Platypalpus Macquart 1827

• Main Authors: Grootaert, Patrick, Shamshev, Igor V.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2012
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Arthropoda; Insecta; Diptera; Hybotidae; Platypalpus; Indian; Italica; Fennoscandia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3716658; https://zenodo.org/record/3716658

Genus Platypalpus Macquart, 1827 Coryneta Meigen, 1800: 27. Type-species: Musca cursitans Fabricius, 1775, by subsequent designation of Engel (1939: 43). Suppressed by I.C.Z.N. 1963: 339 (Opinion 678). Platypalpus Macquart, 1827: 92. Type-species: Musca cursitans Fabricius, 1775, by subsequent designation of Westwood (1840: 132). Phoroxypha Rondani, 1856: 146. Type-species: Tachydromia longicornis Meigen, 1822, by original designation. Cleptodromia Corti, 1907:101 (as subgenus of Tachydromia ).Type-species: Tachydromia(Cleptodromia) longimana Corti, 1907 by monotypy. Brevios Brunetti, 1913: 22. Type-species: B. longicornis Brunetti, 1913 by original designation (not in Yang et al. 2007). Howlettia Brunetti, 1913: 23. Type-species: H. flavipes Brunetti, 1913 by monotypy. (not in Yang et al. 2007). Tachydromia , authors, not Meigen, 1803, misidentifications. Recognition Recognised by the following combination of characters: eyes separated in both sexes, bare; postpronotal lobe well differentiated; scutum usually distinctly longer than broad; mid leg raptorial, mid femur thickened and armed with rows of spine-like setae ventrally, mid tibia usually with more or less prominent apical spur; wing with veins A 1 and CuA 2 present (cell cup present). Diagnosis Very small to large species with body size varying from about 1.0 to 5.0 mm. Eyes separated on frons and face, sometimes very narrowly; ommatidia of subequally small. One or two pairs of vertical bristles, sometimes not prominent. Ocellar tubercle with 2 pairs of bristles. Antenna with postpedicel conical; stylus apical. Palpus flattened, small, usually with some short subapical setae. Thorax greatly varying in ground-colour and degree of tomentosity from uniformly yellow to black and from largely shining to largely or entirely tomentose; scutum usually distinctly longer than broad; postpronotal lobe well differentiated; postpronotal bristle usually very prominent; mesonotal setation varying. Mid leg raptorial, mid femur thickened and armed with rows of spine-like setae ventrally, mid tibia usually with more or less prominent apical spur. Wings normally developed; without pattern; Rs rather long, originating beyond midway of vein R 1; vein R 1+2 long, meeting costa beyond wing midway; vein R 2+3 complete, meeting costa close to wing apex; A 1 present; crossvein CuA 2 present, recurrent; crossvein bm-cu oblique; cells br and bm of subequal length or cell bm slightly longer; cell cup present. Abdomen with segments 1-7 usually unmodified; no squamiform setae and gland-like intersegmental structures. Terminalia: epandrium not divided; left epandrial lamella separated from hypandrium; left surstylus undifferentiated from epandrial lamella; right epandrial lamella usually larger; right surstylus usually present, barely differentiated from epandrial lamella; cerci separated; hypandrium usually with 2 bristles on apical portion; phallus very short; two rod-shaped apodemes (i.e. ejaculatory plus ventral apodeme) present. Female usually similar to male in all respects except sexual differences; terminalia long; tergite 8 separated from sternite 8; cercus long, slender. Remarks The genus Platypalpus is the largest group of Tachydromiinae and one of the most speciose genera of Empidoidea on the whole. Currently about 550 species of Platypalpus are known worldwide but about 75 % of them were described from the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions (Yang et al. 2007). Platypalpus have been divided into several more or less natural species groups (Chvála 1975) and this classification of the genus is quite applicable to the Oriental representatives as well (Grootaert & Shamshev 2006). In contrast to the Palaearctic Region, few species of Platypalpus are found in the Oriental Region at low altitudes. Having a similar habitat and niche as Elaphropeza , Platypalpus probably comes into competition with Elaphropeza that is likely more adapted to tropical conditions. However as soon as one samples at altitudes above 500 m, various species of Platypalpus are found and the number of Elaphropeza species drops. After relatively intensive sampling in Singapore, only three females belonging to a single species of Platypalpus were found and we do not expect many more species to occur here. For a key and descriptions of the actually known Southeast Asian Platypalpus , we refer to Grootaert & Shamshev (2006). Although the species in Singapore is known from females only, we describe it since it has many distinct characters that make it easily recognisable from the single related species P. hualuang Grootaert & Shamshev described from Northeast Thailand and males are normally very similar in coloration and tomentosity. : Published as part of Grootaert, Patrick & Shamshev, Igor V., 2012, The fast-running flies (Diptera, Hybotidae, Tachydromiinae) of Singapore and adjacent regions, pp. 1-162 in European Journal of Taxonomy 5 on pages 14-15, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2012.5, http://zenodo.org/record/3715167 : {"references": ["Macquart J. 1827. Insectes dipteres du nord de la France. Platypezines, dolichopodes, empides, hybotides. Lille.", "Meigen J. W. 1800. Nouvelle classification des mouches a deux ailes (Diptera L.) d'apres un plan tout nouveau. Perronneau, Paris.", "Engel E. O. 1939. 28. Empididae. In: Lindner E. (ed.) Die Fliegen der palaearktischen Region 4: 41 - 104.", "Westwood J. O. 1840. Order XIII. Diptera Aristotle. (Antliata Fabricius. Halteriptera Clairv.). In: An introduction to the modern classification of insects; founded on the natural habits and corresponding organisation of the different families. Synopsis of the genera of British insects: 125 - 154. Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans, London.", "Rondani C. 1856. Dipterologiae Italicae prodromus. Vol. 1. Genera Italica ordinis Dipterorum ordinatim disposita et distincta et in familias et stirpes aggregata. A. Storschi, Parmae. 226 + [2] pp.", "Meigen J. W. 1822. Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten europaischen zweiflugeligen Insekten. Dritter Theil. Schulz-Wundermann, Hamm.", "Corti E. 1907. Eine neue Art der Dipterengattung Tachydromia (Mg.) Lw. Wiener Entomologische Zeitung 26: 101 - 102.", "Brunetti E. 1913. New Indian Empididae. Records of the Indian Museum 9: 11 - 45.", "Yang D., Zhang K., Yao G. & Zhang J. 2007. World Catalog of Empididae (Insecta: Diptera). China Agricultural University Press, Beijing.", "Meigen J. W. 1803. Versuch einer neuen Gattungs Eintheilung der europaischen zweiflugeligen Insekten. Magazin fur Insektenkunde 2: 259 - 281.", "Chvala M. 1975. The Tachydromiinae (Dipt. Empididae) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 3: 1 - 336.", "Grootaert P. & Shamshev I. 2006. The genus Platypalpus Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Northeast Thailand with comments on the species groups in the Oriental region. Journal of Natural History 39 (47): 4031 - 4065. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222930500533781"]}