Madachauliodes Paulian

Genus Madachauliodes Paulian

Madachauliodes Paulian, 1951: 59. Type species: Madachauliodes torrentialis Paulian, 1951: 60, original designation.

Diagnosis. Adult. Medium-sized (male forewing length 27-38 mm). Body generally brown. Antenna filiform; male antenna longer than ½ but shorter than ⅔ of forewing, female antenna shorter than ½ of forewing. Distance between lateral ocelli ~3.0 times as long as width of median ocellus. Wings (Fig. 1) narrowly elongated, with numerous brownish spots along longitudinal veins on forewing. Both anterior and posterior branches of Rs bifurcated; three crossveins between R and Rs; MA simple; MP with two simple branches; 1A 2-branched, with posterior branch sinuate; 2A 2-branched, with both branches sinuated; a crossvein present between stem of 1A and anterior branch of 2A; base of MA on hindwing long, simply connecting to Rs, but sometimes not reaching to Rs and leaving a free end. Male genitalia (Figs. 13–17): ninth tergum subquadrate, thick apodeme presents along anterior and posterior margins, and thin longitudinal apodeme presents medially; ninth sternum subtrapezoidal, posteriorly concaved; ninth gonocoxite sometimes remains and fused with lateral arms of tenth gonocoxite; ectoproct stout with obtuse tip or elongated with acutely produced tip, inner portion with numerous black rhabdoidshaped setae from base to apex; cercus rounded and feebly protruded; tenth gonocoxite strongly sclerotized, lateral arm subtriangular, median plate subquadrate or subtrapezoidal, with additional ventral projection in some species; a pair of membranous sac-like lobes protruding beneath anteroventral portion of tenth gonocoxite; a pair of setose and feebly sclerotized patches present beneath anus. Female genitalia (Figs. 18–19): eighth gonocoxite broad, posteriorly narrowed and concaved to some degree; ninth gonocoxite nearly rectangular, with a stout gonostylus on posteroventral corner; ectoproct stout or subtriangular, with round and feebly prominent cercus.

Larva. Head and prothorax (Fig. 8) reddish brown, smooth, with scattered setae. Antenna (Fig. 10) with distal two segments combined much shorter than second segment. Except for distal teeth of mandibles on inner margin, left mandible with one long, acutely pointed tooth and three small teeth, right mandible with one long tooth and two small teeth. Labrum subtriangular. Labium (Fig. 11) medially incised, forming a pair of lobes. Abdomen with lateral tracheal filaments bearing dense long setae on proximal half. Terminal pair of abdominal spiracles (Fig. 12) opening at tips of rather short and coniform projections.

Remarks. Penny (1999) mentioned that Madachauliodes might be related to Platychauliodes Esben-Petersen, 1924 (endemic to South Africa) and Archichauliodes van der Weele, 1909 (distributed in Australia, New Zealand, and Chile) based on the following similar characters: forewing with last branch of Rs (= MA) unforked, anterior branch of 2A connected to 1A by a crossvein, and filiform male antennae, and Madachauliodes and Platychauliodes might be closely related based on the lack of a basal r-m (= MA) in the hindwing. However, Liu et al. (2011) considered that Madachauliodes is closer to the genus group comprising Taeniochauliodes Esben- Petersen, 1924, Protochauliodes van der Weele, 1909, Nothochauliodes Flint, 1983, and Neohermes Banks, 1908 rather than Archichauliodes and Platychauliodes by the feebly prominent male cerci and the female ninth gonocoxite with an articulate gonostylus. Subsequently, this hypothesis was supported by the reconstructed phylogeny of world fishfly genera (Liu et al. 2012). The most distinct character to separate Madachauliodes from other related genera is the forewing 2A with anterior branch not fused with 1A.