Revision of Australian Clistoabdominalis (Diptera : Pipunculidae)

Abstract

The 29 Australian species of Clistoabdominalis Skevington are revised and a phylogenetic analysis is presented. The following 23 new species are proposed: Clistoabdominalis ancylus, C. angelikae, C. capillifascis, C. carnatistylus, C. collessi, C. colophus, C. condylostylus, C. danielsi, C. dasymelus, C. digitatus, C. exallus, C. gaban, C. gremialis, C. lambkinae, C. lingulatus, C. mathiesoni, C. nutatus, C. octiparvus, C. scalenus, C. scintillatus, C. tasmanicus, C. tharra, and C. yeatesi. Pipunculus picrodes Perkins is proposed as a junior synonym of C. trochanteratus (Becker). Diagnoses and an illustrated key to species are provided. A summary of host records for all Australian species of Pipunculidae is presented to clarify confusion in the literature. Pipunculidae are documented hilltopping for the first time. This mating strategy is used by many species of Clistoabdominalis and patterns of hilltopping within the genus are examined.

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“…Specimen preparation follows Skevington (2001Skevington ( , 2002Skevington ( , 2003. Drawings were made using a drawing tube mounted on a Nikon Optiphot compound microscope or a Leica Wild M10.…”

“…Damaged males, and females that could not be identified with absolute confidence were not included in type series. and is discussed by Skevington (2001) with specific reference to Pipunculidae. These items are summarized below for the reader's convenience and genitalic structures are labeled on Figures 3 and 4.…”

Cephalosphaera Enderlein, a genus of Pipunculidae (Diptera) new for Australia, with descriptions of four new species

“…The abdomen was removed and boiled in lactic acid (approximately 85%) for about 30 min. Lactic acid was chosen as a clearing agent due to its many advantages over potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide (Skevington & Marshall 1998). The macerated abdomen was then removed from the acid and placed directly in clean glycerin.…”

Revision of Protonephrocerus Collin (Diptera: Pipunculidae)

“…The microscope used for preparing illustrations was a Nikon SMZ1500 with a HI-150 High Intensity Illuminator (Nikon Canada Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada). Measurements were made using a graticule following methods outlined in Skevington (2001).…”

“…Drawings were made of the genitalia of exemplar males and females. Genitalic terminology nomenclature follows Cumming & Wood (2017) and is discussed by Skevington (2001) with specific reference to Pipunculidae.…”