Panops Lamarck, 1804

Winterton, Shaun L., 2012, Review of Australasian spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a revision of Panops Lamarck, ZooKeys 172, pp. 7-75 : 14-18

Panops Lamarck, 1804 Figs 12D17-55

Panops Lamarck, 1804: 263 - Latreille 1804: 191, 1809: 316, 1810: 392, 443, 1811: 707, 1816: 608, 1825: 492, 1829: 461; Lamarck 1812: 56; Wiedemann 1830: 18; Macquart 1838: 166; Blanchard 1840: 583; Erichson 1840: 140; Walker 1855: 332; Schiner 1868: 140; Westwood 1876: 509; Bigot 1890: 314; Hardy 1921: 76, 1946: 66; Brunetti 1926: 580; Paramonov 1957: 525; Neboiss 1971: 208; Schlinger and Jefferies 1989: 376. Type species: Panops baudini Lamarck, 1804 by monotypy.

Epicerina Macquart, 1850: 97 - Bigot 1890: 316. Synonymy in: Hardy 1921: 79; Hardy 1946: 66; Paramonov 1957: 521. Type species: Epicerina nigricornis Macquart, 1850 by original designation.

Neopanops Schlinger, 1959: 157 - Schlinger and Jefferies 1989: 376. Type species: Neopanops boharti , Schlinger, 1959 by original designation. syn. n.

Panocalda Neboiss, 1971: 212 - Schlinger and Jefferies 1989: 376. Type species: Panocalda grossi , Neboiss, 1971 by original designation. syn. n.

Diagnosis.

Body length: 8.0-12.5 mm [male], 9.5-14.5 mm [female]. Colouration non-metallic or metallic; head slightly smaller than thorax width, shape hemispherical; postocular ridge and occiput rounded; three ocelli, anterior ocellus reduced in size or absent; posterior margin of eye emarginate; eye apilose or pilose (sparse) (sometimes localized dorsally); position of antennae on head adjacent to ocellar tubercle; eyes not contiguous above antennal base, contiguous below antennal base; palpus present; proboscis length variable, less than or greater than head length; flagellum shape elongate, slightly tapered (female) or elongate, cylindrical (male); flagellum apex lacking terminal setae; scapes separate; subscutellum not enlarged, barely visible; tibial spines present; pulvilli present; wing hyaline, markings absent; costa circumambient (weaker along anal margin); costal margin at pterostigma straight; humeral crossvein present; R1 not inflated distally; pterostigma and cell r1 membranous, not ribbed; vein R2+3 present; R4 and R5 present as forked petiolate veins; radial veins straight towards wing apex, slightly angled anteriorly; cell r4+5 bisected by 2r-m, basal cell narrow elongate, closed; 2r-m joining M1 to stem R4+5; R4 with or without spur vein; medial vein compliment with M1, M2 and M3 present; discal cell closed completely; medial veins reaching wing margin; cell m3 present; CuA1 joining M3, petiolate to wing margin; CuA2 fused to A1 before wing margin, petiolate to margin; wing microtrichia absent; anal lobe well developed; alula well developed; abdominal tergites smooth, rounded; abdomen shape greatly rounded, inflated (larger in female). Male genitalia (Fig. 17) typical for Panopinae and varying little between species: gonostylus fused with gonocoxite and non-articulated, but with lightly sclerotized areas ventrally indicating flexion of gonostylus with gonocoxite; gonostylus as ventrally curved process with cup-like ventromedial surface; aedeagus consisting of flattened quadrangular, or cylindrical, parameral sheath with ventral rod-like structure with apical gonopore; ejaculatory apodeme poorly developed.

Included species.

Panops aurum sp. n.; Panops austrae Neboiss, 1971; Panops baudini Lamarck, 1804; Panops boharti (Schlinger, 1959) comb. n.; Panops conspicuus (Brunetti, 1926); Panops danielsi sp. n.; Panops grossi ( Neboiss 1971) comb. n.; Panops jade sp. n.; Panops schlingeri sp. n.

Comments.

Panops is the type genus for the subfamily Panopinae and includes some large metallic coloured species. The genus is endemic to Australia and neighbouring Papua region of Indonesia. The original concept of the genus was expanded to include species from the New World by some authors, but these have subsequently been placed in the separate and distantly related genus Lasia Wiedemann, 1824 (e.g. Lasia metallica Rondani, 1863; Lasia ocelliger (Wiedemann, 1830)). Bequaert (1931) and later Neboiss (1971), discuss the historically confused and intertwined generic concepts of Lasia and Panops (sometimes including Mesophysa ) in previous treatments of the group by various authors. Based on a series of characters, it is clear that those Australasian species are placed in Panops or Mesophysa , while the New World species are placed in Lasia . In his description of Neopanops , Schlinger (1959) suggested that the genus was closely related to Panops and provided an extensive list of characters distinguishing the two. Similarly, Neboiss (1971) provided a list of characteristics to differentiate Panocalda from the closely related Panops and Neopanops . Both Schlinger (1959) and Neboiss (1971) distinguished their respective genera based on characters such as eye pilosity, length of proboscis, shape of ocellar tubercle, palpi length, head width, parafacial pilosity and wing length. With the inclusion of the four new species described here, and a critical re-examination of the characters used to differentiate Neopanops and Panocalda from Panops , it is clear that all of these characters are variable and that only one genus is warranted. Some species of Panops have pilose eyes, either uniformly sparse and minute (i.e. Panops danielsi sp. n., Panops boharti comb. n., Panops baudini ) or localized ( Panops grossi comb. n.), with the other species being apilose. In no species of Panops are the eyes uniformly dense pilose, as is found in most other panopine genera (e.g. Apsona , Lasia ). This paucity of eye pilosity is shared with only a few other genera, including the Australian Leucopsina and Mesophysa , as well as the highly derived genus Corononcodes Speiser, 1920 from the Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions. Proboscis length is a frequently used character in acrocerid taxonomy, but in Panops the length is dramatically variable, with a proboscis much shorter than the head height in some species (e.g. Panops jade sp. n., Panops schlingeri sp. n., Panops boharti comb. n.) while the rest have a proboscis longer than the head height. Panops is a variable genus, but can be differentiated from all other Panopinae based on the diagnosis above, and specifically from all other genera in the Australasian region based on tibial spines being present (cf. Apsona ) and wing crossvein 2r-m joining to R4+5 (cf. Leucopsina , Mesophysa ). Like most acrocerids, species of Panops display distinct sexual dimorphism with males often have slightly smaller body size and larger antennae than females. Many Old World panopine genera (e.g. Apsona , Panops , Rhysogaster Aldrich, 1927) have a distinctive unidirectional arrangement of the pile on the head and thorax, giving the individual a dramatic change in appearance when viewed head on (e.g. Figs 20, 23, 40); the biological significance of this is unknown.

Key to Panops species.

Panops baudini keys to two couplets as the eye pilosity is extremely minute in some individuals and may be overlooked. Females are unknown for Panops boharti comb. n. and Panops aurum sp. n., whilst males are unknown for Panops schlingeri sp. n.