Mesophysa Macquart

Winterton, Shaun L., 2012, Review of Australasian spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a revision of Panops Lamarck, ZooKeys 172, pp. 7-75 : 13-14

Mesophysa Macquart Figs 2C12-16

Mesophysa Macquart, 1838: 166 - Blanchard 1840: 584; Westwood 1876: 517; Brunetti 1926: 580; Edwards 1930: 193; Neboiss 1971: 214; Schlinger and Jefferies 1989: 376. Type species: Mesophysa scapularis Macquart, 1838 by subsequent designation of Brunetti 1926: 580 [= Panops flavipes Latreille, 1811].

Diagnosis.

Body length: 8.0-10.0 mm [male], 9.0-11 mm [female]. Colouration non-metallic, usually matte greenish hue; head size slightly smaller than thorax width; shape hemispherical; postocular ridge and occiput rounded; three ocelli; posterior margin of eye emarginate; eye apilose; antennae positioned on head adjacent to ocellar tubercle; eyes not contiguous above antennal base, contiguous below antennal base; palpus present; proboscis greater than head length; flagellum shape elongate, cylindrical (flattened), truncated apically [more pronounced in male]; scapes separate; flagellum apex lacking terminal setae; subscutellum not enlarged, barely visible; tibial spines present; pulvilli present; wing infuscate, markings present; costa circumambient (weaker along anal margin); costal margin straight apically; humeral crossvein present; radial veins straight; R1 not inflated distally; pterostigma and cell r1 membranous, not ribbed; R2+3 present; R4+5 originating separately from cell r4+5; cell r4+5 bisected by 2r-m, basal cell narrow elongate, closed; 2r-m, joining M1 to R5; R4 with spur vein; medial vein compliment with M1, M2 and M3 present (M3 fused with CuA1); discal cell closed completely; medial veins reaching wing margin; cell m3 present; CuA1 joining M3, petiolate to 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 rounded, cylindrical, similar width to thorax or constricted anteriorly (male), tergites raised along posterior margins.

Included species.

Mesophysa flavipes (Latreille, 1811); Mesophysa ilzei Neboiss, 1971; Mesophysa tenaria Neboiss, 1971; Mesophysa ultima Neboiss, 1971.

Comments.

Mesophysa is an endemic eastern Australian genus closely related to Leucopsina . They share a similar habitus with narrowing of the abdomen anteriorly (more pronounced in Leucopsina ), apilose eyes, infuscate wings and flagellum shape, as well as the crossvein 2r-m joining to R5 rather than to the stem R4+5. This genus can be differentiated from Leucopsina by the lack of black and yellow markings. Mesophysa has been considered a synonym of Panops by some authors ( Erichson 1840; Kertész 1909; Edwards 1930; Hardy 1946; Paramonov 1957) and treated as separate genera by others (e.g. Brunetti 1926; Neboiss 1971). This was complicated by an incorrect synonymy of Panops with the distantly related South American genus Lasia Wiedemann, 1824 by Kertész (1909) (see discussion in Neboiss 1971). Neboiss (1971) provides a key to species of this genus.