New species without dead bodies: a case for photo-based descriptions, illustrated by a striking new species of Marleyimyia Hesse (Diptera, Bombyliidae) from South Africa

Stephen A Marshall; Neal L Evenhuis

doi:10.3897/zookeys.525.6143

New species without dead bodies: a case for photo-based descriptions, illustrated by a striking new species of Marleyimyia Hesse (Diptera, Bombyliidae) from South Africa

Zookeys. 2015 Oct 5:(525):117-27. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.525.6143. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Stephen A Marshall¹, Neal L Evenhuis²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
² J. Linsley Gressitt Center for Entomological Research, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Kaiwi'ula Campus, 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817-2704, USA.

Abstract

A new bombyliid species Marleyimyia xylocopae Marshall & Evenhuis, sp. n., an apparent mimic of the carpenter bee Xylocopa flavicollis (De Geer), is described from South Africa on the basis of photographs only. The pros and cons of species descriptions in the absence of preserved type specimens are discussed.

Keywords: South Africa; Xylocopa; bee fly; mimicry; photography; taxonomy; type specimens.