Teuchophorus Loew, 1857

Meuffels, Henk & Grootaert, Patrick, 2004, The genus Teuchophorus in South-East Asia and New Guinea, description of new species, species-groups and their phylogeny (Insecta, Diptera, Dolichopodidae), Journal of Natural History 38 (2), pp. 143-258 : 145-146

Teuchophorus Loew, 1857

Teuchophorus Loew, 1857: 44 . Type species: Dolichopus spinigerellus Zetterstedt, 1843 (des. Coquillett, 1910: 613).

Mastigomyia Becker, 1924: 121 syn. nov. Type species: Mastigomyia gratiosa Becker, 1924 (monotypy).

Olegonegrobovia Grichanov, 1995: 125 syn. nov. Type species: Olegonegrobovia zlobini Grichanov, 1995 (original designation).

Species of small stature (1.2–2 mm) (figure 1), thorax generally with a green metallic shine, pleura yellowish brown to dark brown. Abdomen generally dark brown, terga sometimes with a green gloss. Bristles mostly black.

Frons broad, narrowing down to the face. Two verticals, two ocellars; sometimes two small postocellars, no postverticals differentiated from the upper postoculars. Postoculars uniseriate, short. Face narrowing downward, broader in female. Clypeus not protruding. In male eyes often contiguous for a short distance. Occiput convex. Antenna short to very long. Basal antennal segment bare; second segment with an apical crown of short bristles (sometimes a longer dorsal). Third segment with a dorsal arista. Third segment always more or less conical, sometimes up to five times as long as deep. Arista generally more than 2.5 times as long as third segment, but can be reduced to a stump in the gratiosus -group.

Thorax convex. Acrostichals uniseriate (exceptionally missing); five dorsocentrals; one humeral with a hair beside, two notopleurals, one posthumeral, one presutural, one sutural, one intraalar, two supraalars; scutellum with two strong marginals. Sometimes a fine propleural bristle.

Legs and coxae generally yellowish; exceptionally darkened. Middle coxa sometimes with a weak external bristle. Hind coxa always with an external bristle. Legs in male can be heavily transformed and adorned; not in female. Middle and hind femur with an anteroventral and posteroventral preapical bristle. First segment of hind tarsus nearly always shorter than second segment; generally more than half as long.

Wings hyaline, rarely grey. Costa in many species with a lanceolate dark swelling (stigma), but in many species the costa is not thickened or sometimes only darkened. Posterior cross vein, tp, is always shorter than the apical section of M3+4.

Apical section of M1+2 turned up immediately after the tp (figures 4, 10, 19) and is always longer than its basal section. Anal vein represented by a fold. Squamae small with a few cilia.

Abdomen cylindrical with six externally visible segments. Hypopygium generally small, sessile. Cerci small, yellowish white. Surstyli pointing downwards. Aedeagus generally slender. Hypandrium often asymmetrical. Ovipositor of female hidden, with six to eight acanthae.

Most characters are discussed in the section on the species-groups.