Cerotainia Schiner

Scarbrough, Aubrey G. & Perez-Gelabert, Daniel E., 2006, A review of the asilid (Diptera) fauna from Hispaniola with six genera new to the island, fifteen new species, and checklist, Zootaxa 1381, pp. 1-91 : 39

Cerotainia Schiner

Cerotainia Schiner, 1866: 662 (in key), 673 (1868: 170; second erection of genus). Type species:

Laphria xanthoptera Wiedemann (orig. des.). Hull, 1962: 394; Martin & Papavero, 1970: 52. Ceratotaenia Lynch Arribálzaga, 1880: 52 , emend.

Remarks. This largely Neotropical genus is widely distributed from Connecticut and Michigan in North America southward to Argentina and Chile with 30 species. Three species are reported from the West Indies, one each from Cuba ( Bromley 1929), Jamaica ( Johnson 1919, Farr 1963), and Dominica ( Scarbrough & Knutson 1989). The genus is distinguished by the small body, strongly divergent frons and vertex, the antenna is as long as the height of the head, scape 3–4 times as long as pedicel, and the thoracic dorsum and abdominal tergites are punctuated, and the sixth abdominal tergite is cup-shaped, concealing the terminalia. The species are usually found on the exposed, tips of branches and leaves of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and tall grasses.