APSILOCEPHALIDAE, A NEW FAMILY OF THE ORTHORRHAPHOUS-BRACHYCERA (INSECTA, DIPTERA)

Apsilocephala (from California, New Mexico and Mexico) and Clesthentia (from Tasmania) have until now been erroneously placed in the family Therevidae. These two genera and a new genus Clesthentiella (from Tasmania) together form a taxon which is independent of all the other extant families of the orthorrhaphous Brachycera, and the Apsilocephalidae is here erected as a new family to receive them. This family may be closely related to, or even identical with, the Jurassic Rhagionempididae. Among the extant families, the Apsilocephalidae are phylogenetically closest to the Empidoidea but may be readily separated from the latter by a series of characters.