Apolysis Loew

Greathead, D. J. & Evenhuis, N. L., 2001, Annotated keys to the genera of African Bombylioidea (Diptera: Bombyliidae; Mythicomyiidae), African Invertebrates 42 (1820), pp. 105-224 : 137

Apolysis Loew

Apolysis Loew, 1860 a: 86 [1860 b: 269; 1860 c: 197]. Type species: Apolysis humilis Loew, 1860 , by monotypy.

Comments: Evenhuis (1990 a) revised the generic concepts of Apolysis and showed that many species described as Oligodranes belong to it, including all those present in Africa. Thus, the discal cell may be enclosed by a terminal crossvein or open. All species are small to minute, usually under 5 mm in length and often less than 2 mm.

Keys: Palaearctic species ( Engel 1932 –7, Paramonov 1947); southern African species (Hesse 1975). All as both Apolysis and Oligodranes .

Hosts: A pupa of A.? capicola Hesse has been reared from a nest of Quartinia sp. ( Vespidae : Masarinae ) in Namibia (Greathead 1999 b).

Distribution: Holarctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Afrotropical Regions. North Africa: 2 species; Apolysis eremophila Loew (also Canary Islands), A. ornata (Engel) . Africa South of the Sahara: 29 species.