Taxonomic review of the Sphecapatodes ornata group (Diptera: Sarcophagidae: Miltogramminae), with description of one new species

Abstract

Background: The genus Sphecapatodes Villeneuve is recorded from China for the first time.

A phylotranscriptomic framework for flesh fly evolution (Diptera, Calyptratae, Sarcophagidae)

“…Considerable progress has been made on the phylogeny and evolution of Miltogramminae due to an accumulation of taxonomic, morphological and biological studies (e.g., Pape, 1996;Szpila and Pape, 2005a,b;Szpila et al, 2010;Piwczy nski et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2014). In the present study, the genus Eumacronychia, endemic to the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, emerged as sister group to the remaining miltogrammines in the nucleotide-based ML reconstruction, and the endemic Nearctic genus Gymnoprosopa was inferred as sister to the remaining miltogrammines (i.e., excluding Eumacronychia) with high ML support (Fig.…”

First description of the first instar larva of Sphecapatoclea and Sphecapatodes (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)

“…Identifications to genus were made using the keys of Rohdendorf (1971), Verves (1994) and Pape (1998). Currently, available identification keys (Rohdendorf, 1971;Zhang et al, 2014) will only provide identifications of males, and molecular libraries have not yet been built based on male specimens, effectively preventing identification from molecular barcoding. Also, from recently collected material (Szpila, unpublished) it is evident that several species new to science will have to be named and described before a stable taxonomy and nomenclature will be attained.…”

“…Good examples are the genera Sphecapatoclea Villeneuve and Sphecapatodes Villeneuve. Both genera, currently represented by 15 and 6 species respectively, are distributed in arid regions of the Palaearctic, with a peak of diversity in the Middle East and Central Asia (Pape, 1996;Zhang et al, 2014). Villeneuve (1909) suggested the two genera to be very closely related, and in the only major phylogenetic reconstruction of Miltogramminae, the genera Sphecapatoclea and Sphecapatodes were placed close to each other in the tribe Phyllotelini (Verves, 1989).…”

The first instar larva of two species of Miltogramminae (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) from the Middle East – examples of peculiar morphology

“…The current classification of the Miltogramminae is entirely based on adult morphology (e.g. Generic circumscriptions are improving (Verves 1989;Pape 1996Pape , 1998Pape and Szpila 2012;Zhang et al 2014), but clear-cut definitions are missing for most genera, and the genera Miltogramma Meigen and Phrosinella Robineau-Desvoidy are no exceptions. Generic circumscriptions are improving (Verves 1989;Pape 1996Pape , 1998Pape and Szpila 2012;Zhang et al 2014), but clear-cut definitions are missing for most genera, and the genera Miltogramma Meigen and Phrosinella Robineau-Desvoidy are no exceptions.…”

“…Verves 1989;Pape 1996), and it needs corroboration or revision through incorporation of both larval characters and molecular data (Szpila and Pape 2013) in a strict analytical context. Generic circumscriptions are improving (Verves 1989;Pape 1996Pape , 1998Pape and Szpila 2012;Zhang et al 2014), but clear-cut definitions are missing for most genera, and the genera Miltogramma Meigen and Phrosinella Robineau-Desvoidy are no exceptions. The genus Miltogramma contains more than 100 valid species (Pape 1996;Verves and Szpila) and is the largest in the subfamily.…”