Tapantiomyia, Michelsen, 2017

Michelsen, Verner, 2017, Tapantiomyia enigmatica, new genus and species proposed for a stilt-legged and otherwise bizarre coenosiine fly (Diptera: Muscidae) from Costa Rica, Zootaxa 4277 (4), pp. 583-590 : 584

Genus Tapantiomyia gen. nov.

Type species: Tapantiomyia enigmatica sp. nov.

Etymology. The generic name combines the name of the type locality with “myia”, a fly.

Diagnosis. The following combination of characters separates Tapantiomyia from all other genera of Muscidae : Chaetotaxy pale yellowish on lower parts of head and body as well as on basal parts of legs; vein C bare ventrally behind lower anterior spinule-setula row; costal section between humeral and subcostal breaks inflated and with a single anterior row of short, pale setulae; vein Sc terminates in vein C well before subcostal break; lower calypter as a narrow fold with straight hind margin; femora and tibiae disproportionally long and very slender, resulting in a stilt-legged appearance.

Tapantiomyia may run out to Scathophagidae in existing keys to families of Diptera because of the yellowish vestiture on ventral parts of head, absence of interfrontal pair of setae, enlarged prestomal teeth, and reduced lower calypter, but scathophagids are readily separated from Tapantiomyia , and from all other coenosiine Muscidae , by having vein C extensively setulose dorsally behind upper anterior spinule-setula row. Scathophagids also differ from Tapantiomyia by the ventrally setulose vein C, vein A1 + CuA2 extended half way or more of distance to wing margin, and male tergite VI large and setulose except in species of the small, north temperate subfamily Delininae as defined by Vockeroth (1987).