Brief synopsis on some keys to Phoridae in the New World, possibly incl. key to genera of Phoridae North of Mexico in the future
The Manual of Nearctic Diptera's key to genera is outdated. Additionally, a whole addendum/corrigendum to the key published by Dr. Brian Brown was published in 1988 that went overlooked by online sources (no page for the reference exists on BugGuide, it seems, yet). I have added this and other important literature for the Nearctic fauna to the Phoridae family page on BugGuide. The key in Manual Central America includes most of the genera north of Mexico, except as follows (species if only one species occuring in our area) based on the world catalogue on Phorid.net (ranges based on Systema Dipterorum):
- Aenigmatias
- Beckerina
- Chaetopleurophora (but that publication includes Chaetocnemistoptera, which was and is often treated as part of Chaetopleurophora) (EDIT: Dr. Brown has commented, saying they are both separate genera, so Chaetopleurophora remains amiss)
- Hirotophora multiseriata - Nebraska to Massachusetts, s. to New Mexico, Mississippi andV
- Hypocera
- Mallochphora orphnephiloides - Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee
- Microselia texana - Arizona,Texas
- Spiniphora
- Stenophorina petiolata - Michigan, Tennessee
- Trucidophora camponoti - Canada (Alberta to Ontario) s. to USA (California)
- Veruanus boreotis - Michigan
The genera with multiple species in the region seen here is Aenigmatias, Beckerina, Hypocera, and Spiniphora.
EDIT: Dr. Brown has commented, saying Crinophleba is a junior synonym of Burmophora.
References:
Brown, B. V. 1988. Additions to the phorid chapter in the “MANUAL OF NEARCTIC DIPTERA, VOLUME 2” (Diptera: Phoridae). The Canadian Entomologist, 120(04), 307–322.
Comments
Hi, the omission of Beckerina in the MCAD keys was a big error. I need to publish a revision of that key with a number of corrections and updates
Chaetopleurophora and Chaetocnemistoptera are different genera.
Crinophleba is a junior synonym of Burmophora
Brian
@brianbrown1
Dr. Brown, thanks for your comments! I have appreciated and enjoyed your work! This actually should have stayed in the draft form, as it is extremely rudimentary, incomplete, and of course the key is just probably unusable, but I did not expect anyone to find this. How did you find out about this post? Thanks so much for revising the key. The fact that this is somehow findable at all and so easily and quickly is most intriguing.
It came up in my Google Scholar feed for "Phoridae".
Brian
Add a Comment