Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5621 No. 1: 14 Apr. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5621.1.3
Page range: 69-90
Abstract views: 71
PDF downloaded: 6

First records of Mythicomyia Coquillett, 1893 (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Mythicomyiinae) from Central America, with description of three new species and an updated key to Neotropical species

Universidad de la Amazonia, Grupo de Investigación en Entomología Universidad de la Amazonia -GIEUA-, Laboratorio de Entomología -LEUA-, Av. 11 5–69 Juan XXIII, Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia.
Universidad de la Amazonia, Grupo de Investigación en Entomología Universidad de la Amazonia -GIEUA-, Laboratorio de Entomología -LEUA-, Av. 11 5–69 Juan XXIII, Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia.
J. Linsley Gressitt Center for Research in Entomology, Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817-2704, USA.
Diptera Asiloidea biodiversity micro bee flies microbombyliids Neotropical Region taxonomy

Abstract

Mythicomyia Coquillett (1893) has worldwide distribution and is a poorly studied group in the Neotropical Region, and completely unknown in Belize, Costa Rica, Curaçao and the Dominican Republic. The 16 previously known extant species in the Neotropical Region occur in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru. Three new species of Mythicomyia are here described, two from Curaçao and one from the Dominican Republic: Mythicomyia curacaoensis sp. nov. (type-locality: Willemstad, Coral Specht), Mythicomyia nigra sp. nov. (type-locality: Willemstad, Coral Specht) and Mythicomyia pedernalensis sp. nov. (type-locality: Pedernales, Cabo Jojo) respectively; Mythicomyia bilobata Ramos-Pastrana, Rojas-Portilla & Evenhuis, 2024 is recorded for first time in Belize and Costa Rica. Illustrations of the new species, dichotomous key (males and females) and distribution map of the Neotropical species are also presented.

