Martintella Artigas, 1996

Martinella Artigas & Papavero, 1995: 57 (preocc. Jousseaume, 1887 in Mollusca). Type –species, Asilus lestes Williston, 1901 (orig. des.).

Martintella Artigas, 1996: 75 (nom. nov. for Martinella Artigas & Papavero, 1995). Type –species, Asilus lestes Williston, 1901.

Comments. According to Artigas & Papavero (1995), Martintella has an apical tuft of long setae on the hypandrium, however the structure mentioned by the authors actually refers to sternite VIII. In Martintella lestes, as well as in M. aurata sp. nov. and M. fernandoi sp. nov., it is not possible to observe the hypandrium unless the terminalia is dissected, since the former is completely covered by sternite VIII (Figs. 3, 20, 32). It is worth mentioning that Scarbrough (2010) did not illustrate sternite VIII and the hypandrium of M. elliptica.

According to Fisher (2009), species of Martintella are similar to those of Wilcoxius Martin, 1975. The two genera are best distinguished by the size and shape of the aedeagal tubes. Wilcoxius has long, usually ‘S’-shaped tubes, and exposed aedeagus, while Martintella has short, slightly curved tubes, and the aedeagus is similar to those of Efferia Coquillett, 1893 and completely concealed. Martintella elliptica has a distinctive aedeagus where the apical 2/3 is reduced to a slender stalk that is concealed beneath the epandrium (Fig. 16). Thus M. elliptica somewhat extends the generic concept for Martintella mentioned above (based solely on the aedeagal structure of M. lestes, the type species), so its generic placement may need additional study.

Asilinae species are very similar and few external morphological characters are used in identification keys. Thus, dissection and study of the morphology of the structures of the male and female terminalia is required to ascertain species identification.