Gymnoclasiopa Hendel

Mathis, Wayne N. & Zatwarnicki, Tadeusz, 2012, A revision of the New World species of Gymnoclasiopa Hendel (Diptera, Ephydridae), ZooKeys 248, pp. 1-69 : 4-5

Genus Gymnoclasiopa Hendel

Gymnoclasiopa Hendel 1930: 136 (as a subgenus of Discocerina ). Type species: Notiphila plumosa Fallén 1823, by original designation. Cresson 1942: 119-121 [review, Nearctic species]. Wirth 1965: 739-740 [Nearctic catalog]. Zatwarnicki 1992: 89 [generic status]. Mathis and Zatwarnicki 1995: 174-178 [world catalog; world catalog].

Diagnosis.

Gymnoclasiopa is distinguished from other genera of the tribe Discocerinini by the following combination of characters: Small to moderately small shore flies, body length 1.70-3.30 mm; generally mostly bare to sparsely microtomentose, shiny to subshiny species. Head: Frons lacking orbital seta. Face moderately prominent at level of dorsal facial seta; antennal grooves generally weakly defined ventrally; face lacking secondary series of setae; facial setae 2-3, dorsal setae not arising from shiny papilla, lacking a dorsoclinate seta at lower lateral extremity; parafacial narrow throughout length, lacking setulae; gena generally low to moderate. Eye generally oval to nearly round, moderately conspicuously microsetulose, bearing interfacetal setulae not discernible by light stereomicroscope. Thorax: Presutural supra-alar seta well developed; postsutural supra-alar setae lacking; acrostichal setae present; notopleuron bare of setulae. Wings transparent, rarely infuscate apically; costa bearing 3-4 long, dorsal setae between humeral and subcostal breaks. Forefemur normally developed, lacking row of short, stout setae along posteroventral surface; hindtibia lacking a preapical, ventral, spurlike seta. Abdomen: Tergites usually unicolorous, lacking light colored areas laterally. Tergite 4 of ♂ as long or slightly than tergite 3. Male terminalia: Epandrium U-shaped in dorsal view, complete posteriorly; arms projected ventrad, posterior surface generally setulose, generally thickly formed, especially dorsal portion, arms tapered gradually toward ventral apex; cercus not fused anteriorly with epandrium, in posterior view broadly lunate, or elongate (3 × longer than wide), posterior apex more narrowly pointed; pregonite variously shaped, but generally rounded apically, bearing 2-5 setulae along basoposterior margin, and 1 subapical setula along ventral margin toward hypandrium, in lateral view fusiform, in dorsal view ovate with lunate fold on 2/3 ventral margin overlapping the sides of aedeagus; postgonite more or less regularly lobate, in lateral view rod-shaped, slightly widen dorsally, ventrally it is associated with hypandrium arm, and dorsally with posteroventral margin of post-gonite; aedeagus longer than wide, mostly tubular, in dorsal view navicular, broadly rounded or bifurcate apically, bearing lateromedial projections attached to posterior margin of pregonites, in lateral view cigar shaped or ovate, or tapered toward apex; phallapodeme separate from aedeagus, in dorsal view elongate, bifurcated basally and broadly clavate at the apex; keel in lateral view variously shaped, more or less triangular or sometimes hemispherical with posterior margin curved; hypandrium in dorsal view trapezoidal, broadly rounded along anterior margin, posterolateral arms broad, posterior incision reach to 1/3 hypandrial length, in lateral view flat, sometimes irregularly, but slightly curved; ejaculatory apodeme present in form of patella, in lateral view L-shaped.

Distribution.

Holarctic and Neotropical Region.

Natural history.

Adults are found on bare, sandy to muddy shorelines of both lentic and lotic aquatic systems in primarily temperate climates. Although we have not quantified our collecting, our perception is that specimens are more common in lotic systems. Nothing is known about the immature stages, and little else is known about most other biological aspects of the included species ( Zack 1983).

Key to species of Gymnoclasiopa from the New World