The Neotropical genera Parasphen Enderlein, 1922 and Ptilosphen Enderlein, 1922 (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae)

Keywords: new species, new synonyms, new combinations, Neotropical

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.

References

Aczél M.L. 1949. Catalogo de la familia de las “Tylidae” (Calobatidae + Micropezidae + Neriidae, Diptera) en la region neotropical. Acta Zoologica Lilloana 8: 309–389.

Aczél M.L. 1951. Morfologia externa y division sistematica de las “Tanypezidiformes” con sinopsis de las especies argentinas de “Tylidae” (“Micropezidae”) y “Neriidae” (Diptera). Acta Zoologica Lilloana 11: 482–589.

Albuquerque L.P. de 1991. Taeniapterinae (Diptera, Micropezidae) da Ilha de Maracã e da localidade de Pacaraima, Roraima, Brasil. Acta Amazonica 21 (1): 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-43921991211013

Aldrich J.M. 1905. A catalogue of North American Diptera (or two-winged flies). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 46: 1–680. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.1681

Bigot J.M.F. 1886. Diptères nouveaux ou peu connus. 29e partie (suite) (1). XXXVII. 2e: Annales de la Societé entomologique de France 6: 369–392, 592.

Brauer F. 1885. Systematisch-zoologische Studien. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien (1) 91: 237–413.

Cresson R.T. Jr. 1908 Dipterological notes. I. Micropezidae. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 34: 1–12.

Cresson E.T. Jr. 1930. Notes on and descriptions of some neotropical Neriidae and Micropezidae (Diptera). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 56: 307–362.

Curran C.H. 1932. New species of Calobatidae from British Guiana. American Museum Novitates 559: 1–4.

Curran C.H. 1934a. The Diptera of Kartabo, Bartica District, British Guiana, with descriptions of new species from other British Guiana localities. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 66: 287–532.

Curran C.H. 1934b. The Families and Genera of North American Diptera. Ballou Press, New York. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.6825

Czerny L. 1932. Tyliden und Neriiden des Zoologischen Museums in Hamburg (Dipt.). Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 93: 267–302.

Enderlein G. 1922. Klassifikation der Micropeziden. Archiv für Naturgeschichte Serie A 88: 140–229.

Fabricius J.C. 1805. Systema antliatorum secundum ordines, genera, species. C. Reichard, Brunsvigae [=Brunswick]. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.15806

Ferro G.B. & de Carvalho C.J.B. 2014. A pictorial key and diagnosis of the Brazilian genera of Micropezidae. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 58 (1): 52–62. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0085-56262014000100009

Ferro G.B & Marshall S.A. 2020. A redefinition of Paragrallomyia Hendel (Diptera: Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae) and a revision of the P. albibasis complex. Zootaxa 4822 (1): 39–70. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4822.1.2

Ferro G.B., Skevington J.H., Marshall S.A. & Kelso S. 2021. Systematic relationships of the Taeniapterini (Diptera: Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae). Zootaxa 5004 (2): 370–384. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5004.2.6

Frey R. 1927. Zur Systematik der Diptera Haplostomata. III. Fam. Micropezidae. Notulae Entomologicae 7: 65–76.

Giglio-Tos E. 1895. Ditteri del Messico. Parte IV. Muscidae Calypteratae, Muscinae, Anthomyinae. Muscidae Acalypteratae, Scatophaginae, Helomyzinae, Tatanocerinae, Ortalinae, Ulidinae, Sapromyzinae, Trypetinae, Sepsinae, Tanypezinae, Psilinae, Chloropinae, Ephydrinae, Drosophilinae. Memorie della Reale accademia delle scienze di Torino (2) 45 (1896): 1–73.

Hendel F. 1936. Ergebnisse einer zoologischen Sammelreise nach Brasilien insbesondere in das Amazonasgebiet ausgeführt von Dr. J. Zerny. X. Teil. Diptera: Muscidae acalyptratae (excl. Chloropidae). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 47: 61–106.

Hennig W. 1934. Revision der Tyliden (Dipt., Acalypt.), 1 Teil: Die Taeniapterinae Amerikas. Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 95: 65–108, 294–330.

Hennig W. 1937. Tylidae (Micropezidae, Diptera), aus der Sammlung des British Museum of Natural History. Nachträge zur “Revision der Tyliden-II”. Annals and Magazine of Natural History Series 10, 19: 521–523.

Hennig W. 1938. Neue Beiträge zur Systematik der Richardiiden und Tyliden (Diptera, Acalyptrata). Arbeiten über morphologische und taxonomische Entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem 5 (1): 8–15.

