Descriptions of the first known Ethiopian Myolepta species , with a review of the subgeneric classification of Myolepta (

The discovery of the first known Ethiopian species of the syrphid genus Myolepta has prompted a review of the subgeneric classification of that genus. Until recently Myolepta was unknown from the Old World tropics and was assumed to be primarily a North Temperate group with a limited distribution in the New World tropics. In 1971 I described the first two Myolepta from the Oriental tropics, the only previously known Oriental species being from the Himalayas. These two tropical species differed from all the other known species of the genus by their elongate antennae. The three new Ethiopian Myolepta species also have elongate antennae and this similarity has lead to the question of interrelationships between the Old World tropical species and other species of Myolepta. Thus, a review of the classification of Myolepta is appropriate.