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Title: The flower fly genus Allograpta: Classification with description of a new subgenus and species (Diptera: Syrphidae)

Author
item MENGUAL, XIMO - UNIV. DE ALICANTE, SPAIN
item ROJO, SANTOS - UNIV. DE ALICANTE, SPAIN
item RUIZ, CARLOS - UNIV. DEL VALLE, COLOMBIA
item STAHLS, GUNILLA - FMNH, HELSINKI
item Thompson, F

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/2009
Publication Date: 8/31/2009
Citation: Mengual, X., Rojo, S., Ruiz, C., Stahls, G., Thompson, F.C. 2009. The flower fly genus Allograpta: Classification with description of a new subgenus and species (Diptera: Syrphidae). Zootaxa. 2214:1-28.

Interpretive Summary: Most species of flower flies are beneficial to agriculture in that the adults are pollinators and the larvae are predators of plant pests, although a few species are known to attack living plants as leaf miners or stem borers. This publication describes a new subgenus and species found in Central America, providing information on how to identify these flies. These new taxa are being described so they can be included in a chapter in a comprehensive manual on the flies of Central America, a work that will enable scientists, quarantine workers (such as APHIS PPQ), and others concerned with flies to identify these insects.

Technical Abstract: A new subgenus and one species of flower flies are described from the Neotropical biotic region (Allograpta (Costarica Mengual, Rojo, Ruiz, Ståhls & Thompson), type Allograpta zumbadoi Thompson & Allograpta (Costarica) nishida Thompson, type-locality: Costa Rica, type-depository: Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad de Costa Rica). A checklist of the world species of Allograpta including synonyms, a key to the subgenera and diagnoses are also provided. Using morphological characters, the phylogenetic relationships among Allograpta and related genera were studied under parsimony.