Africaterphis stefanfoordi: A new species of Small-headed fly from Botswana and South Africa.

The Acroceridae are a small group of unusual-looking Flies with a hump-backed appearance and very small heads, known as Small-headed Flies, or sometimes Humpbacked Flies, or, because they are parasitoids whose larvae develop inside the bodies of Spiders, Spider Flies. There are over 430 known species of Small-headed Flies, divided into eight subfamilies. Sixty five species of Small-headed Flies have been recorded from Africa to date, representing all eight subfamilies.

In a paper published in the journal African Invertebrates on 28 February 2025, John Midgley of the Department of Natural Sciences at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, and the Department of Zoology and Entomology at Rhodes University, and Genevieve Theron of Biosystematics: Entomology, Plant Health and Protection at the South African Agricultural Research Council, present a review of the African Small-headed Fly genus Africaterphis, with the description of a new species.

Two species of Africaterphis have been described to date, Africaterphis acroceroides, which is found in woodland and forests in areas of Southern Africa with a summer rainy season, from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the north, to Eswatini in the south, and Africaterphis gertschi, which is found in the cooler temperate regions of Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces, where it is found in Fynbos and Thicket vegetation.

The new species was identified in a survey of museum specimens, with two female specimens assigned to the species, one from Serowe in Central District, Botswana, and one from Kaapmuiden in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. This new species is named Africaterphis stefanfoordi, in honour of the late Stefan Foord, for his 'contribution to Entomology, Arachnology and Zoology in South Africa, Africa and the World'

Africaterphis stefanfoordi, female specimen. Scale bar is1 mm. Midgley & Theron (2025).

The two known specimens of Africaterphis stefanfoordi are 7.6 and 8.8 mm long, with forewing lengths of 6.1 and 6.8 mm. The head is black, and largely covered by the eyes, which meet above the antennae, which are small and brown. The thorax is rough and covered by short brown fur, The abdomen and legs are largely yellow with brown markings, the wings are almost totally white, with some brown pigmentation at the base.

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