Taxonomic status and additional description of White’s Stalked-eyed Fly Cyrtodiopsis whitei (Curran, 1936) (Diptera: Diopsidae) from India with a key to the allied species and note on its habitat

• Main Author: Basant Kumar Agarwala
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society 2018-07-01
• Series: Journal of Threatened Taxa
• Subjects: cyrtodiopsis; diopsis; habitat; monophyletic; new characters; systematics; taxonomic key.
• Online Access: https://www.threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/3272

Systematics and ecology of Cyrtodiopsis whitei (Curran, 1936), initially described in brief from a tropical dry deciduous forest in eastern India as Diopsis whitei, remained obscure for want of the type specimens.  Recent collections of male and female specimens of this species from a new locality in the northeastern part of India, the country of the type locality, has allowed a fresh appraisal of its morphology, taxonomic position and habitat ecology in the background of several studies done on Diopsidae.  Herein are included some new characters, hitherto unknown in the species of Cyrtodiopsis, a taxonomic key to the separation of four species, considered monophyletic under the genus, and a note on the habitat of the species.