Mohelia Matile
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Mohelia Matile Mohelia Matile, 1979a: 270. Type species: Mohelia nigricauda Matile, 1979, by original designation. Diagnosis Labrum elongated, almost twice length of clypeus, triangular, labella also elongated, almost as long as head height. R 1 about as long as r-m, r-m almost longitudinal, laterotergite with setae, mediotergite bare. Remarks Mohelia was created by MATILE (1979a) for a single Afrotropical species, M. nigricauda Matile, while three additional Afrotropical species were added more recently by OLIVEIRA (2015). Mohelia was considered by MATILE (1979a) to be related to the strictly Neotropical genus Aphrastomyia Coher & Lane, and to the more cosmopolitan Megophthalmidia Dziedzicki. This latter genus has seven species described from the Neotropical region, nine from the Nearctic and ten from the Palearctic (BECHEV 1999; CHANDLER et al. 2005; KERR 2014; OLIVEIRA & AMORIM 2014). JASCHHOF & KALLWEIT’S (2004) understanding about this group was similar to MATILE’S (1979a), and reinforced the possible relationship between Aphrastomyia and Mohelia. KERR (2014) made a careful revision of the Nearctic species of Megophthalmidia and also mentioned its similarities with Aphrastomyia. A key for these three genera— Aphrastomyia, Mohelia, and Megophthalmidia — was published by OLIVEIRA & AMORIM (2021). The species from Singapore described here unquestionably belongs to the clade (Megophthalmidia + (Mohelia + Aphrastomyia )). All species of Aphrastomyia have an obvious sclerotization of the posterior border of the syngonocoxite ventrally, not seen in the Singaporean species. Megophthalmidia has a flat and elongate syngonocoxite and a largely modified tergite 9 (KERR 2014), two features absent in Mohelia zubirsaidi sp. n. The Afrotropical species of Mohelia have simpler terminalia, but with a general shape and details on most sclerites that differ from the species from Singapore, except for the simple, band-like tergite 9 (OLIVEIRA 2015). The problem of the limits between Aphrastomyia and Mohelia was already in need of solution, but this is beyond the scope of this paper. Some features of this Singaporean species, such as the presence of a short proboscis, the shape of some of the wing veins, etc., suggest that its inclusion in Mohelia may be the best solution for the time being. In OLIVEIRA & AMORIM’ s (2021) phylogeny, the clade with Aphrastomyia, Mohelia, and Megophthalmidia belongs in the Leiinae, but is too many nodes distant from the base of the subfamily. The presence of Mohelia in Southeast Asia is another case of an Afro-Oriental distribution pattern (e.g., AMORIM & TOZONI 1995; MATILE 1999), as also seen, e.g., in the genus Platyprosthiogyne Enderlein.
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7124838751