Genus Amiota Loew (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from the Qinling mountain system, central China

Twenty Amiota species are reported from the Qinling mountain system, central China, with descriptions of four new species: A. albidipuncta Xu and Chen sp. nov., A. brunneifemoralis Xu and Chen sp. nov., A. flavipes Xu and Chen sp. nov., and A. setitibia Xu and Chen sp. nov. The relevant parts of previous keys to species of the genus Amiota are modified to cover the four new species. A faunal comparison among several areas in East and South-East Asia reveals three biogeographic realms of the Amiota fauna: South-East Asia, south China and the east Palearctic. The species composition of the Qinling area is most similar to that of south-eastern China and secondly to that of the Hengduan Mountains area, these three areas forming together the south China realm. Excepting the four new species endemic to the Qinling mountain system, seven of the 16 known species are distributed in both the Oriental and Palearctic regions, but the remaining nine species are restricted to the Oriental region, with the northern limits of their distributions in the Qinling mountain system. This suggests the importance of this mountain range as a biogeographic barrier for the genus Amiota as well as other organisms.