Nemotelus nartshukae: A new species of Soldier Fly from Mongolia.

Soldier Flies, Stratiomyidae, are a group of True Flies, Diptera, with a global distribution. The adults are rather inactive, and do not stay far from the environments where the larvae are found, in wetlands, damp soil or similar. Soldier Flies are rather variable in both size and shape, though they always have antennae with three segments, and are often metallic green in colour.

In a paper published in the journal Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Prague on 26 November 2018, Rudolf Rozkošný and Jaromir Vaňhara of the Department of Botany and Zoology at Masaryk University, describe a new species of Soldier Fly from Mongolia.

The new species is placed in the genus Nemotelus, and given the specific name nartshukae, in honour of Emilia Nartshuk of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, for her work on Soldier Flies. The species is described from three specimens, a male collected from the Dalbay Valley in northern Mongolia, and a male and a female collected from a salt lake in Hovd Province. These flies are 6.5-6.7 mm in length, and black in colour with large eyes and yellow markings on their legs.

Nemotelus nartshukae, abdomens detached. (17) Male, lateral view; (18) male, dorsal view; (19) female, lateral view; (20) female, dorsal view. Both specimens without abdomen. Igor Malenovský in Rozkošný & Vaňhara (2018).

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Two new species of Soldier Fly from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China

Soldier Flies are smallish (2-30 mm), often brightly coloured metallic or wasp-mimicking flies related to the Horse Flies and Snipe Flies. They have membranous wings which are kept folded back over their bodies. The larvae can be aquatic or terrestrial; terrestrial larvae tend to be generalist scavengers, whereas the aquatic forms are often specialist algae feeders. The adults tend to be rather inactive, and seldom move far away from the spawning areas.

In a paper published in the journal Zookeys on 30 May 2012, Yang Zai-Hua and Yu Jin-Yong of the Guizhou Academy of Forestry and Yang Mao-Fa of the Institute of Entomology at Guizhou University, describe two new species of Soldier Flies from the Liupanshan Nature Reserve in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China. 

The first species is named as Oxycera ningxiaensis, the Ningxia Soldier Fly, after the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where it was found. It is a shiny black fly roughly 5 mm in length, slender, with an enlarged head and eyes. It is described from three adult male specimens, the female being unknown.

Oxycera ningxiaensis, dorsal view. Yang et al. (2012).

The second species is named Oxycera rozkosnyi, in honor of Rudolf Rozkošný of Masaryk University, an entomologist and expert on flies. It is described from a single female specimen, the male being unknown. O. rozkosnyi is a 6.3 mm black fly with yellow markings on the head, abdomen and thorax.

Oxycera rozkosnyi, dorsal view. Yang et al. (2012).

See also Two new species of True Bug from the Mesozoic of China, New species of Leaf-Mining Moth from northern Chile, An Assassin Bug from the Palaeocene of Spitsbergen Island, New species of moth from Yunnan Province and New species of Owlfly from Morocco.

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