Lonchoptera Explained

Lonchoptera is a genus of spear-winged flies (Lonchopteridae). Their common name refers to their subacute (pointed) wings, which have a distinct and sexually dimorphic venation.

Description

Species in Lonchoptera are tiny to small, at, slender, and yellow to brownish-black bristly.

The larvae are dorsally flattened, with two pairs of head bristles, and feed on rotting vegetable matter,^[1] including in one case brussels sprouts.^[2]

This genus can be distinguished from other spear-winged flies by several traits:^[3]

• foreleg tibiae have dorsal setae in the middle
• foreleg tarsi thinner than foreleg tibiae
• pointed wingtip without apical brown spot.

Species

Species include:

• Lonchoptera africana Adams, 1905^{[4] [5]}
• Lonchoptera alfhildae Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera anderssoni Joseph & Parui, 1976^[7]
• Lonchoptera annikaae Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera apicalis (Okada, 1935)^[8]
• Lonchoptera barberi Klymko, 2008
• Lonchoptera bifurcata (Fallén, 1810)^{[1] [8]}
• Lonchoptera birmanica Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera birmensis Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera casanova Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera elinorae Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera excavata Yang & Chen, 1995^[3]
• Lonchoptera fallax de Meijere, 1906^[8]
• Lonchoptera hakonensis Matsumura, 1916^[8]
• Lonchoptera impicta Zetterstedt, 1848^[8]
• Lonchoptera japonica Matsumura, 1915^[8]
• Lonchoptera kamtschatkana (Czerny, 1934)^[8]
• Lonchoptera longiphallus Klymko, 2008
• Lonchoptera lutea Panzer, 1809^{[1] [8]}
• Lonchoptera maculata Smith, 1974^[9]
• Lonchoptera malaisei Andersson, 1971^[6]
• Lonchoptera megaloba Klymko, 2008
• Lonchoptera meijerei Collin, 1938^{[1] [8] [10]}
• Lonchoptera nerana Vaillant, 1989
• Lonchoptera nevadica Vaillant, 1989
• Lonchoptera nigrociliata Duda, 1927^{[1] [8]}
• Lonchoptera nitidifrons Strobl, 1898^{[1] [8]}
• Lonchoptera occidentalis Curran, 1934
• Lonchoptera orientalis (Kertész, 1914)^{[3] [6]}
• Lonchoptera pictipennis Bezzi, 1899^[8]
• Lonchoptera pinglongshanensis Dong, Pang & Yang, 2008^[3]
• Lonchoptera pipi Andersson, 1971^[3]
• Lonchoptera platytarsis (Okada, 1935)^[8]
• Lonchoptera pseudolutea Whittington & Beuk, 2022^[11]
• Lonchoptera rava Whittington, 1991^[12]
• Lonchoptera sapporensis Matsumura, 1915^[8]
• Lonchoptera scutellata Stein, 1890^{[1] [8]}
• Lonchoptera stackelbergi (Czerny, 1934)^[8]
• Lonchoptera strobli de Meijere, 1906^[8]
• Lonchoptera transvaalensis Stuckenberg, 1963^[5]
• Lonchoptera tristis Meigen, 1824^{[1] [8]}
• Lonchoptera ugandensis Whittington, 1991^[12]
• Lonchoptera unicolor Dong, Pang & Yang, 2008^[3]
• Lonchoptera uniseta Curran, 1934
• Lonchoptera vaillanti Zwick, 2004^[13]
• Lonchoptera vesperis Stuckenberg, 1963^[5]

Notes and References

1. Smith . K.G.V. . 1969 . Lonchopteridae . . 10 . 2ai . 9 . . London . Print .
2. Airy-Shaw . H.K. . 1969 . Unusual habitat for Lonchoptera (Dipt., Lonchopteridae) larvae? . Entomologist's Monthly Magazine . 105 . 26 . Print .
3. Dong . Qibiao . Pang, Baoping . Yang, Ding . 2008 . Lonchopteridae (Diptera) from Guangxi, Southwest China . Zootaxa . 1806 . 59–65 . 10.11646/zootaxa.1806.1.4 . PDF Adobe Achrobat . 17 September 2009 .
4. Adams . C.F. . 1905 . Diptera Africana . Kansas University Science Bulletin . 3 . 6 . 149–159? . Kansas University . 10.5962/bhl.part.8100 . Print .
5. Stuckenberg . The genus Lonchoptera Meigen in Southern Africa . B. R. . 1963 . Journal of the Entomological Society of South Africa . 26 . 129–143 . Print .
6. Andersson . H. . 1971 . Eight new species of Lonchoptera from Burma (Dipt., Lonchopteridae) . Entomologisk Tidskrift . 92 . 3–4 . 213–231 .
7. Joseph . A.N.T. . Parui, P. . 1976 . A New Species of Lonchoptera Meigen (Diptera: Lonchopteridae) from India . Oriental Insects . 10 . 2 . 291–293 . Zoological Survey of India . Calcutta . Print . 10.1080/00305316.1976.10434910.
8. Book: Andersson, H. . Soós, Á. . Papp, L. . 1991 . Lonchopteridae in Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera . 7 . 139–142 . Hungarian Natural History Museum . Budapest, Hungary .
9. Smith . K.G.V. . 1974 . A striking new species of Lonchoptera (Diptera, Lonchopteridae) from Mount Kinabalu, Borneo . Journal of Natural History . 8 . 2 . 235–237 . 10.1080/00222937400770211 . 1974JNatH...8..235S . Print .
10. Collin . J. E. . 1938 . The British species of Lonchoptera (Diptera) . Entomologist's Monthly Magazine . 74 . 60–65 . Print .
11. Whittington . A. E. . Beuk, P. L. T. . 2022 . A description of a new species of Western Palaearctic Lonchoptera Meigen (Diptera, Lonchopteridae) from Georgia . ZooNova . 20 . 1–18 . Print .
12. Book: Whittington, A. E. . 1991 . Two new Afrotropical species of Lonchoptera Meigen (Diptera: Lonchopteridae) . 32 . 205–214 . Pietermaritzburg, South Africa . Print .
13. Zwick . P. . 2004 . Lonchoptera vaillanti sp. nov., a new fly from Switzerland (Diptera: Lonchopteridae) . Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Gessellschaft . 77 . 133–136 .