Sarothromyiops, Townsend, 1917

Genus Sarothromyiops View in CoL

The single known species of this genus is only found in the Galápagos Islands. The most noteworthy autapomorphic features of this genus are: basiphallus laterally compressed and with a longitudinal dorsal keel (arrow in Fig. 21A View Figure 21 ), the presence of rounded expansions at the base of the cerci ( Fig. 42D, E View Figure 42 ) and cerci bare dorso-laterally ( Fig. 42E View Figure 42 ). The last two character states were listed by Pape (1996) as part of the diagnosis of this genus. Lopes’s (1969a) tribal classification places this species in the Microcerellini together with genera such as Microcerella and Chrysagria , but we did not find support for this relationship. Instead, the sister-group relationship of Sarothromyiops dasycnemis (Thomson, 1869) to clade 27 received moderate JK support (clade 26 in Fig. 2A View Figure 2 ). Clade 26 is supported by a cleft posterior margin of the male abdominal ST5 without any special set of setae ( Fig. 42C View Figure 42 ), reduction of the divisions of the vesica, vesica broad and flat ( Fig. 21A, C View Figure 21 ), vesica with no special mechanism of attachment to the hypophallus, reduction of the acrophallic levers, hillae directed latero-ventrally ( Fig. 21B View Figure 21 ), hillae filiform and the hillae touching the inner paraphallic wall only through the medial part. Thus, our analysis does not support synonymizing Sarothromyiops under any other genus, and therefore it remains a valid genus.