Paraclius Loew

Paraclius Loew, 1864: 97 . Type species: Pelastoneurus arcuatus Loew 1864: 101 (subsequent designation by Coquillett 1910: 583).

Leptocorypha Aldrich, 1896: 315 . Type species: L. pavo Aldrich 1896: 316 (monotypy) (synonymized by Robinson 1970).

Recognition (based on Brooks 2005). Stylus bare to strongly pubescent, not plumose; clypeus flat or weakly pronounced, distinctly shorter than face in males, not exceeding lower margin of eyes; wing vein M bent beyond crossvein m-cu; mid and hind femora usually with one preapical seta.

Comments. Brooks (2005) already suggested that Paraclius is a “polyphyletic assemblage of species”, so a strict diagnosis for the genus cannot be presented at this time and has to await a revision and redefinition of the genus. The recognition of the genus presented here is a reduction of that proposed by Brooks (2005). The general morphology of all four species described here is considerably very similar, so P. amphiatheratus, sp. nov. is described in detail and only differential features of the other three species are provided. These new species do not fit the description of any of the previously described Neotropical Paraclius . Three females collected in Recife, State of Pernambuco, Brazil, could not be associated to males and are informally described as “ Paraclius sp.” below.