The status of genera in the Lonchopteridae (Diptera), and new records of Lonchoptera from Taiwan

The family Lonchopteridae (spear-winged flies) comprises a single extant genus, Lonchoptera Meigen, 1803, currently with 72 extant and three extinct species. Although eight species have previously been assigned to either Homolonchoptera Yang, 1998 (one species) and Spilolonchoptera Yang, 1998 (seven species) there seems little to substantiate the erection and persistence of these genera as they are poorly supported by 1 and 2 autapomorphies respectively. It is here proposed that the species assigned to these two genera are in fact consistent with the concept of the genus Lonchoptera. Consequently Homolonchoptera Yang, 1998 and Spilolonchoptera Yang, 1998 are synonymised with Lonchoptera Meigen, 1803 syn. nov., giving the following new combinations: Lonchoptera brevicaudata (Dong & Yang, 2013) comb. nov., Lonchoptera chinica (Yang, 1998) comb. nov., Lonchoptera curtifurcata (Yang, 1998) comb. nov., Lonchoptera hainanensis (Gao, Zhang & Yang 2021) comb. nov., Lonchoptera longisetosa (Yang & Chen, 1998) comb. nov., Lonchoptera tautineura (Yang, 1998) comb. nov., Lonchoptera yangi (Dong & Yang, 2013) comb. nov., and Lonchoptera zhejiangensis (Gao, Zhang & Yang 2021) comb. nov. In addition, Yang proposed in 1998 an unnecessary combination change Spilolonchoptera pictipennis (Bezzi, 1899), which is re-instated as Lonchoptera pictipennis Bezzi, 1899. Finally, previously unpublished Taiwanese records are provided for Lonchoptera malaisei Andersson, 1971, Lonchoptera orientalis (Kertész, 1914) and Lonchoptera zhejiangensis (Gao, Zhang & Yang, 2021).