Elachiptera Macquart, 1835

Mlynarek, Julia J. & Wheeler, Terry A., 2018, Phylogeny and revised classification of the tribe Elachipterini (Diptera: Chloropidae), Zootaxa 4471 (1), pp. 1-36 : 19-21

Elachiptera Macquart, 1835

( Figs 33–38 )

Elachiptera Macquart, 1835: 621 . Type species: Chlorops brevipennis Meigen (original designation).

Crassiseta von Roser, 1840: 63 . Type species: Oscinis cornuta Fallen, 1820 (subsequent designation by Corti, 1909: 121).

Pachychaeta Loew, 1845: 50 . Type species: Oscinis cornuta Fallen, 1820 (monotypy).

Macrochetum Rondani, 1856: 127 . Type species: Oscinis cornuta Fallen, 1820 (original designation).

Myrmecomorpha Corti, 1909: 141 . Type species: Chlorops brevipennis Meigen, 1830 (monotypy).

Cyrtomomyia Becker, 1913: 166 . Type species: Cyrtomomyia pulchra Becker 1913 (subsequent designation by Sabrosky, 1941: 751) syn.n.

Doliomyia Johannsen 1924: 89 . Type species: Melanochaeta longiventris Johannsen, 1924 (original designation).

Neoelachiptera Séguy 1938: 360 . Type species: Neoelachiptera lerouxi Séguy, 1938 (original designation).

Chaetaspis Nishijima 1954: 84 . Type species: Chaetaspis katoi Nishijima, 1954 (original designation).

Togeciphus Nishijima 1955: 53 . (Replacement name for Chaetaspis Nishijima , preocc. Bollman, 1887). Type species: Chaetaspis katoi Nishijima, 1954 . syn.n.

New combinations. Elachiptera ensifer (Sabrosky, 1951) comb.n. ( Cyrtomomyia ); Elachiptera ericius (Kanmiya, 1983) comb.n. ( Togeciphus ); Elachiptera katoi (Nishijima, 1955) comb.n. ( Togeciphus ); Elachiptera maculinervis (Becker, 1910) comb.n. ( Cyrtomomyia ); Elachiptera punctulata (Becker, 1912) comb.n. ( Cyrtomomyia ); Elachiptera subelongata (Kanmiya, 1983) comb.n. ( Disciphus ); Elachiptera truncatus (Liu & Yang, 2012) comb.n. ( Togeciphus ); Elachiptera tuberculata (Adams, 1905) comb.n. ( Cyrtomomyia ).

Diagnosis. Oscinellinae with a reniform third antennal segment slightly elongated dorsally, a thick arista and a dorsally flattened, rugose scutellum with rounded apex and with multiple tubercles.

Description. Chloropidae , Oscinellinae . Vertex rounded in lateral view ( Fig. 33 ); frontal triangle shining and bare; frons microtomentose; cephalic chaetotaxy: long peristomal bristles, cruciate postocellar bristles, cruciate short ocellar bristles, long outer vertical bristles, interfrontal setulae long and on margin of frontal triangle, orbital bristles reclinate, of equal size or with 2 longer than the rest; eye sparsely and microscopically pubescent; gena narrow, vibrissal angle rounded, indistinct; face flat, wide, carina absent; first flagellomere reniform, higher than wide, arista longer than width of frons, and thick ( Fig. 34 ); proboscis and palpus short.

Scutum square to longer than wide; thoracic chaetotaxy: 1 anterior, 1 posterior notopleurals, 1 postsutural supra-alar bristle, 1 dorsocentral bristle; scutellum flat dorsally, usually rugose, usually wider than long, round ( Fig. 35 ), sometimes elongate with round apex; 1 pair apical scutellar bristles on tubercles, 1 or 2 pairs of lateral scutellar bristles on tubercles; thoracic pleurites bare except for a row of setulae on katepisternum. Wing long, narrow, clear or with markings, second costal sector equal to or shorter than third costal sector, distance between crossvein r-m and dm-cu 2.4 times length of dm-cu, anal angle reduced, alula small, much longer than wide; veins pale; halter white. Legs long and slender; male femoral organ present as 1–3 rows of 3–5 tubercles; small, apical ventral spur on mid tibia; hind tibial spur usually absent or short and apical; tibial organ oval, sometimes very narrow, 0.2 to 0.25 times length of hind tibia.

Abdominal tergites setulose laterally and with sparse setae posteriorly, mostly microtomentose; sternites slender, with sparse setae; male spiracles 3–5 in membrane near lateral margin of tergite.

Male postabdomen: pregenital sclerites narrow; spiracles 6 and 7 in membrane ventral to lateral margin of dorsal sclerite; epandrium rounded, usually higher than long in lateral view ( Fig. 37 ) and wider than high in posterior view ( Fig. 36 ); surstylus simple, clavate or quadrate; hypandrium open posteriorly ( Fig. 38 ); pregonite fused with postgonite, weakly sclerotized; basiphallus elongate, weakly sclerotized; distiphallus short, membranous; phallapodeme simple; phallic guide sclerotized; cercus small, triangular, projecting posteroventrally.

Female terminalia not modified, cerci separate, cylindrical, setulose.

Geographic distribution. Elachiptera is widespread in the Nearctic, Palearctic and Afrotropical regions.

Remarks. All Neotropical species previously assigned to Elachiptera are now in Ceratobarys .

Figures

FIGURES 33–38. Elachiptera brevipennis. 33. Head: lateral; 34. Antenna; 35. Scutellum, dorsal; 36. Male genitalia, posterior; 37. Male genitalia, lateral; 38. Male genitalia, ventral. Abbreviations: cer—cercus; epd—epandrium; hyp—hypandrium; sursurstylus. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.