Neophilopota Schlinger

Schlinger, Evert I., Gillung, Jessica P. & Borkent, Christopher J., 2013, New spider flies from the Neotropical Region (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a key to New World genera, ZooKeys 270, pp. 59-93 : 66-69

Neophilopota Schlinger gen. n. Figs 6-10

Type species.

Neophilopota brevirostris sp. n., by present designation.

Diagnosis.

Neophilopota gen. n.is an endemic Mexican genus similar to Quasi , Oligoneura and Philopota . It can be easily distinguished from the Central American genus Quasi as Neophilopota has pilose eyes and well developed mouthparts (forming an elongate proboscis). It shows greater similarity to both the Palearctic Oligoneura and the Neotropical Philopota in having elongate mouthparts and the ocellar tubercle poorly developed. It is easily distinguished from Philopota by having the frons as long as wide (though shorter than the antennae), the insertion of the antennae on the lower part of the frons, the lower facial margin wider in the upper portion than in lateral portions, and the clypeus shorter than the antennae. It can be readily differentiated from Oligoneura by the absence of the palpi, the presence of pile on the frons, the insertion of antennae on the lower portion of the head, the clypeus being shorter than the antennae and the legs greatly elongated. Neophilopota was referred to as 'New Genus A’ in the Manual of Central American Diptera ( Schlinger 2009).

Description.

Body shape arched (Fig. 6); coloration non-metallic. Head width slightly smaller than thorax width (Fig. 7); nearly spherical; ocellar tubercle slightly raised, rounded with three ocelli (Fig. 8); postocular ridge and occiput extended posteriorly into acute ridge; posterior margin of eye rounded; eye sparsely pilose; eyes contiguous above antennal base; not contiguous below; palpus absent; proboscis length subequal to or slightly greater than head length; without pile, or setae barely evident; antennae located nearer to mouthparts (Figs 8, 9); flagellum stylate; apex lacking terminal setae; scapes not fused together; postpronotal lobes enlarged, medially contiguous forming a collar; antepronotum narrow; subscutellum enlarged; legs greatly elongated; tibial spines absent; pulvilli present; wing markings and microtrichia absent (Fig. 10); costa ending near wing apex; costal margin straight; humeral crossvein present; radial veins straight, R1 not inflated distally; veins R4 and R5 present as single vein; crossvein 2r-m absent; two M veins present, not reaching wing margin; discal cell open distally; cell m3 absent; CuA1 reduced, not reaching wing margin; CuA2 reduced; anal lobe well developed; alula well developed; abdomen conical, tapering towards apex; tergites smooth, rounded.

Included species.

Neophilopota brevirostris sp. n.

Etymology.

The prefix of the genus epithet (neo) is derived from the Latin for “new”, referring to this being a new genus. The suffix, -philopota, is used in reference to Neophilopota 's similarity to Philopota .