Wood Soldier Flies, Xylomyidae, are a little studied group of Dipteran (True) Flies found across Asia, Australia, and Oceana. These Flies spend the majority of their lives in a larval state, beneath the bark of dead trees. There are currently 143 described species of Wood Soldier Fly, nine of which have been described since 2011, with many areas never sampled for their presence. The phylogenetic positioning of these Flies was uncertain for a long time, but modern genetic methods have shown that they form a sister group to the True Soldier Flies, Stratiomyidae.
In a paper published in the Journal of the Entomological Research Society on 27 March 2024, Debdeep Pramanik, Atanu Nascar, and Dhriti Banerjee of the Zoological Survey of India, present the results of the first survey for Wood Soldier Flies carried out in the Andaman Islands, including a description of a new species.
Pramanik et al. carried out sweep netting in the Sabari and Yeratta forests in North & Middle Andaman District on Andaman Island between 7 and 26 September 2024. During these surveys they recovered two species of Wood Soldier Fly, the previously described Solva javana, which is otherwise known only from the island of Java, over 2000 km to the southeast, and a new, previously undescribed species.
The new species is named Solva andamanensis, where 'andamanensis' means 'from Andaman'. It is described from six adult Flies, all male. These are between 5.0 mm and 5.5 mm in length, with a forewing length of between 4.6 mm and 4.8 mm, and a yellow and black body pattern with white hairs in places.
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