The Muscidae (Diptera) of New Caledonia

Abstract

The Muscidae of New Caledonia are reviewed. A key for the identification of genera and species is given, together with diagnoses, descriptions and illustrations. The revision is based on literature records and on examined material from New Caledonia deposited in various museums and institutions. A total of 18 genera and 40 species are recognised, 7 of which are endemic and 4 of which are newly described: Dichaetomyia shinonagai, sp. nov.; Helina flavoextrema, sp. nov.; Limnophora longiantennata, sp. nov. and Pygophora spinifera, sp. nov. Helina Robineau-Desvoidy, Synthesiomyia Brauer & Bergenstamm and Neomyia Walker are newly recorded genera, and Atherigona bidens Hennig, Atherigona poecilopoda Bezzi, Lispe fuscipalpis Malloch, Lispocephala occulta (Pont), Musca ventrosa Wiedemann, Musca vetustissima Walker, Neomyia timorensis (Robineau-Desvoidy), Pygophora hopkinsi Malloch and Synthesiomyia nudiseta (Wulp) are newly recorded species for New Caledonia. Four species previously recorded in the literature on New Caledonia, Muscina stabulans (Fallén), Lispe assimilis Wiedemann, Pygophora maculigera (Stein) and Pygophora minuta Malloch, were not represented in the material examined. The male terminalia of the Atherigona species, Pygophora caledonica (Bigot) and the new species are illustrated. Coenosia pumilio Stein is redescribed. Lispe binotata Becker, 1914 is a new junior subjective synonym of Lispe nicobarensis Schiner, 1868, syn. nov. A brief discussion on the composition of the fauna is also given.