Neozygoneura
Ordo: Diptera
Familia: Sciaridae
Subfamilia: Sciarinae
Name
Neozygoneura Lengersdorf, 1942 – Wikispecies link – ZooBank link
- Neozygoneura Lengersdorf, 1942[1] : 99 – type species: Neozygoneura fasciatellum Lengersdorf, 1942
- Leptosciarella (Protosciarella) Mohrig, 2003[2]: 7–8 – type species: Leptosciarella (Protosciarella) virgatoalata Mohrig, 2003
Description (male)
Head. Eye bridge 3–5 rows of facets. LW-index of 4th antennal flagellar segment 2.5–8; Transition of basal part to neck bottle-neck-like. Palpomeres 1–3. First palpomere with few setae; with only some sparse sensillae. Thorax. Thoracic setae fine and sparse. Posterior pronotum bare. Laterotergite bare. Legs. Frontal tibia with a patch of setae. Front tibial organ mostly dark. Front tibial organ not bordered. Tibial spurs elongate, of equal length. Claws untoothed. Wings. Wings darkened or with pattern, anal lobe reduced. Wing membrane without macrotrichia. Wing venation normal. M-fork of normal shape or bulged. R1 inserting clearly before base of m-fork; posterior veins bare. Halteres long. Abdomen. Abdominal setae normally strong and dense. Hypopygium concolour with abdomen. Inner margin of gonocoxites Vshaped. Gonostylus elongate; inner margin straight, or concave. Apical tooth present. Apical awl-like setae absent. Megasetae on inner part of gonostylus absent. Tegmen rounded; central process absent. Measurements. Body size 2–3 mm. Wing length 2–3 mm.
Diagnosis
Neozygoneura is placed in the basal subfamily Sciarinae. Like in Sciara, and Hirtipennia the flagellomeres have bottle-neck-like necks and the legs are weakly setose. Patterned wings and a bulged m-fork are otherwise not known in Sciarinae.
Etymology
gr. neo- = new. The name refers to the similarity of the wing with Zygoneura.
Discussion
Neozygoneura was only imperfectly described based on a species with patterned wings and a bulbous m-fork, which was described in the same paper as Neozygoneura fasciatellum. Lengersdorf coined the species group name in the same manner as Euricrium fasciatellum not considering, that the gender of Euricrium is neuter and Zygoneura is feminine. The name of the type species is therefore to be corrected as Neozygoneura fasciatella. The poor description, however, meets very well with Leptosciarella virgatoalata, the type species of Protosciarella. It is concluded for that reason, that Protosciarella is quite confidently a junior synonym of Neozygoneura.
The phylogenetic placement of Neozygoneura is by no means absolutely clear, because the genus was not yet included in any molecular phylogenetic studies. In any case there is little doubt, that the original placement of Protosciarella as a subgenus of Leptosciarella, now Trichosiopsis by Mohrig (2003)[2] is not correct and was based only on the superficial similarity of the gonostylus. The lacking awl-like setae and the bare posterior wing veins, as well as the shape of the m-fork and the patterned wing are not in the scope of characters of Trichosiopsis. Mohrig & Menzel (2014: 144)[3] supposed, that Neozygoneura might result to be a synonym of Euricrium. If that was the case, the genus would even belong to a different subfamily than Trichosiopsis.
Distribution
Species of this genus have a Neotropical distribution.
Species list
Neozygoneura ampullocera - Neozygoneura bipalpata - Neozygoneura fasciatella - Neozygoneura macroabdominalis - Neozygoneura virgatoalata
References
- ↑ Lengersdorf, F. 1942: Revision der südamerikanischen Lycoriiden aus der Sammlung des Naturkundemuseums Stettin. Decheniana. Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der Rheinlande und Westfalens (Festschrift), 101 (A-B), 98–99.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mohrig, W. 2003: Black fungus gnats of Central America. Part I. (Diptera, Sciaridae). Beiträge zur Entomologie, 53(1), 1–69.
- ↑ Mohrig, W.; Menzel, F. 2014: Revision der neotropischen Trauermücken – Teil I. Die Gattungen Cratyna Winnertz, Euricrium Enderlein, Metangela Rübsaamen, Pseudosciara Schiner und Sciara Meigen (Diptera: Sciaridae). Contributions to Entomology, 64(1), 135 – 190.
