Nepaletricha

Hippa, Heikki, Chandler, Peter & Papp, László, 2009, Review of the genus Nepaletricha Chandler (Diptera, Rangomaramidae), with description of new species from Thailand and Vietnam, Zootaxa 2174, pp. 18-26 : 19

Notes on Nepaletricha

Chandler (2002) considered Nepaletricha as the sister group of the Afrotropical Kenyatricha Chandler (type species K. elgon Chandler ) and placed both genera among the genera of the Heterotricha Loew group of authors which at that time was lacking a family assignment. Hippa and Vilkamaa (2005, 2006a) found support to the sister group relationship between Nepaletricha and Kenyatricha and continued with the placement of the Heterotricha group in Sciaroidea incertae sedis. Jaschhof & Jaschhof (2007) described a new Kenyatricha like monotypic genus Madagotricha ( M. ranomafanae Jaschhof & Jaschhof ) from Madagascar, again placing it in Sciaroidea incertae sedis. Amorim & Rindal (2007) placed the genera of the Heterotricha group they studied in the family Rangomaramidae proposed by Jaschhof & Didham (2002) for the New Zealand genus Rangomarama ( R. edwardsi Jaschhof & Didham ). Within this family they recognized four subfamilies and included Kenyatricha in the subfamily Chiletrichinae, but considered Nepaletricha as incertae sedis because they were uncertain of its subfamilial position. We follow the recent placement of the elements of the former Heterotricha group in Rangomaramidae .

The diagnostic characters given for Nepaletricha by Chandler (2002) also apply to the new species described here, except that the submedial processes of tergite 9 are absent in N. montana sp. n. Nepaletricha are similar to Kenyatricha and Madagotricha but differ from both e.g. by the following characters: 1) mesepimeron is ventrally broad, not strongly narrowed, 2) there is a distinct vein ta (r-m), in Kenyatricha and Madagotricha ta is obliterated so that radius and media touch in a point or there is a short radio-medial fusion, 3) the vein sc is setose, not non-setose or with one or two occasional setae only and 4) the gonocoxal apodemes are broadly fused anteriorly. The latter character is unique in the whole Rangomaramidae . Both Nepaletricha and Kenyatricha differ from Madagotricha by having five-segmented, not one-segmented, maxillary palpus.

The female characters of Nepaletricha have been previously unknown. The genitalia of N. furcata are of the simple generalized type found throughout Rangomaramidae , i. e. they lack the striking modifications of sternite 9, cerci and the setosity of abdominal segments 9 and 10 found in Chiletricha Chandler ( Heterotricha marginata Edwards ), Heterotricha Loew ( H. hirta Loew ) and Rhynchoheterotricha Freeman ( R. stuckenbergae Freeman ) (see Chandler 2002, Hippa & Vilkamaa 2006b). The one-segmented cercus is a rare character, but is found in two of the four genera placed in subfamily Ohakuneinae of Rangomaramidae by Amorim & Rindal (2007), Ohakunea Tonnoir & Edwards and Rogambara Jaschhof , both of which are otherwise greatly different from Nepaletricha .