The empidoid flies (Diptera: Empidoidea, exclusive of Dolichopodidae) of the Russian Arctic islands and Svalbard Archipelago Author Shamshev, Igor V. Author Sinclair, Bradley J. 0000-0001-6413-1606 bradley.sinclair@canada.ca Author Khruleva, Olga A. 0000-0001-6602-0053 oa-khruleva@mail.ru text Zootaxa 2020 2020-09-07 4848 1 1 75 journal article 8607 10.11646/zootaxa.4848.1.1 47bc051d-f837-48ea-b9da-83558ea1af75 1175-5326 4406987 04C94342-9951-4452-9296-AACBD8956113 Rhamphomyia ( Pararhamphomyia ) caudata (Zetterstedt) Rhamphomyza caudata Zetterstedt, 1838: 565 . Type locality (by lectotype designation): Kardis , Sweden . Other references: Frey, 1955a: 472 (revision, lectotype designation); Barták & Danielson, 2007: 107 (type material examination). Rhamphomyza aethiops Zetterstedt, 1838: 568 . Type locality (by lectotype designation): Lapponia Umensi (probably Lycksele ) ( Sweden ). Other references: Barták & Danielson, 2007: 108 ( lectotype designation). Remarks. Rhamphomyia caudata has a somewhat complicated taxonomic history. As a consequence, some distributional records of this species may be misleading. Rhamphomyia caudata was identified as the single species of Empididae from Spitsbergen ( Boheman 1866 ; Holmgren 1869 ; Collin 1923 ) and was reflected in Empididae Catalogues and faunal checklists ( e.g ., Hackman 1968 ; Chvála & Wagner 1989: 299 ; Coulson & Refseth 2004: 104 ; Yang et al . 2007: 169 ). We have examined the specimens of R . caudata noted by Holmgren (housed in NHRS) and found that, actually, they belong to R . longestylata Frey (see below). It should be noted that Collin was somewhat confused about the synonymy of R . caudata . He believed that R . longestylata Frey was conspecific with R . caudata (Zetterstedt) (see Collin, 1961: 378 ). However, they are distinctly two different species (see Frey 1955a: 472 ; Barták & Danielson 2008: 107). A note in Collin’s paper on flies collected from Spitsbergen ( Collin 1923: 116 ) indicates clearly that he in fact had in front of him a male of R . longestylata rather than R . caudata . Our study does not confirm the presence of R . caudata on the Arctic islands.