Amblypsilopus Bigot, 1888

Tang, Chufei, Zhu, Yajun & Yang, Ding, 2019, Sciapodinae from the Himalayan region with description of nine new species from Tibet (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), Zootaxa 4577 (1), pp. 1-28 : 3

Genus Amblypsilopus Bigot, 1888

Amblypsilopus is a large genus but possibly polyphyletic, with about 300 species recorded. The following features are usually used for distinguishing them from the other dolichopods: body usually delicate, with long thin abdomen and elongate legs; postpedicel of antenna usually subrectangular to subtriangular; arista-like stylus usually distinctly dorsal, arising from base of postpedicel, rarely longer than head width; bristles on tibiae often weak, especially in males; acr biseriate, usually with 2–6 pairs, never sexually dimorphic. Thorax with 4–5 paired dc, male usually only with 2 strong posterior dc weak and hair-like anterior dc; 2 paired sc, lateral pair weak and short. Femora almost always without strong ventral bristles; wing usually hyaline, but sometimes with apical maculation; vein M l usually with elbow-shaped bend, crossvein dm-cu straight and usually forming right angle with vein M; hypandrium asymmetrical, with narrow left lateral arm; phallus with dorsal angle; epandrial lobe with 2 strong apical bristles; surstylus often with large ventral lobe and digitiform dorsal projection; cercus various.

Many species of Amblypsilopus found by Becker in the Himalayan region, mostly in India, are poorly assigned to groups due to lack of detailed descriptions and close examination. The A. abruptus group encompasses the majority of Himalayan Amblypsilopus as well as the Chinese Amblypsilopus . Bickel (2009) suggested this group is richest in the Old World tropics. Species of the A. abruptus group can be distinguished from other groups by the following features: small sized, usually less than 4.0 mm in length; male head either with dense black bristles on lateral frons, or with single strong vt, female head always with 1 strong vt; thorax usually with 2–4 pairs of long acr; male with 2 strong posterior dc and 3–4 weak hair-like anterior dc; legs without distinct bristles, only mid tibia of female with weak ad at basal quarter; fore tibia sometimes with bent and weak posterior bristles apically; cercus not bifurcated, short digitiform or long filiform.

In this study six new species of Amblypsilopus are found in Tibet, of which four occur in Nyingchi, and two in Lhasa. Five new species records are reported from the Himalayan region, of which four occur in Nyingchi, which were reported from the Oriental part of China. Most species of Amblypsilopus in the Himalayan region are reported from Nyingchi. A key to species of male Amblypsilopus in the Himalayan region is provided below.