Studies On Genus Forcipomyia V Key To Subgenera And Description Of A New Subgenus Related To Euprojoannisia brethes (Diptera ceratopogonidae)

—Saliohelea, new subgenus of the genus Forcipomyia Meigen, is proposed for F. leei, new species (type-species), from the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, F. brevicosta (Clastrier) from West Africa, F. deminuta Tokunaga and Murachi from the western Pacific, and F. stami, new species, from Zaire. A provisional key to the subgenera of Forcipomyia is presented. Saliohelea is most closely related to Euprojoannisia Brethes and differs mainly in the complete fusion of the fourth and fifth palpal segments, the absence of mandibular teeth in the female, the characteristically sclerotized margins of the male aedeagus and the shape and arrangement of the spiracular openings on the pupal respiratory horn. It is also related to Warmkea Saunders, from which it differs in its shorter costa and distal antennal segments, the shape of the fourth palpal segment, the absence of mandibular teeth in the female and the arrangement of the spiracular openings on the pupal respiratory horn. Wehave become especially interested in the classification of the small, inconspicuously brownish, hairy, biting midges of the genus Forcipomyia Meigen because of their importance in the pollination of cacao (Theobroma cacao L. ) and other tropical crop plants ( Saunders, 1956 and 1959; Dessart, 1961 and 1963; Barroga, 1964; Soria and Wirth, 1974; Kaufmann, 1975; Winder, 1977). There is a small group of species for which we have found characters of the female, male and pupa that in our opinion, justify the description of a new subgenus. The modern classification of the genus Forcipomyia is well grounded in the recent works of Saunders (1956 and 1959), Tokunaga and Murachi (1959), Dessart (1963), and Chan and LeRoux (1965 and 1971). Readers are referred to these authors for explanation of our terminology and a fuller discussion of subgeneric classification. We are especially indebted to Paul G. Bystrak, Maryland Department of Agriculture, Annapolis, for his excellent research on the taxonomy of all stages of the North American species of the subgenus Euprojoannisia Brethes. His work has given us a much deeper insight into the taxonomy of this subgenus as well as those others most closely related to the new subgenus. Mr. Bystrak provisionally included our new species F. leei in 494 PROCEEDINGSOF THE ENTOMOLOGICALSOCIETY OF WASHINGTON his unpublished thesis (Bystrak, 1974) and has permitted us to draw freely upon his description and discussion. Tokunaga and Murachi (1959) gave a short diagnosis of what they termed "Subgenus C" for a provisional group containing only the species Forcipomijia cleminuta Tokunaga and Murachi from Micronesia. They compared "Subgenus C" with the subgenera Proforcipomyia Saunders and Sijnthtjridomyia Saunders. Dessart (1963) commented on Tokunaga and Murachi's "Subgenus C" and included it in his keys to the African subgenera of Forcipomijia; he assigned the African species Lasiohelea brevicosta Clastrier to this subgenus. Wehave found two additional undescribed species that fit in this group and with sufficiently distinct characters of the adult and pupa to prompt us to described a new subgenus to contain them. Forcipomijia, subgenus Saliohelea Wirth and Ratanaworabhan, new subgenus Fig.l Forcipomyia, subgenus C; Tokunaga and Murachi, 1959:219, Dessart,