New or little-known Neotropical Dolichopodidae (Diptera) (II): genus Hercostomus Loew excluded from the Neotropics Author Soares, Matheus M. M. 0000-0002-2355-1441 Graduate Program in Entomology (PPG-Ent), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA). & matheusmmsoares @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 2355 - 1441 matheusmmsoares@gmail.com Author Capellari, Renato S. 0000-0002-8410-9235 Instituto Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Campus Uberaba, Rua João Batista Ribeiro 4000, Distrito Industrial II, Uberaba, Minas Gerais 38064 - 790, Brazil. & rscapellari @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8410 - 9235 rscapellari@gmail.com Author Ale-Rocha, Rosaly 0000-0001-9874-9770 Coordenação de Biodiversidade (COBIO, INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, CEP 69067 - 375, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. & alerocha @ inpa. gov. br; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 9874 - 9770 alerocha@inpa.gov.br text Zootaxa 2023 2023-03-10 5254 2 181 208 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5254.2.2 journal article 233753 10.11646/zootaxa.5254.2.2 f252562c-4717-47ac-a322-24b63bd4ef49 1175-5326 7727356 413FCD68-A4B1-4EA0-A58F-63C9993AC08F The latipes -group of Paraclius Diagnosis (males). The group is here proposed to accommodate the species with the following combination of characters: fore tarsomeres from apical 1/2–2/3 of It 1 with conspicuous pile of short whitish setae ( Fig. 8F , 11F ); arista-like stylus dorsal, arising at basal 1/2 of postpedicel ( Figs 8D , 10B , 11C ); femur III with 1 strong anterodorsal and 1 long anteroventral preapical setae; cell dm ending at middle of wing; vein M 1 gradually angled towards R 4+5 ( Figs 6A , 7E , 8H , 11G ); hypopygium: cercus remarkably short and branched, dorsal branch shorter than ventral one ( Figs 9E , 12D ). In addition to the preceding features, it remains to be investigated if the phallus presents a narrowing which clearly delimits two regions (with distal segment serrate) ( Figs 9C , 12D ), hypandrium asymmetrical (with one wide ventral projection near/or at apex) ( Figs 9D , 12E ) and the postgonite bifurcated at apex ( Figs 9G , 12C ) are exclusive features of P. latipes and P. norrbomi sp. nov. or part of the ground-plan of the entire group. Included species. Paraclius aberrans Robinson , P . latipes (Aldrich) , P . norrbomi sp. nov. and P . panamensis (Van Duzee) comb. nov. Remarks. After gathering information from descriptions, photos of types and identified material of nearly all New World described species of Paraclius , it became clear that Hercostomus panamensis was part of a small clade, sharing distinctive characters with P. aberrans Robinson and P. latipes (Aldrich) , notably the fore tarsus with short pile of setae (that also occurs elsewhere in other dolichopodine genera, like Pelastoneurus ) and the shape of the male cercus unlike any other species known to us. Additional characters of the hypandrium, phallus and postgonites are also peculiar in the species for which material was available for dissection and likely synapomorphic for the entire group. Although it is not the main focus of the present paper, we decided to describe a new species of this group from Costa Rica and to redescribe P. latipes based on additional material in order to better illustrate the distinctive morphology of the latipes -group.