Cryptophleps Lichtwardt

Grichanov, Igor Ya., 2015, New species of Cryptophleps Lichtwardt (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) with a key to the Afrotropical and Palaearctic species of the genus, Zootaxa 4007 (2), pp. 259-266 : 260

Cryptophleps Lichtwardt

Cryptophleps Lichtwardt, 1898: 491 . Type species: Cryptophleps kerteszi Lichtwardt, 1898 (monotypy).

Etymology. From Greek: kryptós, phléps (with hidden veins); gender feminine.

Diagnosis. This genus is defined (together with cosmopolitan Asyndetus Loew, 1869 ) by the synapomorphy of the broken and displaced vein M which readily distinguishes both genera from the related and probably ancestral cosmopolitan genus Diaphorus Meigen, 1824 . Small species, body length 1.1–2.5 mm; body with bristles yellow (Afrotropical and some Palaearctic species), sometimes partly black or almost entirely black (Australasian and Seychelles species); face broad ( C. kerteszi and Afrotropical species), moderately broad ( Seychelles species) or linear (Australasian species); costa not extending beyond tip of R4+5; distal vein M gently sinuate or broken or weakened, with distal section often displaced; vein R4+5 ending along distal anterior wing margin, well before wing apex; distal parts of R4+5 and M1+2 strongly diverging; acrostichals absent or microscopic; usually 4 strong dorsocentral setae present; male segment 8 with or without strong setae.

Remarks. A thorough re-description of all the characters can be found in Grootaert & Meuffels (1987) and Bickel (2005), which was based mainly on Australasian species.