References

  1. Aldrich, J.M. (1905) A catalogue of North American Diptera. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, 46 (1444), 1–680.
  2. Brèthes, J. (1919) Cueillette d’insectes du Rio Blanco. III. Diptères. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 23, 40–44.
  3. Cole, F.R. & Schlinger, E.I. (1969) The flies of western North America. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, 693 pp.
  4. Coquillett, D.W. (1893) An anomalous empid. Entomological News, 4, 208–210.
  5. Cresson, E.T., Jr. (1915) A new genus and some new species belonging to the dipterous family Bombyliidae. Entomological News, 26, 200–207.
  6. Cumming, J.M. (1992) Lactic acid as an agent for macerating Diptera specimens. Fly Times, 8, 7.
  7. Cumming, J.M. & Wood, D.M. (2017) 3. Adult morphology and terminology. In: Kirk-Springs, A.H. & Sinclair, B.J. (Eds.), Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Vol. 1. Introductory chapters and keys to Diptera families. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, pp. 89–133.
  8. Edwards, F.W. (1930) Bombyliidae, Nemestrinidae and Cyrtidae. In: Aubertin, D. (Ed.), Diptera of Patagonia and south Chile based mainly on material in the British Museum (Natural History). British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. 62–197.
  9. Evenhuis, N.L. (2002) Catalog of the Mythicomyiidae of the world (Insecta: Diptera). Bishop Museum Bulletin in Entomology, 10, 1–85.
  10. Evenhuis, N.L. (2014) Initial attempts at putting females in their place with WIPs. Fly Times, 52, 10–11.
  11. Evenhuis, N.L. (2022) Old World species of Mythicomyia Coquillett (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae): examples of a relict genus?. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, 145, 1–14.
  12. Evenhuis, N.L. (2024) World catalog of Mythicomyiidae (Insecta: Diptewra). Revised edition. Bishop Museum Bulletins in Entomology, 15, 1–95.
  13. Greathead, D.J. & Evenhuis, N.L. (2001) Annotated keys to the genera of African Bombylioidea (Diptera: Bombyliidae; Mythicomyiidae). African Invertebrates, 42, 105–224.
  14. Greene, C.T. (1924) New species of Mythicomyia and relationship with a new genus (Diptera). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 26, 60–64.
  15. Hall, J.C. (1976) The Bombyliidae of Chile. University of California Publications in Entomology, 76 (1975), 1–278. [The issue date of 31 December 1975 printed in the volume is incorrect; correspondence with the publisher indicates that it was actually published in March 1976]
  16. Hall, J.C. & Evenhuis, N.L. (1986) Family Bombyliidae. In: Griffiths, G.C.D. (Ed.), Flies of the Nearctic Region. Vol. V. Part 13. No. 5. E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart, pp. 321–592.
  17. Hall, J.C. & Evenhuis, N.L. (1987) Family Bombyliidae. In: Griffiths, G.C.D. (Ed.), Flies of the Nearctic Region. Vol. V. Part 13. No. 6. E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart, pp. 593–656.
  18. Hull, F.M. (1973) Bee flies of the world. The genera of the family Bombyliidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 286, 1–687. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.48406
  19. Lamas, C.J., Falaschi, R.L. & Evenhuis, N.L. (2015) A new genus and species of micro bee flies from Brazil (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Psiloderoidinae). Zootaxa, 3955 (3), 403–416.
  20. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3955.3.7
  21. Melander, A.L. (1902) A monograph of the North American Empididae. Part I. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 28, 195–367.
  22. Melander, A.L. (1961) The genus Mythicomyia (Diptera: Bombyliidae). Wasmann Journal of Biology, 18 [1960], 161–261.
  23. Mendes, L.L., Lamas, C.J.E., Evenhuis, N.L. & Limeira-de-Oliveira, F. (2019) New Pieza Evenhuis (Diptera, Mythicomyiidae, Mythicomyiinae) from Northeast Brazil. Zootaxa, 4629 (1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4629.1.1
  24. Painter, R.H. & Painter, E.M. (1965) Family Bombyliidae. In: Stone, A., Sabrosky, C.W., Wirth, W.W., Foote, R.H. & Coulson, J.R. (Eds.), A catalog of the Diptera of America north of Mexico. United States Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Handbook. Washington, D.C., pp. 406–446.
  25. Painter, R.H., Painter, E.M. & Hall, J.C. (1978) Family Bombyliidae. A catalog of the Diptera of the Americas south of the United States, 38, 1–92.
  26. Philippi, R.A. (1866) Aufzählung der chilenischen Dipteren. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft, 15 (1865), 595–782. [Dating from Evenhuis, 2002a: 67] https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.9295
  27. Ramos-Pastrana, Y., Rojas-Portilla, E. & Evenhuis, N. (2024) First record of Mythicomyia Coquillett, 1983 from Colombia with description of a new species of Mythicomyia (Heterhybos) Brèthes, 1919 (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Mythicomyiinae) and an updated key to South American species. Zootaxa, 5397 (4), 539–550. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5397.4.5
  28. Sánchez, P. & Evenhuis, N. (2024) New Mythicomyia Coquillett, 1983 (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Mythicomyiinae) from Peru. Zootaxa, 5541 (4), 513–538. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5541.4.5
  29. Shevtsova, E. & Hansson, C. (2011) Species recognition through wing interference patterns (WIPs) in Archrysocharoides Girault (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) including two new species. ZooKeys, 154, 9–30. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.154.2158
  30. Shevtsova, E. & Hansson, C., Janzen, D.H. & Kjaerandsen, J. (2011) Stable structural color patterns displayed on transparent insects wings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108 (2), 668–673. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1017393108
  31. Shorthouse, D.P. (2010) SimpleMappr, a web-enabled tool to produce publication-quality point maps. Online. Available from: http://www.simplemappr.net (accessed 26 May 2023)
  32. Williston, S.W. (1896) On the Diptera of St. Vincent (West Indies). Transaction Entomological Society London, 1896, 253–449. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1896.tb00965.x
  33. Yeates, D.K. (1994) The cladistics and classification of the Bombyliidae (Diptera: Asiloidea). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 219, 1–199.

How to Cite

Ramos-Pastrana, Y., Córdoba-Suarez, E. & Evenhuis, N.L. (2025) First records of Mythicomyia Coquillett, 1893 (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Mythicomyiinae) from Central America, with description of three new species and an updated key to Neotropical species. Zootaxa, 5621 (1), 69–90. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5621.1.3