Shifting the known richness of Paramycodrosophila Duda, 1924 (Diptera: Drosophilidae): the description of nineteen new species in the Neotropical region

Paramycodrosophila Duda, 1924 is a small cosmopolitan genus which encompasses 16 described species. In the Neotropical region there are records of only two species, P. costaricana Duda, 1925 and P. nephelea Wheeler, 1968. In this paper, we describe the first 19 new species from South America - P. itatiaiensis n. sp., P. blauthae n. sp., P. pallidifacies n. sp., P. acreensis n. sp., P. mantiqueira n. sp., P. maculosa n. sp., P. melana n. sp., P. puri n. sp. - based on morphological traits. A distribution map and a taxonomic key for male imagoes of the Neotropical species was also produced. By adding 19 new species, we establish the Neotropical region as the biogeographical region with the most known diversity in the world for the genus.