Additions to the British list of Megaselia Rondani (Diptera: Phoridae), including two new species, from the crowns of ancient pollarded trees

Abstract

Among species trapped in the crowns of ancient pollarded trees in southern England are Megaselia russellsmithi Disney sp. n, M. velutinicavus Disney sp. n. and M. henrydisneyi Durska, which is a further addition to the British List. The hitherto unknown females of M. henrydisneyi, M. serrata (Wood) and M. speiseri Schmitz are described. M. gargarans Schmitz and M. basiturgida Disney & Durska are synonymised with M. crassipes (Wood) following recognition of an error in Schmitz’s description of M. gargarans and of other confusions in the literature.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1CC46F9C-AB02-446C-BF83-4D9529508DFA

Keywords:

• Phoridae
• new species
• new synonyms
• England
• pollarded trees

Acknowledgements

RHLD is grateful to Dr. Thomas Pape (Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen), Dr. Ximo Mengual (Museum Koenig, Bonn) and Nigel Wyatt (Natural History Museum, London) for the loan of type material in their cares. His studies of Phoridae are currently supported by grants from the Balfour–Browne Trust Fund (University of Cambridge).