Ampsalis Walker
Creators: name: Winterton, Shaun L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Stratiomyidae
Ampsalis

description: Ampsalis Walker
Ampsalis Walker, 1859: 98 — Brauer, 1882: 66 [key, relationships]; Brunetti, 1920: 44, 1923: 110 [revision, synonymy]; James, 1975a: 29 [catalogue]; Woodley, 2001: 153 [catalogue]. Type species. Ampsalis geniata Walker, 1859: 99, by monotypy.
Tracana Walker, 1859: 99 — Brauer, 1882: 66 [key, relationships]. Type species. Tracana iterabilis Walker, 1859: 99, by monotypy.
Diagnosis. One pair of scutellar spines, size variable; notopleural spine absent; M 4 arising on discal cell, cross-vein r–m present; wing straight, not bent over abdomen; face protruding anteroventrally as ‘nose’-like process; male eyes contiguous medially below ocellar tubercle; eye not pilose; postocular ridge at most only narrowly carinate in female and not carinate in male; antenna greatly elongate, scape much shorter than flagellum; flagellum cylindrical, circular sensory pits on flagellomeres I–III, flagellomeres IV–VIII very short and of similar length, flagellomere VIII plumose and longer than all other flagellomeres combined; abdomen narrowed basally although not strongly petiolate and only slightly sexually dimorphic.
Included species. Ampsalis acta sp. n., A. geniata Walker, A. iterabilis (Walker) and A. wallacei sp. n.
Comments. Ampsalis sensu lato has traditionally been a morphologically heterogeneous genus with two very similar species originally described from Indonesia by Walker (1859) (each in Ampsalis and Tracana) and a morphologically distinct pair of Malagasy species (Ampsalis dichromata James, 1975b and A. terminalis James, 1960) described by James (1975b). The two new species described here from northern Australia are morphologically similar to the Indonesian species of Ampsalis and share the distinctive ‘nose’-like process below the antennae. This process is absent in the Malagasy species, amongst other differentiating characters, and indicates that the Malagasy species belong to a separate genus, as suggested by James (1975b) (see discussion by Hauser et al. 2017); they are treated here as Clitellariinae incertae sedis. Ampsalis is diagnosed herein based on a typological concept, now comprising only the species from Indonesia and Australia. It can be separated from all other Clitellariinae genera in these regions by the rounded, ‘nose’-like process on the face; scutellar spines present and relatively short (absent in Lagenosoma, Eudmeta and Ruba; usually greatly elongate in Campeprosopa); medial veins reaching the wing margin (ending prematurely in Campeprosopa); notopleural spines absent (present in Nigritomyia, Clitellaria and Anoamyia); distal antennal flagellomere greatly elongate (aristate in Geranopus and Dysbiota) and narrowly plumose (shared with Lagenosoma, Elissoma and Eudmeta) (all other genera with flagellomere VIII subequal to, or shorter than, one or more other flagellomeres); antennal flagellomeres VI–VII lacking setae distally (present in Eudmeta); wings straight (bent over abdomen in Octarthria) and the male eyes always contiguous (male frons usually wide in Campeprosopa). Also apparent is the surprising similarity of the Australian Ampsalis species to members of Hermetiinae, with the nose-like process, translucent medial area of abdominal segment 2 and highly concave occiput.
Key to Ampsalis species in the Australian region and Indo-Malayan transition zone
1. Scutellar spines equal to approximately 20% of scutellum length; femora predominantly yellow with black or brown banding, especially hind leg (Indonesia)........................................................................... 2.
- Scutellar spines minute, equal to approximately 5–10% of scutellum length (spines larger in male) (Fig. 28A, B); femora predominantly black to brown (Australia)..................................................................... 3.
2. Antenna black, brownish towards base, much longer than head width; scutum yellow with dark brown stripes, lateral stripes interrupted at transverse suture; abdominal tergites brown medially, yellow laterally (Fig. 8)............ A. geniata Walker.
- Antenna whitish-yellow, blackish towards base, length subequal to head width; scutum uniform dark brown; abdominal tergites mostly brown, narrow yellow stripe laterally on posterior tergites (Fig. 9)....................... A. iterabilis (Walker).
3. Wing mostly uniformly brown infuscate; cells bm and d with microtrichia (Figs 1, 7E–H).............. A. wallacei sp. n.
- Wing mostly hyaline with faint brown infuscation behind pterostigma, in discal cell and along M vein; membrane in cells bm and d largely devoid of microtrichia (Fig. 7A–D).................................................. A. acta sp. n.
description: Published as part of Winterton, Shaun L., 2023, Wasp-mimicking soldier flies of the Australian Region: revision of Ampsalis Walker, Elissoma White and Lagenosoma Brauer (Stratiomyidae: Clitellariinae), pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 5246 (1) on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5246.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7673215