Orfelia/Platyura/Proceroplatus? - Proceroplatus elegans

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Gnats, Gall Midges, and March Flies (Bibionomorpha) » Fungus Gnats and Gall Midges (Sciaroidea) » Predatory Fungus Gnats (Keroplatidae) » Orfeliini » Proceroplatus » Proceroplatus elegans

Photo#1681425

Copyright © 2019 Steve Scholnick

Orfelia/Platyura/Proceroplatus? - Proceroplatus elegans -

Cove Point, Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland, USA
June 14, 2019
Size: wing 2.9mm, body ~4mm

This one keys out to Orfelia in the MND Mycetophilidae key (1). It fits photos of what the guide has posted as Proceroplatus elegans and appears to fit Coquillett's meager original description of that species as well (as Platyura elegans).

TIA

As an aside, I'm not sure why the guide uses the genus name that it does. Originally described as Platyura, at some point these species were moved to Orfelia. The genus Proceroplatus was proposed in 1925 (Edwards FW, Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1924: 505–670) but Nearctica considers this a synonym for Orfelia, ITIS doesn't recognize it at all, and MND doesn't use it either. On the other hand, the "World Catalog of Keroplatidae" says Platyura elegans is now Proceroplatus elegans citing the Edwards paper. More names than someone in a witness protection program...

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Orfelia/Platyura/Proceroplatus? - Proceroplatus elegans - male

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Contributed by Steve Scholnick on 24 June, 2019 - 11:46pm
Last updated 25 June, 2019 - 2:56pm

Moved

Moved from Flies.

… John F. Carr, 25 June, 2019 - 2:56pm

Orfeliini got split

The Keroplatidae were split around the 1990s. One major work, not including Orfeliini, is Loïc Matile's Recherces sur la systématique et l'évolution des Keroplatidae (Diptera, Mycetophiloidea) published in 1990. If you can find Søli's contribution to the Manual of Palearctic Diptera that has a more modern key but omits purely Nearctic genera. (For the single Japanese species of Proceroplatus it says Platyura senso lato with R4 ending in C, base of M absent, empodia absent, laterotergite haired, antennae compressed, fine tibial setae in regular rows.) The Manual of Central American Diptera should also be helpful.

… John F. Carr, 25 June, 2019 - 6:31am

thanks

So far no luck accessing any of those volumes online but I'll keep looking. I've posted an additional photo showing the "fine tibial setae in regular rows". Am I correct in assuming that "R4" in that Japanese Proceroplatus is what MND calls "R2+3" (as in this diagram)? If so, I'm comfortable with moving this one to at least genus level but it's your call.

PS: Is the "Manual of Palearctic Diptera" distinct from "Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera?

… Steve Scholnick, 25 June, 2019 - 12:19pm

Veins and paper

R2+3 = R4

See here for MPD chapter: http://sciaroidea.info/node/22756.

… John F. Carr, 25 June, 2019 - 3:06pm

thanks again

That didn't show up in my Google search because I searched for the whole volume set. The 1990 Matile paper came up but I couldn't access it because of what I think was a cookie problem. I can get to it now although my French went rusty ~40 years ago

… Steve Scholnick, 25 June, 2019 - 4:05pm

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