Nephrocerus Skevington, 2005, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Skevington, Jeffrey H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Pipunculidae
Nephrocerus

description: Key to Nearctic Nephrocerus
External characters work well to separate the species groups of Nephrocerus and species of the slossonae group. Males of the daeckei group must be dissected for specific identification; females of this group are very difficult to distinguish and are unknown for N. woodi sp. nov.
1. Coxae with yellow to pale brownish hairs contrasting little with yellow legs; abdomen with hairs all yellow ..................................................................... slossonae group … 2
— Coxae with black hairs contrasting sharply with yellow legs; abdomen with hairs mostly dark brown to black ................................................................ daeckei group ... 4
2. Scutellum shining black medially with yellow around posterior and lateral margins (Fig. 1 A); proepisternum entirely bright yellow (Fig. 1 C); abdominal tergite 1 entirely yellow laterally (Fig. 1 C); male hind tibia with ventral patch of specialized bristles (Fig. 2 A); left surstylus of male with distinctive hook (Fig. 3 A, C, D); right surstylus with upper lobe short, quadrate (Fig. 3 B); female ovipositor short, stubby (Fig. 4 A) ... ................................................................................ Nephrocerus acanthostylus sp. nov.
— Scutellum completely yellow, rarely slightly darkened basally or entirely brown (never black with yellow margins) (cf. Fig. 1 B); at least anterior edge of proepisternum brown to black (cf. Fig. 1 D, E); abdominal tergite 1 always at least partly brown laterally (cf. Fig. 1 E); male hind tibia with circlet of bristles (Fig. 2 C) or elongate apical bristles on outer edge (Fig. 2 B), but without ventral specialized bristles; left surstylus of male simple (Figs 7 A, C, D or 11A, C, D); right surstylus with upper lobe projecting and deflected ventrally at 90 degrees (Figs 7 B or 11B); female ovipositor short and stubby (Fig. 4 E) or long and narrow (Fig. 4 C) ........................................................... 3
3. Hind tibial apex with circlet of stiff yellow bristles all about the same length (Fig. 2 C); epandrium narrow (ratio of width to length 1.1–1.4 (JSS#11412 = 1.6):1) (Fig. 11 C, D); right surstylus with upper lobe uniformly tapering (Fig. 11 B); middle lobe stubby, with rounded tip and curving medial edge, with no similar structure on left surstylus (Fig. 11 C, D); ovipositor short, stubby, 0.9 to 1.1 mm long (Fig. 4 E) ........................... ...................................................................................... Nephrocerus slossonae Johnson
— Hind tibial apex with long, stiff yellow bristles restricted to outer edge of tibia, these bristles over twice length of adjacent bristles (Fig. 2 B); epandrium very broad (ratio of width to length 1.60–2.00:1) (Fig. 7 C, D); right surstylus with upper lobe broad basally, abruptly narrowing (Fig. 7 B); middle lobe broad, straight­sided, sharply pointed, with a similar structure on left surstylus (Fig. 7 C, D); ovipositor long, narrow, sharply upcurved, 1.1–1.3 mm long (Fig. 4 C) ......... Nephrocerus corpulentus sp. nov.
4. Males ............................................................................................................................ 5
— Females (N. woodi unknown) ...................................................................................... 7
5. Right surstylus with middle lobe stubby, pointed (Fig. 6 C, D) ...................................... ........................................................................................ Nephrocerus atrapilus sp. nov.
— Right surstylus with no middle lobe (cf. Fig. 9 C, D) ................................................... 6
6. Surstylus with dorsal lobe projecting, much longer than ventral lobe (Fig. 13 B, D); right surstylus with lower lobe wide, triangular (Fig. 13 D) ........................................... ............................................................................................. Nephrocerus woodi sp. nov.
— Surstylus with dorsal lobe short, about same length as ventral lobe (Fig. 9 A–D); right surstylus with lower lobe narrow, elongate (Fig. 9 D) .... Nephrocerus daeckei Johnson
7. Ovipositor tip attenuate (Fig. 4 B) ................................. Nephrocerus atrapilus sp. nov.
— Ovipositor tip stubby, wide (Fig. 4 D) ............................ Nephrocerus daeckei Johnson
description: Published as part of Skevington, Jeffrey H., 2005, Revision of Nearctic Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Diptera: Pipunculidae), pp. 1-36 in Zootaxa 977 on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.171339