Figs 5, 31, 38, 39, 84, 85

Lamproscatella Hendel 1917: 42 (feminine). Type species: Ephydra sibilans Haliday 1833 , original designation. – Mathis 1979a: 1–41 [phylogeny, biogeography]. – Mathis and Zuyin 1988: 540–548 [review, Asian species]. – Olafsson 1991: 38–41 [revision of northern European species]. – Mathis and Zatwarnicki 1995: 256–258 [world catalog]. – Krivosheina 2004: 321–329 [Russian fauna].

Diagnosis. Specimens of Lamproscatella are diagnosed by the following combination of characters: facial projection less than half height of head; and arms of gonal arch fused. Other characters that may help determine Lamproscatella from to Thinoscatella, include the following: frontal vitta mostly microtomentose, appearing dull; setulae towards anterior margin of frontal vitta absent; posterior notopleural seta at same level as anterior seta.

Description. Small to moderately small shore flies, body length 1.25–2.90 mm; dark brown to cinereous species.

Head (Fig. 5): Frontal vitta mostly microtomentose, appearing dull. Face prominent, interfoveal dorsal hump of face low, at middle of the face; arched, lateroclinate fronto-orbital seta 2; ocelli arranged in isosceles triangle. Antenna dark colored; arista pubescent; facial setae conspicuous, with 1–3 pair of dorsally curved, larger setae toward lateral margins. Eye usually higher than wide, sometimes wider than high; gena short to medium (gena to eye ratio 0.12–0.25); a row of setulae at the ventral margin of gena, without a distinct genal seta.

Thorax: Mesonotum mostly microtomentose, dull colored to subshiny, generally unicolorous or with faintly longitudinal stripes; pleural areas generally concolorous with mesonotum: 3 pair of dorsocentral bristles (1+2); acrostichal setae in 2 rows extending to scutellum, setae generally subequal to each other, small, prescutellar acrostichal absent; 2 pair of lateral scutellar setae, basal pair shorter than apical pair. Legs mostly concolorous with pleural areas, without distinct setae, color of tarsi pale brown. Wing immaculate, hyaline to slightly infuscate; costa relatively long, extended to vein M 1; stem of halter short, head oval, white; costal vein sometimes with spine-like setae along costal margin in some species.

Abdomen: Tergites gray to brown, microtomentose, sometimes slightly darker toward margins; dorsal setae small and scattered. Male Terminalia (Figs 31, 38, 39, 84, 85): sternite 1 membranous or absent; sternite 5 present, sternite 6 absent; Epandrium as an elongated plate subquadrate but strongly rounded at corners, or roughly ellipsoid, with a narrow opening below the cerci; surstyli fused indistinguishably to ventral margin of epandrium; phallapodeme laterally flattened, curved, C- to J-shaped; gonites roughly to distinctly Y-shaped, dorsal arms flattened, without setae. Aedeagus variable, a bulky or thin tube, when thin sometimes strongly tapered at apex. Female Terminalia: sternite 8 divided, as 2 lateral, lunate sclerites; female cerci without prominent setae. Female ventral receptacle with a helmet-like operculum, small, not covering extended process.

Distribution. Afrotropical (Saharo-Arabian-Palearctic transition), Nearctic (including northern Mexico), Oriental (Chinese-Palearctic–Oriental transition), Palearctic Regions.

Remarks. This genus, comprising 15 species, has not been discovered in the Neotropical or Australasian Regions. Very little is known about the habitat preferences of this genus. North American species generally occur in freshwater environments, but specimens are occasionally collected in association with saline or alkaline water systems (Mathis 1980). The immature stages are unknown.

The species included in the phylogenetic analysis cluster together as the sister group to Haloscatella.