A review of the Afrotropical Rhaphium Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with the description of three new species
Abstract
Type material of previously described Afrotropical species is examined and listed. New material of Afrotropical Rhaphium has been recently found in collections of some museums, and includes six species. Rhaphium amharaense sp. nov., R. gobaense sp. nov. and R. vikhrevi sp. nov. from Ethiopia are described and illustrated and associated with the Palaearctic Rhaphium ensicorne species group with a long antennal postpedicel, with usually short apical arista-like stylus in males. Males of R. amharaense are remarkable in the postpedicel about 20 × as long as the arista-like stylus and the cercus slightly shorter than epandrium. Rhaphium gobaense and R. vikhrevi differ from other Afrotropical species in the deeply bifurcated male surstylus, with long thin lobes. They differ from each other in the arista-like stylus and postpedicel length ratio and cercal lobes length ratio. A revised key to Afrotropical species of Rhaphium is provided. Now 18 long-legged fly species of the genus are known in the Afrotropical region.
References
Collin J.E. 1940. Critical notes on some recent synonymy affecting British species of Dolichopodidae (Dipt.). Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine Ser. 4, 1 (76): 261–271.
Crossley R. 2020. Notes on the genus Rhaphium Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) in Yorkshire. The Naturalist 145: 67–73.
Cumming J.M. & Wood D.M. 2017. 3. Adult morphology and terminology. In: Kirk-Spriggs A.H. & Sinclair B.J. (eds) Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Volume 1. Introductory Chapters and Keys to Diptera Families: 89–134. Suricata 4, SANBI Graphics & Editing, Pretoria.
Curran C.H. 1926. Records of African Dolichopodidae with descriptions of new species. Revue zoologique africaine 14 (1): 1–39.
Ebinger C. 2005. Continental break-up: The East African perspective. Astronomy and Geophysics 46 (2): 2.16–2.21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4004.2005.46216.x
Grichanov I.Ya. 1995. The Afrotropical species of the genus Rhaphium Meigen (Diptera: Dolichopodidae). International Journal of Dipterological Research 6 (1): 19–31.
Grichanov I.Ya. 2001. Afrotropical Syntormon Loew and new synonyms in the genus Rhaphium Loew (Diptera: Dolichopodidae). International Journal of Dipterological Research 12 (4): 181–194.
Grichanov I.Ya. 2006. A preliminary list of Dolichopodidae (Diptera) types in the collections of Swedish Museums. International Journal of Dipterological Research 17 (3): 177–204.
Grichanov I.Ya. 2018. An Annotated Catalogue of Afrotropical Dolichopodoidae (Diptera). All-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, St Petersburg. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1187006
Grichanov I.Ya. 2025a. A check list of species of the family Dolichopodidae (Diptera) of the World arranged by alphabetic list of generic names [online database]. Available from http://grichanov.aiq.ru/Genera3.htm [accessed 10 Dec. 2025].
Grichanov I.Ya. 2025b. Palaearctic species of the Rhaphium caliginosum group (Diptera, Dolichopodidae). Euroasian Entomological Journal 24 (2): 67–72. https://doi.org/10.15298/euroasentj.24.02.02
Grichanov I.Ya. & Brooks S.E. 2017. 56. Dolichopodidae (long-legged dance flies). In: Kirk-Spriggs A.H. & Sinclair B.J. (eds) Manual of Afrotropical Diptera, Volume 2. Nematocerous Diptera and Lower Brachycera: 1265–1320. Suricata 5. SANBI Graphics & Editing, Pretoria.
Grichanov I.Ya. & Mostovski M.B. 2009. Long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) in the collection of the Natal Museum: A review of C.H. Curran’s types, new synonyms, and new combinations. Zootaxa 2194: 37–53. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2194.1.3
Grootaert P., Taylor C. & Guénard B. 2019. Three new species of Rhaphium Meigen, 1803 from mangroves in Hong Kong (Diptera: Dolichopodidae: Rhaphiinae). European Journal of Taxonomy 540: 1–21. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2019.540
Naglis S. & Grootaert P. 2011. A remarkable new species of Rhaphium Meigen (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) from Sri Lanka. Zootaxa 2991: 44–48. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2991.1.6
Negrobov O.P., Grichanov I.Y. & Bakari K. 1982. New species of the genus Rhaphium (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) from Zaire. Entomologicheskoe obozrenie 61 (1): 190–194. [In Russian.] [English translation: Entomological Review 61 (1): 184–188].
Parent O. 1925. Etude sur les Dolichopodidés de la collection Meigen conservées au Museum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris. Encyclopédie entomologique Ser. BII Diptera 2: 41–58.
Parent O. 1938. Mission scientifique de l’Omo. Diptera 3. Dolichopodidae. Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (N.S.) 8: 407–415.
Parent O. 1939. Diptères Dolichopodides de la region éthiopienne. Revue de Zoologie et Botanie Africaine 32: 256–282.
Ulrich H. 2005. Predation by adult Dolichopodidae (Diptera): a review of literature with an annotated prey-predator list. Studia dipterologica (2004) 11 (2): 369–403.
Vanschuytbroeck P. 1951. Dolichopodidae. Exploration du Parc National de Albert. Mission G.F. De Witte (1933–1935) 74: 1–153.
Vanschuytbroeck P. 1952. Dolichopodidae (Diptera, Brachycera, Orthorrhapha). Exploration du Parc National de l’Upemba. Mission G.F. De Witte 12: 1–70.
Vanschuytbroeck P. 1976. La Faune terrestre de l’Île de Sainte-Hélène (troisième partie). Fam. Dolichopodidae. Annales Musee royal de l’Afrique centrale Ser. 8 (215): 49–57.
Zetterstedt J.W. 1849. Diptera Scandinaviæ Disposita et Descripta. Officina Lundbergiana, Lundæ [= Lund] 8: 2935–3366. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.8143
Yang D., Zhang L., Wang M. & Zhu Y. 2011. Diptera Dolichopodidae, Rhaphiinae Bigot, 1852. In: Fauna Sinica Insecta. Vol. 53: 1241–1273. Science Press, Beijing.
Copyright (c) 2026 Igor Ya. Grichanov
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Copyright Notices
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are NOT PERMITTED to post their submitted work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on personal websites) prior to publication, as it may lead to nomenclatural issues.
