Genus Pelecinobaccha Shannon, 1927

Figs 7, 51, 80, 89–91, 93, 96, 98–103, 106.

Pelecinobaccha Shannon, 1927: 10, as a subgenus of Baccha. Type species: Baccha peruviana Shannon, 1927 (original designation). Miranda et al. (2014) proposed it as a genus.

Baccha tristis species group, in part. Hull (1949a).

Ocyptamus tristis species group, in part. Mengual et al. (2012).

Diagnosis. Dorsal occiput with two rows of pile (rarely anterior row with very short pile). Wings usually with dark markings. Petiolate abdomen, but might be very narrow and long. Female sixth segment modified into a single conical sclerite.

Biology. Very little is known about the natural history of Pelecinobaccha, despite the large number of species. Larval biology is only known for records of P. costata (Say, 1829) and P. squamagula Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, whose immatures feed on scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae) (Rojo et al. 2003; Miranda et al. 2014).

Comments. Many of the Pelecinobaccha species have a bicolored metatarsus, the metabasitarsomere having a dark base and pale apex. This genus is unique in having distinctly modified female genitalia, which is believed to be related to the placement of their eggs under the scale of their larval prey, Coccidae (Hemiptera) (Miranda et al. 2014). Miranda et al. (2014) distinguished four species groups: 1) P. adspersa species group (flies with polished black head and wholly dark metatarsus); 2) P. brevipennis species group (very slender flies similar to the Ocyptamus stenogaster species group, with long abdomens, and maculae on tergum 3 restricted to a lateromedial pair); 3) P. peruviana species group (typical Pelecinobaccha with bicolored metabasitarsomere, with basal half or more dark); and 4) P. summa species group [as P. susio species group; see Miranda 2017] (only group with scutum pale laterally, at least on notopleuron and postalar callus, and with distinct pale microtrichose vittae, and metabasitarsomere usually with less than basal half dark).

Species list (52): P. adspersa (Fabricius, 1805), P. alicia (Curran, 1941), P. alucard Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. andrettae Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. aster (Curran, 1941), P. avispas Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. beatricea (Hull, 1942c), P. brevipennis (Schiner, 1868), P. capesorum Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. clarapex (Wiedemann, 1830), P. concinna (Williston, 1891), P. cora (Curran, 1941), P. costata (Say, 1829), P. cryptica (Hull, 1942a), P. cubensis (Macquart, 1850), P. cyclops (Hull, 1947a), P. dracula (Hull, 1943a), P. duopuncta Miranda & Thompson in Miranda et al., 2014, P. eruptova (Hull, 1943f), P. gracilitas Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. hiantha (Hull, 1943b), P. hirundella (Hull, 1944b), P. humillima Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. ida (Curran, 1941), P. invisibilis Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. levissima (Austen, 1893), P. manuelorum Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. menguali Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. mexicana (Curran, 1930a), P. mima (Hull, 1949a), P. morgani Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. nubilorum Miranda & Thompson in Miranda et al., 2014, P. oviphora (Hull, 1943b), P. ovipositoria (Hull, 1943b), P. pandora (Hull, 1942a), P. peruviana (Shannon, 1927), P. pilinigridensis Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. pilipes (Schiner, 1868), P. portachueloi Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. pucallpa Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. seara Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. squamagula Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. summa (Fluke, 1936), P. telescopica (Curran, 1930a), P. tica Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. transatlantica (Schiner, 1868), P. tristis (Hull, 1930), P. unica Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. vera (Hull, 1943b), P. vesca Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. waynei Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014, P. wyatti Miranda in Miranda et al., 2014.