Dohrniphora diminuens Schmitz

Disney, R. Henry L., 2003, Revision of the Afrotropical species of Dohrniphora DAHL (Diptera: Phoridae), Zootaxa 196, pp. 1-24 : 7-8

Dohrniphora diminuens Schmitz

( Fig. 8 )

Diploneura (Dohrniphora) diminuens Schmitz, 1935: 42 . (Female only). Dohrniphora rhynchophora Beyer, 1960: 414 . (Female only). Borgmeier, 1971. Male: Disney & Kistner, 1989: 76.

This species was described from a single female, which has caused subsequent problems with the recognition of the species. Indeed Beyer (1959a) omitted it from his key and made no reference to it, despite his inclusion of three other species known from females only. I have remounted the holotype on a slide and can now confirm the identity of the termitophilous series reported from Angola in the nests of three genera of termites, including fungus growing species and the fungivorous habits of the larvae ( Disney & Kistner, 1989).

Material

Holotype female, SA, Rhodesia ( Zimbabwe), Salisbury (Harare), 27 January 1935, A Cuthbertson, ex termite nest 3993 (Natural History Museum, London ­ BMNH (E) 249323).

Figures

FIGURES 7 ­ 8. Dohrniphora males, posterior face of bases of hind femora: (7) D. confusa; (8) D. diminuens. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.