New species and records of the Rhamphomyia subgenus Holoclera (Diptera, Empididae) from the Palaearctic Region Author Shamshev, Igor V. 0000-0003-3575-4243 All-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, St. Petersburg - Pushkin, Russia shamshev@mail.ru Author Barták, Miroslav Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic text Zootaxa 2024 2024-09-23 5512 4 512 530 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5512.4.3 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5512.4.3 1175-5326 13849159 45911D23-1EED-4DE4-987A-F806B309AD79 Rhamphomyia ( Holoclera Schiner ) Holoclera Schiner, 1860: 53 (as genus). Type species: Holoclera pulchra Egger, 1860: 346 (by subsequent monotypy of Egger, 1860 ) [= R . nigripennis (Fabricius) ]. Diagnosis. Small to mid-sized, slender species (wing length from 2.5 to 6.5 mm ), with body varying from yellow to black. Male eyes holoptic or narrowly dichoptic, female frons relatively narrow; postpedicel at least twice as long as broad, stylus shorter than postpedicel; labrum usually longer than head height. Thorax with bare prosternum; presutural intra-alar seta absent ( R . ( H .) nigripennis group) or present ( R . ( H .) flava group), acrostichal setae absent or present. Legs slender, never pennate in female; fore femur with specialised, rather spine-like anterior setae ( R . ( H .) nigripennis group) or with simple setae ( R . ( H .) flava group); hind tibia without long seta in posteroapical comb ( R . ( H .) nigripennis group) or bearing long seta ( R . ( H .) flava group). Wing with axillary angle slightly acute to slightly obtuse; cell dm small and narrow ( R . ( H .) nigripennis group) or more truncate ( R . ( H .) flava group). Male abdominal tergite 8 often slightly modified: either partially fused with sternite 8 or desclerotized medially. Female with thorax brown to black ( R . ( H .) nigripennis group) or extensively yellow ( R . ( H .) flava group). Remarks. There are some species of Empis which resemble very much species of R . ( Holoclera ). For example, the Empis subgenus Rhadinempis Collin , with only a single known species, Empis bazini Collin , is strikingly similar to species of the R . ( H .) nigripennis group ( Barták & Kubík 2012 ). Empis shebalinensis Shamshev described from Altay is very similar to species of the R . ( H .) nigripennis group as well ( Shamshev 2019 ).In addition, some Holoclera - like species of Rhamphomyia with unclear systematic position ( R . atrata group) are present in the Nearctic Region (Sinclair, pers. comm.) and in the Russian Far East (Shamshev, unpublished data). This may suggest that the current concept of R . ( Holoclera ) requires a more precise analysis including the mentioned taxa. Rhamphomyia ( Holoclera ) is divided into two groups of species: R . flava group and R . nigripennis group ( Barták 1982 ; Barták & Kubík 2012 ). The biology is poorly known, with adults visiting flowers, and they have never been observed hunting prey ( Barták & Kubík 2012 ). We refer to Chvála & Wagner (1989) for full lists of synonyms. The species listed below are arranged alphabetically.