Physocephala Schiner, 1861

Stuke, Jens-Hermann & Clements, David K., 2019, New conopid records from the Afrotropical Region (Diptera) - Part 3: Physocephalini, Bonn zoological Bulletin 68 (2), pp. 209-273 : 211-212

Physocephala Schiner, 1861

= Pseudodacus Kröber 1915 , homonym of Pseudodacus Hendel, 1914 [ Tephritidae ]

= Dacops Speiser, 1923 (syn. nov.)

= Archiphysocephala Kröber, 1939 [ Camras 1957, Smith & Cunningham-van Someren 1970]

= Pseudophysocephala Kröber, 1940 (syn. nov.)

Although Physocephala species are among some of the most conspicuous and beautiful Conopidae the identifi- cation of species is very difficult due to high infraspecific variation and the lack of stable characters to divide the genus in groups. Key 1 presents a new attempt to distin- guish species-groups but we are very aware that this re- mains problematic. In many cases it will not be possible to identify single specimens of difficult species without comparative material. Much patience is necessary, and no little frustration encountered, when identifying Afro- tropical Physocephala !

It should be noted that the species-groups given below are not intended to represent natural monophyletic groupings but are merely an attempt to provide a starting point for the identification of species within this large ge- nus. Where our species-groups are identical to those pre- viously identified by Camras (2001) we have retained the same species-group name, but where they are constituted or interpreted differently we have used a different name in order to minimise confusion in the future.