Review of Australasian spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a revision of Panops Lamarck

Abstract

The Australasian spider flies (Diptera: Acroceridae) are reviewed, with all eight currently recognized genera diagnosed and figured. The panopine genus Panops Lamarck, 1804 from Australia and Indonesia is revised with four new species described, increasing the total number of species in the genus to nine: Panops aurum sp. n., Panops danielsi sp. n., Panops jade sp. n. and Panops schlingeri sp. n. Five species of Panops are redescribed: Panops austrae Neboiss, 1971, Panops baudini Lamarck, 1804, Panops boharti (Schlinger, 1959), comb. n., Panops conspicuus (Brunetti, 1926) and Panops grossi (Neboiss, 1971), comb. n. The monotypic genera Neopanops Schlinger, 1959 and Panocalda Neboiss, 1971 are synonymized with Panops. Keys to genera of Australasian Acroceridae and species of Panops, Helle Osten Sacken, 1896 and Australasian Pterodontia Gray, 1832 are included.

Jewelled spider flies of North America: a revision and phylogeny of Eulonchus Gerstaecker (Diptera, Acroceridae)

“…Terminology for general morphology follows Cumming and Wood (2009), with wing venation as in Gillung and Winterton (2011) and Winterton (2012). Modifications of wing terminology as proposed by Saigusa (2006) were used, in which the dipteran vein A 1 (as used in Cumming and Wood 2009) was homologized with CuP of Mecoptera.…”

“…Eulonchus species are commonly called Emeralds or Sapphires, depending on the body colour. Winterton (2012) described the thoracic pile in the Australian genus Panops as being reflective, thus brighter when the individual was viewed anteriorly, a characteristic of many Old World panopine species. This character is absent in Eulonchus and most New World panopine genera, with the thoracic pile being of similar brightness regardless of which angle it is viewed.…”

“…Winterton (2012) recently diagnosed the subfamily, which is characterised by the antennal flagellum cylindrical or paddle shaped (never stylate), lacking an arista, postpronotal lobes widely separated, wing venation relatively conserved with cells m 3 , d, bm and basal r 4+5 normally present, tibial spines present (absent only in Apsona Westwood), and parasitism on Mygalomorphae. Only Corononcodes deviates significantly from this diagnosis, due to reduction in wing venation associated with the very small body size of most species.…”

“…The fauna of the Palaearctic, Oriental, and Afrotropical Regions contains seven genera, including Corononcodes , Astomella Latreille, Astomelloides Schlinger, Physegasterella Brunetti, Psilodera Gray, Rhysogaster Aldrich, and Stenopialea Speiser. The panopine fauna of the Australasian Region was recently revised by Winterton (2012) to contain only four genera: Apsona , Leucopsina Westwood, Mesophysa Macquart and Panops Lamarck. The Neotropical Region is rich in genera, containing Apelleia Bellardi, Archipialea Schlinger, Arrhynchus Philippi, Camposella Cole, Coquena Schlinger, Eulonchus Gerstaecker, Exetasis , Lasia Wiedemann, Lasioides Collado, Ocnaea Erichson, Pialea Erichson, and Pteropexus Macquart, although the group is in need of revision, with several generic synonyms likely (Schlinger et al 2013).…”

New spider flies from the Neotropical Region (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a key to New World genera

“…Acroceridae comprise approximately 520 species in 53 genera (Pape et al 2011; Gillung and Winterton 2011; Winterton 2012; Winterton and Gillung 2012). The family is classified into three extant subfamilies (Panopinae, Acrocerinae, and Philopotinae) based on adult morphology and host preference.…”