Oropezella Collin, 1926

Ale-Rocha, Rosaly & Freitas-Silva, Rafael Augusto Pinheiro De, 2014, New species of Oropezella Collin (Diptera, Hybotidae, Ocydromiinae) from Brazil and Costa Rica, with comments on the relationships among species-groups, Zootaxa 3852 (5), pp. 501-539 : 503

Oropezella Collin, 1926

Oropezella Collin, 1926: 214 ; Yang et al., 2007: 334 –335 (catalogue). Type species: Leptopeza sphenoptera Loew, 1873 (original designation).

Leptometopiella Melander, 1928: 70. Type species: Leptopeza sphenoptera Loew, 1873 (original designation).

Diagnosis. The genus is characterized by: scape as long or longer than pedicel; antennae inserted above middle of head (except O. longifrons sp. nov.); face long and holoptic; vein Rs long, arising before middle of cell bm; two veins emitted from cell dm reaching, or nearly reaching, wing margin (in O. abdominalis three veins are issue from cell dm but only one reaches wing margin); cell dm slender and with parallel sides (except O. abdominalis and O. antennata ); vein R4+5 reaching Costa below the apex of the wing; anal angle of wing poorly developed; cell cup equal or more than two-thirds the length of cell bm; CuA2 sinuous (also in Chvalaea ; CuA2 absent in O. bicolor ); when present, pterostigma confined to cell sc at the apex of R1; a pair of posterior dorsocentral bristles usually differentiated; hypopygium asymmetrical, rotated approximately 90º to right; epandrium shallowly or deeply cleft; cercus thinly sclerotized; ejaculatory apodeme fused to base of phallus; bacilliform sclerites well sclerotized; phallic shaft arched, cylindrical; articulated distal portion of phallus bifid apically (simple in O. tanycera and O. diminuloruma ) bearing a basal process with variable length.

Remarks. The generic limits of Oropezella are not well defined. As shown in the cladistic analysis (see below), Oropezella is apparently a non-monophyletic group, since Chvalaea appears as a sub-group within Oropezella . Moreover, Chvalaea forms a well-supported monophyletic group. Therefore, the species currently allocated to Oropezella can be promptly distinguished from Chavalaea species by the heavily sclerotized and punctated surface of the abdomen and cell cup approximately half length of the second basal cell in Chvalaea (one species in Oropezella , O. abdominalis , has the abdomen darkly sclerotized but not punctated, and the cell cup is similar to other Oropezella ).