Lispe caesia -group

Lispe caesia -group Hennig, 1960: 411; Xue & Zhang, 2005: 119; Zhang et al., 2005: 356.

Diagnosis. Frontal triangle distinctly broad, with dense shinning pollinosity, lateral margin projecting; frontal vitta narrow on both sides; vibrissa of male generally weak (except to L. flavicornis and L. halophora) or even absent (in males of L. lanceoseta and L. leucocephala); fore tibia with 1 median seta; fore and mid femora with stout ventral spines (Fig. 3); hind tibia generally with 1 av, without pd.

Male: First hind tarsomere swollen and setulose (Fig. 1), with sword-shaped microsetae (Fig. 30); abdominal sternite 5 with close-set short setae on median lobe (Figs. 6 A; 15A, B; 19A; 28A); surstyli fused with lower margin of epandrium; bacilliform sclerite usually present; cerci partly fused into a median plate (Figs. 6 B, C; 15C, D; 19B, C; 21A, B; 28B, C); phallic tube with distinctive projection (Fig. 2).

Female: Abdominal sternite 6 and tergite 7 divided medially; abdominal sternite 7 fused with tergite 7 into a median lobe in some species (in L. caesia caesia and L. caesia microchaeta); sternite 8 mostly absent (except to L. aquamarina and L. flavicornis); epiproct concave on posterior margin (Figs. 4 A, B, G, H).

Distribution. Ethiopian (ET), Oriental (OR) and Palaearctic (PA) regions.

Included species (and subspecies). L. aquamarina Shinonaga & Kano, 1983 (PA); L. caesia Meigen, 1826 (PA) (with two subspecies, L. caesia caesia Meigen, 1826 and L. caesia microchaeta Séguy, 1940); L. candicans Kowarz, 1892 (PA); L. flavicornis Stein, 1909 (OR); L. halophora Becker, 1903 (PA); L. hirsutipes Mou in Fan, 1992 (PA); L. lanceoseta Wang & Fan in Wang et al., 1981 (PA); L. leucocephala Loew, 1856 (ET and PA); L. palawanensis Shinonaga & Kano, 1989 (OR); and L. patellitarsis Becker, 1914 (OR and PA).