PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 100(4), IW8, pp. 601-632 A REVISION OF THE FAMILY TETHINIDAE (DIPTERA) FROM THE CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND BERMUDA George A. Foster and Wayne N. Mathis Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, MRC 169, Smith-sonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, U.S.A. (e-mail:
[email protected]). Abstract. — Beach flies (Diptera: Tethinidae) of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Bermuda are revised. The beach-fly fauna of this area comprises three genera (Dasyrhic-uoessa, Pelomyiella, and Tethina) and 12 species, including the following new species (type locality in parenthesis): Tethina albitarsa (ECUADOR. Manabi: Bahia), T. cohiba (GRAND CAYMAN. George Town Harbour ( 19° 1 8'N, 8r22.9'W)), T. lisae (JAMAICA. Clarendon: Jackson Bay (17°44.7'N, 77°12.6'W)). Five new synonyms are proposed (ju-nior synonyms cited first): Tethina chilensis Malloch = Rhiciioessa te.xana Malloch, Teth-ina carioca Prado and Tavares and Rhicnoessa variseta Melander = Rhicnoessa willistoni Melander, Tethina brasiliensis Prado and Tavares and Rhicnoessa seriata Melander = Tethina xanthopoda Williston. Dasyrhicnoessa lasiophthahna was probably introduced into the region. The remaining species tend to be widespread and frequently are locally abundant. These factors have contributed in part to some species being described multiple times. Key Words: Revision, Diptera, Tethinidae, Dasyrhicnoessa, Pelomyiella, Tethina, Carib-bean, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda The Caribbean species of the dipterous family Tethinidae have never been treated comprehensively even though they are abundant and relatively diverse on beaches within the region. This deficiency is not un-common, however, and characterizes most insect families occurring there, especially groups that have relatively few species, that are collected infrequently despite being common locally, and that have no species of known economic importance. Although the Tethinidae lack pestiferous species, study of the family is warranted, as the spe-cies comprise an important component of the beach fauna. Beyond satisfying the im-mediate objective-a taxonomic revision of the Caribbean fauna-we are also seeking to discover and contribute toward other as-pects of their natural history, such as their distribution, historical biogeography, ecol-ogy, behavior, and biodiversity. The under-lying basis for all of these studies is the taxonomy of the included taxa. In this same series on Caribbean acalyptrate Diptera of marine and freshwater beaches and shore-lines, a faunistic revision has been pub-lished on the Canacidae (Mathis 1989), and another for the family Ephydridae is in progress. Beyond this faunistic study, we also have a comprehensive phylogenetic study in progress for both the Tethinidae and Canacidae that will hopefully clarify the relationships of these two families. The historical record concerning Tethin-idae in the Caribbean began slightly more than a century ago when S. W. Williston (1896) described two species (Anthomyza cinerea (= Tethina willistoni (Melander)
Localities extracted from OCR text.
Specimen codes extracted from OCR text.
BioStor
