Ropalomera Wiedemann, 1824

Kirst, Frederico Dutra & Ale-Rocha, Rosaly, 2012, Taxonomic revision of the Amazonian species of Ropalomera Wiedemann, 1824 (Diptera: Ropalomeridae), Zootaxa 3151, pp. 1-27 : 2-3

Ropalomera Wiedemann, 1824

Ropalomera Wiedemann, 1824: 17 ; 1828: 570 (redescription); Macquart, 1843: 359 (202) (diagnosis); Curran, 1934a: 300 (key to Ropalomeridae ); 1934b: 432 (key); Steyskal, 1967: 2 (catalogue); 1987: 942 (key); Ibañes-Bernal et al., 1992: 91, 94 (key, citation); Ramírez-García & Hernández-Ortiz, 1994: 59, 83 (diagnosis, key); Prado & Papavero, 2002: 1 (catalogue); 2009: 3 (catalogue).

Rhopalomera Agassiz, 1846: 4 (59), emended (unjustified); Williston, 1895a: 184 (diagnosis, key); 1896: 281 (key); Lindner, 1930a: 124, 126 (diagnosis, key); Malloch, 1941: 50 (key); Frey, 1959: 47 (key); Prado, 1963: 459 (diagnosis); 1966: 214, 215 (diagnosis, key).

Type species: Dictya clavipes Fabricius, 1805 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Body length 7–13 mm; color predominantly brown; front wide, concave; ocellar, postvertical and vertical bristles present; face with median, well developed hemispherical protuberance; arista plumose; wing hyaline to brownish, frequently with dark stripes or blotches or with pale areas.

Male. Body length: 7–13 mm; wing: 7.3–12.7 mm

Head: frons wide, with eyes extending above vertex; ocelli placed in an ocellar tubercle; ocellar, postvertical and vertical bristles present. Antenna with scape short, pedicel twice length of scape, first flagellomere elongate and arista plumose. Gena broad, covered with golden or silver pollinosity. Parafacialia with pilosity and three bristles. Face matte with rounded or pointed facial protuberance. Clypeus broad, extending below the gena. Palpus flattened and broadened, with short bristles.

Thorax: Scutum brownish with three stripes of golden or silver pollinosity between dorsocentral rows, and one additional pair of similar width laterally. Scutellum trapezoidal, directed slightly upward, dorsal surface concave. Chaetotaxy: one postpronotal, two notopleural, one presutural supra-alar weakly developed, one postsutural supra-alar, one postalar, one intra-alar, one intra-postalar and one acrostichal; two scutellar bristles, one apical and one lateral. Mesopleuron with one strong bristle on anepisternum, one on katepisternum and one strong bristle on posterior margin of posterior spiracle.

Legs: Coxae with silver pollinosity. Femora thickened, mainly in the central region; mid and hind femora with strong ventral setae. Tibiae curved; dorsal surface of mid tibia with one or two apical spurs. First tarsomere twice as long as the others.

Wing: Hyaline to infuscated, frequently with dark spots or blotches or with pale areas; crossvein bm-cu incomplete; cross-vein r-m frequently surrounded by infuscation; apical section of vein M bent anteriorly in line with crossvein dm-cu; halter white or yellowish.

Abdomen: brownish, tergites may have a row of four silver pollinose spots. Pollinosity may also be diffuse, or with blue reflections in light. Terminalia: epandrium globose and without pollinosity; cercus fused at least until proximal half, with distal half free, with variably sized bristles. Surstylus well-developed, sclerotized, with or without bristles. Epiphallus with two apical branches (giving an anchor-shaped appearance); size varying between species. Paramere with two or three lobes, when trilobed with two apical and one preapical lobe. Aedeagus almost completely membranous, supported by sclerotized stripe on basal half; with or without preapical projections.

Female: similar to male; sexual dimorphism usually restricted to face, with facial protuberance shiny; legs more slender and with shorter bristles; ovipositor telescoped, mostly membranous; two globose, cylindrical or elongate spermathecae.