Allohelea Kieffer, 1917

Alwin-Kownacka, Alicja, Szadziewski, Ryszard & Szwedo, Jacek, 2016, Biting midges of the tribe Ceratopogonini (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the Middle East, with keys and descriptions of new species, Zootaxa 4079 (5), pp. 551-572 : 554

Genus Allohelea Kieffer, 1917

Type species. Sphaeromias pulchripennis Kieffer, 1911 ; by original designation. Boreohelea Clastrier & Delécolle, 1990 . Type species. Boreohelea afrotropica Clastrier & Delécolle, 1990 ; by original designation. Syn. nov.

Diagnosis. Species of this genus are easily recognized by having following features: tarsal hind claws in both sexes single and long; third segment of palpus swollen, with small rounded sensory pit; wing with or without dark pattern; hind femur and tibia swollen, unarmed, with distinct spines; two seminal capsules; aedeagus with proximal and distal pieces. This worldwide distributed genus now includes 59 species. From the Middle East two species are recorded.

Discussion. The genus Boreohelea Clastrier & Delécolle, 1990 is proposed for Boreohelea afrotropica Clastrier & Delécolle, 1990 described from a female with pale wings and subcylindrical fourth tarsomeres on fore and mid legs ( Clastrier & Delécolle 1990). All other characters as in Allohelea . Subsequently described male of Allohelea vespertilio Szadziewski et al. 2011 with pale wings has also subcylindrical fourth tarsomeres of fore and mid legs like Boreohelea afrotropica , however it has genitalia with unique aedeagus composed of two pieces typical for Allohelea ( Wirth & Grogan 1988, de Meillon & Wirth 1991). This suggests that the genus Boreohelea is not necessary, when we expand limits of the genus Allohelea including there species without patterned wings.