The Neotropical genera Parasphen Enderlein, 1922 and Ptilosphen Enderlein, 1922 (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae)
Abstract
The Neotropical genera Parasphen Enderlein, 1922 and Ptilosphen Enderlein, 1922 are revised. Parasphen rufipes (Fabricius, 1805) is given as a new combination, Parasphen frontalis Cresson, 1930 and Parasphen amazonicus ruficauda Curran, 1932 are treated as new synonyms of Parasphen rufipes comb. nov., Ptilosphen rufifrons Enderlein, 1922 is treated as a new junior synonym of Ptilosphen cyaneiventris (Macquart, 1846), and Ptilosphen viriolatus Enderlein, 1922 and Ptilosphen albibasis Enderlein, 1922 are treated as new junior synonyms of Ptilosphen callichroma (Bigot, 1886). The following 14 new species of Ptilosphen are described: Pt. boroboro Marshall sp. nov., Pt. crassus Marshall sp. nov., Pt. dellarum Marshall sp. nov., Pt. elongatus Marshall sp. nov., Pt. inconveniens Marshall sp. nov., Pt. manu Marshall sp. nov., Pt. notatus Marshall sp. nov., Pt. rafaeli Marshall sp. nov., Pt. ramosus Marshall sp. nov., Pt. xanthicoxa Marshall sp. nov., Pt. xestos Marshall sp. nov., Pt. yasuni Marshall sp. nov., Pt. yauae Marshall sp. nov., and Pt. zonalis Marshall sp. nov. Lectotypes are designated for Ptilosphen conveniens (Wulp, 1897) and Pt. viriolatus Enderlein, 1922. The species of Parasphen and Ptilosphen are keyed and CO1 neighbour-joining and maximum likelihood trees are given for 18 of the 26 species of Ptilosphen.
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