Jackson M.D., Marshall S.A. & Skevington J.H. 2015. Molecular phylogeny of the Taeniapterini (Diptera: Micropezidae) using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, with a reclassification of the genus Taeniaptera Macquart. Insect Systematics & Evolution 46: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1163/1876312X-45032125

Lindsay K. & Marshall S.A. 2023. A revision of Scipopus Enderlein including the subgenera Scipopus s. str., Phaeopterina Frey and Parascipopus subgen. nov. (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae). European Journal of Taxonomy 904: 1–189. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2023.904.2323

Macquart J. 1846. Diptères exotiques nouveaux ou peu connus. Mémoires de la Société royale de Sciences, Agriculture, Arts Lille (1844): 133–364.

Maddison W.P. & Maddison D.M. 2025. Mesquite: a modular system for evolutionary analysis. Version 4.01. Available from https://www.mesquiteproject.org [accessed 10 Feb. 2026].

Marshall S.A. 2010. Micropezidae. Chapter 5. In: Brown B.V., Borkent A., Cumming J.M., Wood D.M., Woodley N.E. & Zumbado M.A. (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera, Volume 2: 805–813. NRC Research Press, Ottawa.

Marshall S.A. 2019. A revision of the genus Mesoconius Enderlein (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae). European Journal of Taxonomy 548: 1–126. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2019.548

Marshall S.A., Cardona A. & Wolff M. 2016. Family Micropezidae (Catalogue of Micropezidae of Colombia). Zootaxa 4122 (1): 538–548. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4122.1.40

Martinez-Alava J.O. & Serna F. 2015. Managing insect collections. Micropezidae (Diptera: Nerioidea) of the Entomological Museum UNAB. Agronomía Colombiana 33 (3): 339–347. https://doi.org/10.15446/agron.colomb.v33n3.52432

McAlpine D.K. 1998 Review of the Australian stilt flies (Diptera: Micropezidae) with a phylogenetic analysis of the family. Invertebrate Taxonomy 12: 55–134. https://doi.org/10.1071/IT96018

Ortiz P. 2003. Historia natural, sitios de apareamiento, comportamiento sexual y possible function de la alimentación nupcial en Ptilosphen viriolatus (Diptera: Micropezidae) M.Sc. Thesis, Universidad de Costa Rica.

Ratnasingham S. & Hebert P.D. 2007. BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data System. Molecular Ecology Notes 7 (3): 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01678.x

Ratnasingham S. & Hebert P.D.N. 2013. A DNA-based registry for all animal species: the Barcode Index Number (BIN) system. PLoS ONE 8 (7): e66213. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066213

Roback S.S. 1969. The genera, subgenera and species described by E.T. Cresson, Jr. 1906–1949. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 95 (4): 517–569.

Schiner J.R. 1868. Diptera. In: von Wüllerstorf-Urbair B. (ed.) Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. Von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. Zoologischer Theil. Vol. 2. Abt. I. Karl Gerold & Sons, Vienna. Available from https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1221403 [accessed 31 Jul. 2023].

Schumann H. 1988. Die Micropeziden-Typen der Dipteren-Sammlung des Zoologischen Museums in Berlin. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum Berlin 64 (1): 83–115. https://doi.org/10.1002/mmnz.19880640104

Stamatakis A. 2014. RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies. Bioinformatics 30: 1312–1313. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btu033

Steyskal G.C. 1967. Notes on some older types of Neotropical Micropezidae with descriptions of new species (Diptera, Acalyptratae). Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia 20: 75–84. https://doi.org/10.11606/0031-1049.1967.20p75-84

Steyskal G.C. 1968. Family Micropezidae. In: Papavero et al. (eds) A Catalog of the Diptera of the Americas South of the United States 48: 1–33. Departamento Zoologia, Secretaria da Agricultura, São Paulo.

Walker F. 1849. List of the Specimens of Dipterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part II, [iii]+231–484, Part III: [iii]+485–687, Part IV. [iii] + 689–1172 + [2]. British Museum (Natural History), London.

Walker F. 1853. Diptera. Part IV. In: Saunders W.W. (ed.) Insecta Saundersiana: or Characters of Undescribed Insects in the Collection of William Wilson Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., & c. Vol. 1: 253–414, pls. 7–8. Van Voorst, London.

Wheeler T.J. 2009. Large-scale neighbor-joining with NINJA. In: Salzberg S.L. & Warnow T. (eds) Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on Algorithms in Bioinformatics: 375–389. WABI 2009. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04241-6_31

Wiedemann C.R.W. 1830. Aussereuropäische zweiflügelige Insekten. Als Fortsetzung des Meigenschen Werks. Zweiter Theil. Schulz, Hamm.

Wulp F.M. van der. 1897. Group Calobatinae. In: Godman F.D. & Salvin O. (eds) Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Diptera 2: 363–376. Taylor & Francis, London.

Wulp F.M. van der 1883. Amerikaansche Diptera (1882–1883) [No. 3.]. Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 26: 1–60.

Published
2026-05-26
How to Cite
Marshall, S. A., & Paiero, S. M. (2026). The Neotropical genera Parasphen Enderlein, 1922 and Ptilosphen Enderlein, 1922 (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae). European Journal of Taxonomy, 1059(1), 1-96. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2026.1059.3283
Section
Monograph