Robertsmyia Li & Yeates, 2018

Li, Xuankun, 2025, Description of a New Species of Robertsmyia Bee Fly (Bombyliidae: Bombyliinae) from the South Australian mallee, Zootaxa 5570 (1), pp. 179-188 : 180-181

Robertsmyia Li & Yeates, 2018

Robertsmyia Li & Yeates, 2018: 386 .

Type species: Dischistus pallidoventer Roberts, 1928 , by original designation.

Diagnosis (modified from Li & Yeates, 2018). Medium to small-sized bombyliine, body black with short golden scales. Eye broadly connected in male. Pedicel elongate, 1.7–2.5× longer than wide. Flagellum one-segmented, apex projecting ventrally with dorsal apical style. Palp one-segmented, slender and elongate. Mouthparts short and sturdy, labella large and fleshy. Alula vestigial, narrow. Wing cell dm narrow, over 3.5× longer than wide; cell cup and cell r5 open; cell br much longer than cell bm, crossvein r-m arising from apical half of cell dm; crossvein m-m slightly shorter than crossvein r-m. Genitalia. Epandrium and gonocoxite nearly rectangular. Hypandrium membranous. Ejaculatory apodeme strong; gonocoxal apodeme weak; anterior arm of phallic sheath absent; lateral ejaculatory process weak and small; inner and outer apex of gonocoxite rounded; gonostylus pointed dorsolaterally. Female sand chamber present. Furca straight, slender. Sperm pump present, short, collars absent; distal spermathecal duct of normal length; spermathecal bulb large and nearly spherical, with apical small conical point or invaginated cone.

Distribution. NSW, SA, Tas., Vic.

Species included. Robertsmyia aureola sp. nov., Robertsmyia pallidoventris ( Roberts, 1928) .

Remarks. With the discovery of the current new species, some characters that were previously considered useful to distinguish between Robertsmyia and Laurella no longer are, including the ratio between the length and width of the pedicel and the region of the brown infuscation on the wing. Robertsmyia can be distinguished from Laurella by the narrow cell dm, which is over 3.5× longer than wide. Laurella has a wide cell dm that is less than 3.0× longer than wide.