Review of Brazilian species of Syneches Walker (Diptera, Hybotidae, Hybotinae), with description of ten new species.

We increase the knowledge on the taxonomy of Brazilian Syneches describing 10 new species: S. amorimi sp. nov., S. barrettoi sp. nov., S. digitatus sp. nov., S. fasciatus sp. nov., S. flaviscutellatus sp. nov., S. fuscus sp. nov., S. nordestino sp. nov., S. plaumanni sp. nov., S. sinclairi sp. nov., and S. smithi sp. nov., and redescribing three species: S. catarinae Smith, 1962, S. luteus (Wiedemann, 1830) and S. tomentosus Smith, 1962. Syneches ruficollis (Walker, 1852) is proposed as a nomen dubium since the type is lost and the original description does not allow identification. An identification key, high-resolution images of relevant characters, short diagnoses and maps of geographic records for all 34 Brazilian species now included in the genus are provided, as well as a checklist for the South American species of Syneches.

First records of Leptopezella Sinclair amp; Cumming (Diptera: Hybotidae: Ocydromiinae) from Brazil.

Leptopezella Sinclair Cumming, 2007 is a small genus of Ocydromiinae characterized by the absence of cell dm (Fig. 3) and presence of ventral spine-like setae on the hind first tarsomere (Fig. 2). It was first mentioned as "undescribed genus A" in the key of Sinclair Cumming (2000) and later described including four species: L. anatolica Sinclair Cumming, 2007, L. perata Sinclair Cumming, 2007 and L. spinosa Sinclair Cumming, 2007 from Australia and L. masneri Sinclair Cumming, 2007 from Bolivia (Sinclair Cumming 2007). In South America the genus has been recorded so far from Bolivia and Argentina (Sinclair Cumming 2000, 2007). In the present study we record the genus occurring for the first time in several administrative states from Brazil.

New South American species of Crossopalpus Bigot (Diptera: Hybotidae: Tachydromiinae), including biogeographical insights and a reinterpretation of female abdominal tergite 10 in Drapetidini.

Crossopalpus is a rather diverse genus of tachydromiine flies, but regionally the genus is nowhere very speciose. Knowledge on the South American Crossopalpus before this paper included two described species from Andean related habitats, with several biomes from the eastern part of the continent being completely unexplored. Herein, we describe four new species of Crossopalpus from eastern South America, namely: C. albivertex sp. nov., C. aliceae sp. nov., C. goliathus sp. nov., and C. xanthogaster sp. nov. New diagnoses and high quality photographs are made available for C. armipes (Bezzi, 1909) and C. pennescens (Melander, 1918), including some characters used for the first time to distinguish South American species. We provide a key for identification of the six South American species, discussion about the position of Crossopalpus in Drapetidini, and some biogeographical insights including preferred habitats and seasonality of the South American species. We discuss the apparent loss of tergite 10 in females of Drapetidini, introducing a reinterpretation where the sclerite may be present in some genera of the tribe, but fused to the cerci and/or sternite 10.