A review of the assassin-fly genus Laphyctis Loew, 1858 with descriptions of two new species (Diptera, Asilidae, Laphriinae)

Jason G H Londt,Torsten Dikow

doi:10.3897/afrinvertebr.59.25022

Abstract

The asilid genus Laphyctis Loew, 1858 is revised. The genus is restricted to the Afrotropical Region where it has been confused with the more widely distributed Laphystia Loew, 1847, which currently has no Afrotropical representatives. Three previously described species are recognised: Laphyctisgigantella (Loew, 1852), type of the genus, Laphyctisargenteofasciata (Engel, 1929), reinstated from the synonymy of L.gigantella, and Laphyctisorichalcea (Lindner, 1973). Two new species are described, Laphyctiseremia sp. n. from Namibia and Laphyctisiota sp. n. from South Africa. The genus has a wide distribution ranging from northern Kenya to eastern South Africa and to western Namibia. Species are associated with dry, sandy habitats.

Highlights

There has been some confusion surrounding the asilid genus Laphyctis Loew, 1858 and the purpose of this contribution is to clarify its position as a recognised genus within the Afrotropical fauna and to revise the regional fauna
Lindner (1973: 85) lists three females of L. gigantella from Gobabeb, Namibia, which we identified as L. eremia sp. n
Laphyctis is a distinctive member of the Laphriinae and is confined to the Afrotropical Region (Fig. 56)

Summary

Introduction

There has been some confusion surrounding the asilid genus Laphyctis Loew, 1858 and the purpose of this contribution is to clarify its position as a recognised genus within the Afrotropical fauna and to revise the regional fauna. The taxonomic history of Laphyctis may be summarised by way of the following brief historical review: Loew (1847) – Described the genus Laphystia with the Palaearctic Laphystia sabulicola Loew, 1847 as type species. Loew (1852) – Described Stichopogon gigantella from ’Mossambique’ [= Mozambique]. Note: It is worth noting that Loew had not yet described Laphyctis, to which gigantella would be assigned, he was not tempted to place his new species in Laphystia. Loew (1858) – Briefly described Laphyctis with gigantella, from Inhambane (Mozambique) and Swakop (Namibia), being the only species allocated to the genus ( the type species of the genus)

Methods

Results

Conclusion