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Issue: Vol. 1273 No. 1: 27 Jul. 2006
Type: Articles
Published: 2006-07-27
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1273.1.1
Page range: 1–7
Abstract views: 42
PDF downloaded: 2

Remarkable sexual dimorphism in the Afrotropical species Nycterimyia capensis Bezzi, 1924 (Diptera: Nemestrinidae), and its taxonomic implications

School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, Durban 4041, South Africa
Diptera Nemestrinidae Nycterimyia capensis female Afrotropical Region sexual dimorphism

Abstract

Nycterimyia is a genus of poorly understood and rarely collected Nemestrinidae from scattered localities in the Afrotropical (two species), Oriental (four species) and Australasian (four species) Regions. The Afrotropical species N. capensis is a variable taxon currently recorded from South Africa, Kenya and Madagascar. This paper records a pair of N. capensis collected at the same date and locality (Ranomofana) in Madagascar. The female is the first known from the Afrotropics. There is marked sexual dimorphism in N. capensis; important characters separating the sexes include shape and length of the antennal style, length and distribution of pile on the thorax and abdomen, wing shape, and most importantly distinctive wing patterning. The taxonomic implications of not recognizing sexual dimorphism in the genus are discussed.

References

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