Abstract
A new genus of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) is described, namely
Leucotaraxis gen. nov. (type species
Leucopis atrifacies Aldrich; other included species
Leucotaraxis argenticollis (Zetterstedt), comb. nov.,
Leucotaraxis piniperda (Malloch), comb. nov., and
Leucotaraxis sepiola sp. nov.). These species are predators of Adelgidae (Hemiptera) infesting Pinaceae.
Leucotaraxis argenticollis is Holarctic, while the other three species are Nearctic. The phylogeny of
Leucotaraxis with other representatives of Chamaemyiidae was elucidated using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences and the genus was found to be monophyletic. Egg and puparial stages are discussed or described and illustrated for all species except
Leucotaraxis sepiola. A key is provided to all species of Chamaemyiidae known to attack Pinaceaeinfesting Sternorrhyncha, an annotated list of these taxa is provided, and a habitus photograph is provided for each genus with such species. In addition, a lectotype is designated for
Leucopis olivacea Meijere, and it is synonymized under
Neoleucopis obscura (Haliday), syn. nov.
Keywords
new genus,
new species,
key,
lectotype,
new combinations,
new synonym,
immature stages,
silver fly
Citation
Gaimari, Stephen D.; Havill, Nathan P. 2021. A new genus of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) predaceous on Adelgidae (Hemiptera), with a key to chamaemyiid species associated with Pinaceae-feeding Sternorrhyncha. Zootaxa. 5067(1): 1-39. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5067.1.1.
