Tribe Schistopterini

Tribe Schistopterini is characterized by the presence of preocellar setae, erect white setulae on body, often longer flagellum with stout setulose arista, Sc break with cleft, wing with a radiating pattern and often with bullae, and glans often elongate and tubular. Phylogeny of tribe Schistopterini was discussed by Freidberg (2002), who suggested the presence of many undescribed species. Six species have been recorded previously from India, placed in three genera: 3 in Rhabdochaeta de Meijere, viz. R. pulchella de Meijere, R. gladifera Hering and R. nigroapicalis David, Hancock & Sachin, plus Calloptera asteria (Hendel), Rhochmopterum venustum (de Meijere) and R. malaviyai Nikhil, David & Hancock (Agarwal & Sueyoshi 2005; David et al. 2022b; Nikhil et al. 2025; Singh et al. 2025). Below we describea new Himalayan species of Rhabdochaeta that possibly includes records of R. pulchella from Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh noted by Singh et al. (2025).