Moegistorhynchus turneri Barraclough & Colville 2024

Moegistorhynchus turneri (Diptera: Nemestriidae)

A montane tangle-veined fly with short proboscis and blackish ground colour of the abdomen with relatively short pile.

Diagnostic characters:

• proboscis: short, up to 1.3x body length or only slightly longer than body
• antennae: style of flagellum with 2 short basal segments
• postalar callus: smooth over entire surface
• wing: infuscated with paler sections hyaline (not creamy white); cell cup (posterior cubital cell) with short (incomplete) cross vein extending less than half distance to hind margin
• abdomen: ground colour of dorsum dark brown or black; 1st tergite entirely black, 2nd tergite almost entirely densly silver pruinescent

Full description with figures and distribution records in:
Barraclough, David A. & Colville, Jonathan F., 2024, Revision of the endemic South African genus Moegistorhynchus Macquart (Diptera: Nemestrinidae), with a species key, description of three new species and comments on pollination biology and biogeography, Zootaxa 5519 (1), pp. 1-37
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5519.1.1

Accessible via Plazi/Zenodo
https://treatment.plazi.org/GgServer/html/03F6879B784AF636FF79FE8E1F4A38AC
distribution map: https://zenodo.org/records/13915498

Distribution: Western Cape endemic, Groot Winterhoek Mountain range

Flower visting: Wachendorfia spp and Erica spp

iNat observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/69610750
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/11045606

Posted on October 15, 2024 09:01 AM by traianbertau