Atelestidae

Sinclair, Bradley J. & Cumming, Jeffrey M., 2006, The morphology, higher-level phylogeny and classification of the Empidoidea (Diptera), Zootaxa 1180 (1), pp. 1-172 : 1-172

Atelestidae

Atelestinae Hennig, 1970: 1 , 3, 5, 6. Type genus Atelestus Walker, 1837 .

Atelestidae Chvála, 1983: 85 , 228.

The definition of this family is expanded here to include the new subfamily, Nemedininae . In the Atelestidae , the epipharyngeal blades are absent, female tergite 10 is also absent and males possess distinctively long processes of the gonocoxal apodemes and a shortened hypandrium ( Sinclair & Shamshev 2003). Barták (2000) first proposed the assignment of Nemedina to the Atelestidae . Molecular analyses consistently assign the Atelestidae as the

sister group to the remaining Empidoidea ( Collins & Wiegmann 2002a; Moulton & Wiegmann 2004). The following two subfamilies are recognized.

Nemedininae n. subfam.

Type genus Nemedina Chandler, 1981 .

This is an ancient lineage that is represented by a single extant genus and several extinct genera ( Grimaldi & Cumming 1999). The venation of this new subfamily is unique in the Empidoidea, characterized by the apex of cell br modified through the inclusion of a short vertical Rs and recurrent r­m, with radial and medial veins closely approximated ( Chandler 1981; Grimaldi & Cumming 1999; Sinclair & Arnaud 2001; Sinclair & Shamshev 2003). This distinctive venation also characterizes five extinct genera from Cretaceous ambers ( Grimaldi & Cumming 1999). See the Taxon sampling section for further discussion.

Atelestinae

The Atelestinae are defined on the presence of the subapical surstyli and the U­shaped male tergite 8. The following extant genera are included in the Atelestinae : Acarteroptera Collin , Atelestus Walker , and Meghyperus Loew ( Chvála 1983) .