Schlingeriella, Gillung, Jessica P. & Winterton, Shaun L., 2011

Gillung, Jessica P. & Winterton, Shaun L., 2011, New genera of philopotine spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a key to living and fossil genera, ZooKeys 127, pp. 15-27 : 22

Schlingeriella gen. n. Figs 1D67

Type species.

Schlingeriella irwini sp. n.

Diagnosis.

Body shape arched; colouration non-metallic dark brown; head width much smaller than thorax (female) or slightly smaller than thorax (male); head spherical; postocular ridge and occiput extended posteriorly into slight ridge; posterior margin of eye rounded; eyes bare; position of antennae on head near middle of frons, slightly nearer to mouthparts; eyes contiguous above antennal base, not contiguous below; palpi present; proboscis longer than head; antennal flagellum stylate, apex with terminal seta; thorax with postpronotal lobes enlarged, medially contiguous to form collar; subscutellum enlarged; legs not greatly elongated; tibial spines absent; pulvilli present; wing hyaline, markings absent; costa ending in radial field; costal margin straight in both sexes; humeral crossvein absent; radial veins meeting wing margin before wing apex; R1 inflated distally at pterostigma; R2+3 present; R4+5 present as single vein, slightly curved anteriorly midway; veins M1, M2 and M3 present; discal cell absent; medial veins reaching wing margin (or nearly so); cell m3 absent; crossvein 2r-m absent; Cu reduced, not reaching wing margin; anal lobe not enlarged; alula well developed; abdomen smooth, rounded, cylindrical in shape, similar width to thorax (male) or greatly rounded, inflated (female).

Etymology.

This genus is named in honor of Evert I. Schlinger, not only a collector of specimens of this species, but a foremost expert on world Acroceridae taxonomy and patron of dipterology.

Comments.

This genus is represented by only a single species ( Schlingeriella irwini sp. n.) from New Caledonia. Winterton et al. (2007) included DNA sequences for this genus in their phylogenetic analysis of the family, placing it close to the New Zealand genus Helle . Schlingeriella gen n. can be differentiated from all other philopotine genera by a combination of the following characters: inflated vein R1 apically, medial veins mostly reaching the wing margin, absence of all wing cells except cell br, apilose eyes and elongate mouthparts. There is dramatic sexual dimorphism in body size, with females considerably larger than the diminutive males; males of this genus are some of the smallest acrocerids known.