New species of Lonchaeidae from central and southern Africa
Based on the examination of Malaise trap material from the collections of the National Museum of Namibia, Windhoek, the Natural History Museum, Stockholm, Sweden and the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 11 new species of Lonchaeidae have been described from central and southern Africa.These are:
LAMPROLONCHAEA, Bezzi, 1920.
Lamprolonchaea longicercus (from Tanzania)LONCHAEA Fallén, 1820.
Lonchaea asymmetrica (Tanzania)Lonchaea grandiseta (Botswana & Namibia)
SILBA Macquart, 1851.
Silba budong (Uganda)Silba calceus (Namibia)
Silba figurata (Uganda)
Silba gongeti (Uganda),
Silba namibia (Namibia),
Silba quadridentata (Uganda),
Silba spatulata (Tanzania)
Silba uganda (Uganda)
The previously unknown male of Lonchaea haplosetifera McAlpine 1964 is also described from South Africa. New records of the Lonchaeidae species, Lonchaea conicoura McAlpine, 1960, Lonchaea polyhamata McAlpine, 1964, Silba arcana McAlpine, 1960, Silba plumosissima (Bezzi, 1919), Silba virescens Macquart, 1851 are provided for Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia.
The most common Lonchaeidae in the Malaise trap samples from Namibia were of the genus Silba whose larvae, along with those of Lamprolonchaea, are primary or secondary invaders of fruit and vegetables, often in association with Tephritidae. The other well represented genus was Lonchaea whose larvae, at least in the northern hemisphere, are primarily associated with fallen and decaying wood although a few are found as generalists in decaying organic matter.