Schlingeriella Gillung & Winterton

Winterton, Shaun L., 2012, Review of Australasian spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a revision of Panops Lamarck, ZooKeys 172, pp. 7-75 : 51-55

Schlingeriella Gillung & Winterton Figs 3B60-62

Schlingeriella Gillung & Winterton, 2011: 22. Type species: Schlingeriella irwini Gillung & Winterton, 2011: 23.

Diagnosis.

Body length: 2.4-4.0 mm [male], 4.4-6.0 mm [female]. Body shape arched; body 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; palpus 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; 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 slightly curved anteriorly midway; veins M1, M2 and M3 present; discal cell absent; medial veins reaching wing margin (or nearly so); 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).

Included species.

Schlingeriella irwini Gillung & Winterton, 2011.

Comments.

Schlingeriella is differentiated from other Philopotinae by medial veins mostly reaching the wing margin, R1 inflated apically, reduced wing venation (i.e. absence of all wing cells except cell br), elongate mouthparts and apilose eyes. See results of Winterton et al. (2007) for phylogenetic placement and divergence times. This genus is represented by only a single species ( Schlingeriella irwini sp. n.) from New Caledonia (France). There is dramatic sexual dimorphism in body size, with females considerably larger than the males. This genus was described by Gillung and Winterton (2011) to honour the decades of work by Evert I. Schlinger on world Acroceridae taxonomy. Evert Schlinger not only collected many of the specimens in New Caledonia, he also recognized that it represented a completely new genus of endemic spider flies.