Eulonchiella Meunier

Gillung, Jessica P. & Winterton, Shaun L., 2011, New genera of philopotine spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a key to living and fossil genera, ZooKeys 127, pp. 15-27 : 17-19

Eulonchiella Meunier Figs 1 E–G 2

Eulonchiella eocenica Meunier 1912: 177 - Meunier 1910: 177, Brunetti 1926: 583, Hennig 1966: 7, Evenhuis 1994: 311. Type species: Eulonchiella eocenica Meunier, 1912: 177.

Type material.

Neotype male, Baltic amber (#DB 10-12) (CAS).

Diagnosis.

Body shape arched; colouration non-metallic brown-black; head spherical, size slightly smaller than thorax width; eye bare; male frons narrowed; eyes contiguous above and below antennal base; posterior margin of eye rounded; proboscis length greater than head length; position of antenna in middle of frons; flagellum shape stylate; palpus present; thorax with postpronotal lobes enlarged, medially contiguous to form collar; legs not greatly elongated, tibial spines absent; pulvilli present; subscutellum slightly enlarged; wing hyaline, markings absent; costa ending in radial field; costal margin straight in both sexes; humeral crossvein present; alula well developed; anal lobe not enlarged; R2+3 present; R4+5 present as single vein; radial veins meeting wing margin before wing apex; cell r4+5 bisected by crossvein 2r-m, narrow elongate; discal cell present, closed apically; medial veins M1, M2 and M3 present; medial veins tapered and faint towards margin; cell m3 absent; CuA1 joining M3 and petiolate, not reaching wing margin; CuA2 fused to A1, not reaching wing margin, petiolate; abdomen smooth, shape rounded, cylindrical, similar width to thorax.

Comments.

The above diagnosis is based on a neotype male of Eulonchiella eocenica Meunier deposited in the Poinar collection (#DB 10-12) (to be ultimately housed in CAS). Hennig (1966) discussed this monotypic genus based on drawings by Meunier (1910) and a drawing provided by Frank Hull (published in Hennig 1966) before the type was destroyed. The enlarged abdomen in the drawing by Hull indicates that the original type was a female. The specimen examined herein is a male based on the narrower abdomen, despite the genitalia being obscured by an opaque mass. Like many Baltic Amber taxa, Eulonchiella is closely related to a group of Afrotropical genera including Dimacrocolus , Parahelle and Thyllis ( Hennig 1966), all with relatively complete wing venation. Eulonchiella can be differentiated from all other Philopotinae genera by the legs not being elongate, eyes not pilose, wing venation relatively complete, proboscis elongate and palpi being present.