Terphis Erichson
Creators: name: Schlinger, Evert I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1968
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Acroceridae
Terphis

description: <i>Terphis</i> Erichson <i>Terphis</i> Erichson, 1840, Entomographien 1:168; Sabrosky, 1950, Proc. Roy. Ent. Soc. Lond., 19(3-4):48 (Notes on <i>T. nodosQ</i> only): Schlinger, 1960a, Ann. Natal Mus., 14(3): 496 (notes on <i>T. nodosQ</i> only, not <i>Terphis</i> diagnosis). <i>Type species: Terphis nodosa Erichson</i> (monotypic) <i>Redescription:</i> Small flies (5-6 mm.) distinctly patterned with yellow, white and brown areas; head large, nearly spherical; eyes holoptic above and below antennae; covered with sparse, extremely short hairs; antennae three-segmented, short, inserted on ventral forward margin of head; segment I mostly hidden under antennal tubercle, segment II short, but about twice as long as wide, covered with short pubescence; segment III swollen basally, extending into thin apical style about twice as long as base and with single apical seta; antennal tubercle small, protruding medially over base of antennae, entirely covered with dense short hairs; frons small, but projecting; postclypeus small, protruding only slightly below occipital margin; mouthparts small, indistinct, but visible structures include rostrum with long apical setae, and a shorter prementum; only lateral ocelli present on small. flat, triangular, ocellar tubercle; occiput short, flat, rigid, above without medial depression, then strongly concave to cervical region; prothoracic lobes joined medially but for only short distance; mesonotum finely reticulated; postscutellum swollen, easily visible under scutellum; tergites of abdominal segments II-IV with obvious dorsolateral bumps; spiracles present in tergites I-VI, but apparently only functional on I-Ill; abdominal sterum somewhat concave medially; sternites II-IV fused completely with tergites; wing venation quite reduced with cell formation restricted to anterior margin of wing; even veins R 4+ 5 and m 1 faint (Erichson, 1840, plate I, fig. 10 is quite accurate). <i>Discussion:</i> The only included species under this revised concept is <i>Terphis nodosa</i> Erichson from Brazil. <i>Specimen examined for above description:</i> Brazil, 1 &amp;male;, Nova Teutonia, 27°-11: Lat. and 52°-23; Long., 12.ix. 1938, Fritz Plaumann (USNM). This species is apparently quite rare, as the only other specimens known to the writer are the holotype from " Brazil," and one male from Itaquaquecetuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, reported by Sabrosky (1950).
description: Published as part of <i>Schlinger, Evert I., 1968, Africaterphis, a new genus for the African species of Terphis; and a redescription of the Brazilian genus Terphis Erichson (Diptera: Acroceridae), pp. 59-62 in ANNALS OF THE NATAL MUSEUM 20</i> on pages 60-61, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8345268
description: {"references": ["ERICHSON, W. F., 1840. Entomographien- -, pI. IV, Die Henopier, pp. 135 - 174, pI. 1, figs. 7 - 10. Morin Berlin.", "SABROSKY, C. W., 1950. A new genus and two new species of, and miscellaneous notes on African Acroceridae. Proc. Roy. ent. Soc. Lond. (B) 19: 47 - 52, figs. 1 - 2.", "SCHLINGER, E. I., 1960 a. A review of the South African Acroceridae. Ann. Natal Mus. 14 (3): 459 - 504, 29 figs."]}