Three unusually divergent new genera of phorid flies (Diptera: Phoridae) from Costa Rica
Author
Kung, Giar-Ann
Author
Brown, Brian V.
text
Zootaxa
2005
2005-07-19
1019
1
43
52
https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.1019.1.3
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.1019.1.3
11755334
5049460
142A6F56-23E9-4266-A814-554258AF200B
Tabelliphora
new genus
Diagnosis.
Body extremely flat, limuloid. Frons broad, flat, without median furrow. One pair of inner and one pair of outer vertical setae, and one pair of reclinate supraantennal setae present. Other frontal setae absent. Eye reduced; ocelli present. Flagellomere 1 oval; arista nearapical. Palpus normal, but other mouthparts extremely small. Thorax extremely flattened, shieldlike; anterior spiracle not seen. Legs relatively short, without isolated large setae; mid and hind tibiae each with one dorsal setal palisade. Wing (
Fig. 5
) reduced, short, with longitudinal veins only faintly indicated (visible only with phase contrast lighting). Abdominal tergites well developed; segment 7 with small dorsal sclerite; apex of abdomen forming a sclerotized, piercing stylet.
Tabelliphora
keys to couplet
161 in
Disney’s 1994
key to the genera of females. However, the thickened costa and sinuous Rs vein of the wing differentiate
Tabelliphora
from
Platydipteron
. In
Platydipteron
, the costa is not thickened and vein Rs is straight.
Tabelliphora
differs from
Melittophora
by the setation of the scutellum;
Melittophora
has 10 setae on the posterior margin, while
Tabelliphora
has only 4.
In general appearance,
Tabelliphora
is similar to the Afrotropical genus
Euryphora
Schmitz
, which is also a small, limuloid phorid with reduced wings and only the supraantennal setae present on the frons. In
Euryphora
, however, the body is less flattened, the eyes are less reduced, the mid and hind legs have large isolated setae, and the wing is less reduced.
In the New World fauna, the most similar genera are
Colyeria
Borgmeier & Prado
,
Cootiphora
Brown
, and
Platydipteron
Borgmeier & Prado
, all of which are also limuloid and have a parasitic ovipositor. The frontal setation of
Tabelliphora
, consisting of only the single pair of reclinate supraantennal setae, serves to distinguish it from all of these others, however.