Amiota alboguttata

THE ALBOGUTTATA SPECIES GROUP

DIAGNOSIS: Small to medium-sized flies; dark brown to black-brown, with typical white markings; aristal branches with short to long branches; frons faintly pollinose to silvery reflective; some species with comb on the hind tibia (A. communis and A. steyskali). Male genitalia: Outer paraphysis linear, simple (no spines); subepandrial sclerite large and recurved.

NEARCTIC SPECIES: Amiota communis Chen and Steyskal, A. durangoensis, sp. nov., A. lineiventris Máca, and A. steyskali Máca.

COMMENTS: This is a large species group established by Chen and Toda (2001), for what are now 48 Palearctic and Asian species. The group was defined morphologically, based on the male hind legs: tibia with a ventral row of long setae; tarsomeres 2–5 broadened, shorter than 1.5× the width. We have found that the short tarsomeres is a continuous character that is not well defined in Nearctic species. We are also proposing in the diagnosis above several male genitalic features that group the Nearctic and at least some of the Palearctic species. Wang et al. (2020) analyzed COI and ND2 sequences of the group; they did not include A. communis, A. steyskali, or A. subtusradiata Duda. Amiota subtusradiata we classify into a separate group with two Nearctic species based on the distinctive genitalia.