Pelecinobaccha susio

Pelecinobaccha susio species group

Pelecinobaccha susio species group (type species Baccha susio Hull, 1941).

Included species. P. pandora (Hull, 1942a), P. summa (Fluke, 1936) and P. susio (Hull, 1941).

Diagnosis/comments. Pelecinobaccha susio is readily distinguished from other Pelecinobaccha by the pale lateral margin and the golden pollinose vittae on the scutum, the largely pale metabasitarsomere and the incomplete fusion of the sclerites on the 6th segment.

The overall appearance of P. susio is similar to that of the Ocyptamus arx (Fluke, 1936) species group. The O. arx group consists of relatively large yellowish “[…] petiolate flies, with raised, opaque, bicoloured occelarium with distinct light-colored vittae upon the abdomen.” (Hull 1949a). The O. arx group species examined have the face entirely pale, the scutum with distinct golden pollinose vittae that merge posteriorly into a golden pollinose area, and the vittate markings on the abdominal tergites narrow. Despite their superficial similarity, P. susio clearly differs from the O. arx group by the following characters: ocellar triangle pollinosity similar to the rest of the vertex/vertical triangle pollinosity, the golden pollinose vittae on the scutum do not merge posteriorly, the medial vittate markings of the abdominal tergites are more oval, and the female terminalia are modified (as described above for Pelecinobaccha).

The P. susio species group needs to be revised alongside the O. arx species group to properly assign similar species to their appropriate group (work in progress). Species tentatively allocated to the P. susio group appear in couplets 2 and 3 of the key below. Those two couplets were based on the original species descriptions, pictures of the type specimens and Hull’s 1949a key. The species of the P. susio group will be redescribed in a future publication alongside the species from the O. arx group. The descriptions of P. pandora and P. summa can be found in the original publications (Fluke 1936; Hull 1942a).

The species labeled as “sp04” in the cladograms of Miranda (2011) is part of the P. susio species group.