A troublesome sibling species complex of scuttle flies (Diptera : Phoridae) revisited

The complex of species resembling Megaselia pulicaria (Fallen) has proved t o be one of the most troublesome challenges to attempts to resolve the reco gnition of species within the huge genus Megaselia Rondani. The new data pr esented allow more confident recognition of species and reveal that most pu blished records represent misidentifications. The penis complex is discusse d and its use in species identification demonstrated. All specimens current ly assigned to M. pulicaria, other than the lectotype, are consequently rea ssigned to other species. These include the reinstatement of M. angusta (Wo od) and its newly designated subspecies M. angusta angustina Schmitz, M. eu pygis Schmitz, M. longifurca (Lundbeck) and M. monochaeta (Strobl) as valid species, and the recognition of M. buchsi sp. nov, from Germany, M. iberie nsis sp. nov, from Spain, M. martensi sp. nov. from Nepal, M. nectergata sp . nov. from Britain, M. oviaraneae sp. nov. from Britain, and M. rotundapic is sp. nov, from Scotland. Five synonyms are proposed. The hitherto unknown male of M. petraea Schmitz is described. It and M. longifurca are reported From Britain and the latter from the Nearctic Region also. Natural history information is summarized for each species. In particular, it is reported that the species whose larvae prey upon spider eggs are M. angusta, M. long ifurca and M. oviaraneae.