Studies of Asilidae (Diptera) systematics and evolution: III. Tribe Blepharepiini (Dasypogoninae)

Abstract

Examination of types and comparative studies of the male genitalia permitted a reclassification of Blepharepium Rondani, 1848, the only recent representative of the tribe Blepharepiini. This tribe can be distinguished from all other tribes of Dasypogoninae by the presence of a complete prosternum. Blepharepium has the following recognized species: 1. annulatum (Bigot, 1857 (= secabile Walker, 1860; southern Mexico, Central America, northwestern South America, West Indies; forest areas); 2. cajennensis (Fabricius, 1787), with 3 subspecies: i. cajennensis s. s. (= inserens Walker, 1851; = auricincta Schiner, 1867; = inca Curran, 1942; Guianas, coastal Venezuela, western Brazilian Amazonia, Peru, northern Bolivia); ii. coarctatum (Perty, 1833; = bonariensis Macquart, 1838; = occidens Walker, 1851; = lynchi Carrera, 1949; open formations of Guiano-Brazilian subregion) ; iii. cunctabundum, n. ssp., forest areas of the States of Sao Paulo south to Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; 3. fuscipennis (Macquart, 1834 ; = insertus Walker, 1851; - maculipennis Macquart, 1855; western Amazonia, Brazilian Atlantic forest); 4. luridum Rondani, 1848 (- modesta Bigot, 1878; Amazonia); 5. subcontractum (Walker, 1856; = bassleri Curran, 1942; western Amazonia); 6. priapus, sp. n., from Arizona, Phoenix; 7. sonorensis, sp. n. (annulatum group of sibling species; Sonoran Desert, s. Utah to n. Mexico); 8. surumu, sp. n. (annulatum group of sibling species; southern Venezuela, northeastern Roraima Territory in Brazil). Senobasis borealis James, from the the Oligocene shales of Florissant, Colorado, may also belong to Blepharepium. Considerations on the biology, ecology, and evolution of the group are given.