Neoephydra inca, Mathis, Wayne N. & Marinoni, Luciane, 2016

Mathis, Wayne N. & Marinoni, Luciane, 2016, Revision of Ephydrini Zetterstedt (Diptera: Ephydridae) from the Americas south of the United States, Zootaxa 4116 (1), pp. 1-110 : 44

The araucaria Group

Species Included: Neoephydra abrupta (Cresson) ; N. araucaria Mathis ; N. caesia (Wulp) ; N. chilensis (Macquart) ; N. ciligena (Rondani) ; N. inca sp. nov.; N. lenti (Oliveira) ; N. penai sp. nov.; N. pravoneura (Hendel) ; N. prionoptera (Thomson) ; N. trichina sp. nov.; N. zurcheri (Hendel) .

Diagnosis. Members of the araucaria group are distinguished from those of other species groups by the following characters: Overall body size large, 3.04–5.50 mm; setation normally developed, not with pilose appearance

Head: Mesofrons shiny with metallic luster; mesofrons bearing several uniformly scattered small setae; lateroclinate, fronto-orbital setae 2; pedicel bearing a long slender seta, inserted dorsally and directed dorsally; arista enlarged basally, macropubescent, apical half style-like.

Thorax: Anterior dorsocentral setae well developed; disc of scutellum concolorous with posterior portion of scutum; female lacking prescutellar patch of setae between posterior 2 dorsocentral setae; supra-alar seta present; hindtibia with a patch of short black setae near apex of anteroventral surface, but lacking apical, large seta.

Distribution. Neotropics; from the equator (Galapagos Islands) south throughout most of temperate South America, apparently not occurring in tropical areas.

Remarks. This is the largest species group of the genus and comprises the Neotropical species listed in recent catalog under Dimecoenia ( Wirth 1968, Mathis and Zatwarnicki 1995).

Many species are quite variable, especially color polymorphism. In the key to follow, we have endeavored to account for color variation wherever possible, but for many species, we have had to resort to other characters, particularly to features of the male terminalia, to determine a species. The key, consequently, is adequate only for males, and frequently dissection and study of the male terminalia are necessary. For many species, however, females are also separable.