (H.) flava group). Male abdominal tergite 8 often slightly modified: either partially fused with sternite 8 or desclerotized medially. Female with thorax brown to black ( R. (H.) nigripennis group) or extensively yellow (R. (H.) flava group).

Remarks. There are some species of Empis which resemble very much species of R. ( Holoclera ). For example, the Empis subgenus Rhadinempis Collin , with only a single known species, Empis bazini Collin , is strikingly similar to species of the R. (H.) nigripennis group ( Barták & Kubík 2012). Empis shebalinensis Shamshev described from Altay is very similar to species of the R. (H.) nigripennis group as well ( Shamshev 2019).In addition, some Holoclera - like species of Rhamphomyia with unclear systematic position ( R. atrata group) are present in the Nearctic Region (Sinclair, pers. comm.) and in the Russian Far East (Shamshev, unpublished data). This may suggest that the current concept of R. ( Holoclera ) requires a more precise analysis including the mentioned taxa.

Rhamphomyia (Holoclera) is divided into two groups of species: R. flava group and R. nigripennis group ( Barták 1982; Barták & Kubík 2012). The biology is poorly known, with adults visiting flowers, and they have never been observed hunting prey ( Barták & Kubík 2012). We refer to Chvála & Wagner (1989) for full lists of synonyms. The species listed below are arranged alphabetically.