Sciapus Zeller, 1842

Tang, Chufei, Zhu, Yajun & Yang, Ding, 2019, Sciapodinae from the Himalayan region with description of nine new species from Tibet (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), Zootaxa 4577 (1), pp. 1-28 : 25

Genus Sciapus Zeller, 1842

Sciapus has a quite restrictive distribution. Most Sciapus are primarily distributed in the Palearctic and Nearctic regions. As well, there is a record of Sciapus in the Oriental realm, Sciapus arctus Becker, 1922 from Taiwan ( China). As its holotype is lost, there is no way to track its detailed features. However Becker’s figure of the postabdomen ( Becker 1922, fig. 170) indicates it has a simple and digitiform cercus, which is similar to the new species we describe below. The new species is the only Sciapus distributed in the Himalayan region.

Species of this genus can be distinguished by the following features: Head: vertex shallowly excavated, with strong postvertical bristles. Scape usually prolonged; arista-like stylus dorsal, nearly as long as head width. Thorax usually with dense pollinosity; with biseriate acr and 5–7 pairs of strong dc; with 2 pairs of sc, of which basal pair weak and hair-like. Legs: Hind femur with distinct anterior preapical bristle. Tarsi variously unornamented. Wing hyaline, crossvein dm-cu straight. Abdomen elongated, phallus and hypandrium arising from epandrial base, arching beyond epandrium, with distinct dorsal angle; epandrial lobe and surstylus often greatly elongated ( Bickel 1994; Yang et al. 2011).