Egle steini, sensu Hennig, 1967

Michelsen, Verner, 2009, Revision of the willow catkin flies, genus Egle Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), in Europe and neighbouring areas, Zootaxa 2043 (1), pp. 1-76 : 35

The Egle steini species group

The present species group equals the ‘ Egle steini superspecies’ as defined by Griffiths (2003). He recognized 8 species: E. steini Schnabl , E. parvaeformis Schnabl , E. polychaeta Griffiths , E. pseudosteini Griffiths , E. falcata Ackland & Griffiths , E. acicularis Griffiths , E. inermis Ackland , E. bicaudata (Malloch) . Below I synonymize E. polychaeta with E. steini and describe as new E. ignobilis , E. inermoides and E. groenlandica . The species group thus consists of 10 described species of which 8 have been found in the Nearctic Region and 6 in the Palearctic Region. There are 4 endemic Nearctic species and 2 endemic Palaearctic species.

The E. steini species group is defined primarily by characters of the male sternite V: A pair of setal tufts present postero-laterally on the basal plate; posterior lobes sparsely setated, bare on basal and lateral parts. The monophyly of this heterogenous species group is presently based on rather tenuous evidence.