A New Species of Megaselia Rondani (Diptera: Phoridae) from the Bioscan Project in Los Angeles, California, with Clarification of Confused Type Series for Two Other Species

Flies from L.A., The Sequel: A further twelve new species of Megaselia (Diptera: Phoridae) from the BioSCAN Project in Los Angeles (California, USA)

“…Dissecting and slide mounting old type specimens has proven to be the only method for any sort of definitive identification. Redescription of historic type material (Hartop et al 2016) will likely prove to be an enormous help to those not working in close proximity to these definitive collections.…”

“…A single addition to the Nearctic fauna is found in Hartop et al (2016). Primary keys used for Nearctic Megaselia are those of Borgmeier (Borgmeier 1964, Borgmeier 1966) in his revisions of the North American fauna, although all world literature was considered when identifying these species.…”

“…In the group VIII key of Borgmeier (1966), M. phyllissunae keys to couplet 11 where it differs from M. globipyga Borgmeier by lacking the globose genitalia of that species (Fig. 3 in Hartop et al 2016 versus Fig. 4f) and from M. brevicostalis Wood by having unequal supraantennals and lacking the notopleural cleft of that species.…”

“…Sorting out all of the errors and misidentifications is a slow, frustrating process (Disney 1983, Hartop et al 2016). Dedication to photographing, dissecting, and slide mounting historic types is the only way to make progress on this genus.…”

Mystery mushroom malingerers: Megaselia marquezi Hartop et al. 2015 (Diptera: Phoridae)

“…Meanwhile, a large inventory project in Los Angeles has led to an unprecedented knowledge of the urban phorids of this city (Brown and Hartop 2016, Hartop et al 2015, Hartop et al 2016a, Hartop et al 2016b). About 100 species, mostly of Megaselia , are known from Los Angeles, but many were new to science and had nothing known of their lifestyle.…”