Afrosyrphus Curran, 1927

Mengual, Ximo, Ssymank, Axel, Skevington, Jeffrey H., Reemer, Menno & Ståhls, Gunilla, 2020, The genus Afrosyrphus Curran (Diptera, Syrphidae), with a description of a new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 635, pp. 1-17 : 4-5

Afrosyrphus Curran, 1927

Type species

Afrosyrphus varipes Curran, 1927 , by monotypy.

Differential diagnosis (adapted from Vockeroth 1969)

Moderately robust, rather pilose species with extremely long, slender antennae, obscure abdominal markings and densely pilose hind legs. Face almost straight in profile, with low tubercle, densely pale pruinose laterally, with a shining, broad, dark median facial vitta. Eye apparently bare (with extremely short and scattered pile), holoptic in male. Antenna porrect or nearly so, with postpedicel longer than scape and pedicel together; arista bare, subbasal. Mesonotum dull, heavily pruinose; pleura dull, pruinose. Thoracic pile pale, unusually long but not obscuring ground colour. Subscutellar fringe very long and dense. Dorsal and ventral katepisternal pile patches narrowly joined posteriorly, clearly separated anteriorly. Metasternum bare. Hind coxa and hind trochanter with a pile tuft at median angle. Wing membrane with extensive bare areas on rather more than basal half, microtrichia on rest of membrane very fine but moderately dense. Ventral calypter with many fine, erect pale pile on posterior part of dorsal surface. Apical half of hind femur and hind tibia of both sexes with dense dorsal and ventral fringes of long, mostly dark pile. Abdomen unmargined, narrowly oval, long pilose.

Distribution

Afrotropical Region (see Fig. 2 ).

Systematic remarks

Vockeroth (1969) suggested a close relationship with Epistrophe based on adult morphology and male genitalia. Láska et al. (2000) described the puparium of Afrosyrphus based on the material from Kenya collected by Schmutterer and argued that Afrosyrphus is more closely related to Epistrophella based on the puparium morphology. Our unpublished target enrichment Syrphinae phylogeny supports both of these hypotheses, with Epistrophella sister to Afrosyrphus + Epistrophe .

Figures

Fig. 2. Known distribution of Afrosyrphus varipes Curran, 1927 (red triangles) and Afrosyrphus schmuttereri sp. nov. (black circles).