New Records of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the Afrotropical Region, with a Checklist

Abstract

New faunistic data on the distribution of 50 species of the family Agromyzidae from the Afrotropical Region are given. Chromatomyia syngenesiae Hardy, 1849 and Phytomyza ranunculi (Schrank, 1803) are firstly recorded for the Afrotropics and 47 species are firstly recorded for the following countries: Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. For each country the number of known species are put together in a table. An updated Afrotropical checklist is added. The most peculiar genitalia of the redetected Ophiomyia dhofarensis are discussed in connection with other species, among them: Ophiomyia yunnanensis comb. nov. [= Ophiomyia dumosa syn. nov. ]. Ophiomyia nigrimaculata comb. nov. is treated taxomically, too. The type-species of the Pseudonapomyza acanthacearum-group is re-defined. Ranunculus was firstly confirmed as host plant genus of Phytomyza subeximia which develops between its seeds, a rare substrate in the genus. Napomyza strana stat. rev. was redetected in an altitude of 3353 m a.s.l. An eclector collecting method is described which lets estimate the natural proportional abundance of Agromyzidae compared with all other Diptera in the groundlevel vegetation of a country.