Atriadops Wandolleck, 1897

Barraclough, David A., 2006, An overview of the South African tangle­veined flies (Diptera: Nemestrinidae), with an annotated key to the genera and a checklist of species, Zootaxa 1277, pp. 39-63 : 53-54

Atriadops Wandolleck, 1897

Atriadops Wandolleck, 1897: 246 (replacement name for Colax Wiedemann ). Type species: Colax macula Wiedemann, 1824 , by designation of Blanchard (1840: 608).

* vespertilio Loew, 1858: 340 ( Colax ). Probably eastern provinces.

Discussion: A review of all available material reveals that there are at least two Atriadops species in South Africa. A common species has variably shaped wings (often unusually broad basally), the lower extent of the head (including the buccal margin) with extensive, dense, elongate pilosity, and slender elongate palpi present in both sexes. A second, rarely encountered species has slender, elongate wings with pilosity short and/or absent at the lower extent of the head, and the palpi absent. It is unlikely that this species is A. cinnamonea Brunetti, 1929 , described from Malawi. Given the significant variation in body size, body and wing colour, as well as wing patterning, a taxonomic review of the local fauna as part of a wider taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical fauna is indicated. Although A. vespertilio was described from Botswana, it has been recorded from much of East, West and Southern Africa, although these records need confirmation. Atriadops is the only Afrotropical genus recorded from West Africa. It has also been recorded from Socotra ( Yemen) ( Greathead 1969).

A specimen from KwaZulu­Natal in the Natal Museum has been reared from a host, as a pupal exuvium is pinned beneath it. Unfortunately no additional data could be sourced.

Relationships: Within the Trichopsideinae, Atriadops clearly has affinity with Nycterimyia , with both genera having strongly patterned wings and a tendency for the reduction of the number of apical veins. They also have a similarly recessed facial region. Several other characters are suggested by Bernardi (1973: 287). Atriadops is the only Afrotropical nemestrinid genus to lack ocelli. Like other genera of Trichopsideinae, the style is fused with the third antennal segment (see also Bernardi 1973).