Adapted from original description (Thompson 1981).
MALE, FEMALE.
Head: Bluish black; face and gena shiny,white pilose; facial vitta white pollinose; frontal triangle shiny except dull black pollinose on upper 1/4 and small white pollinose macula on side laterad to antenna, white pilose with few black pile intermixed; vertical triangle shiny, yellowish-white pilose except with few black hairs on anterior 1/3; front broad, shiny except for lateral white pollinose maculae, with narrow lateral white pollinose macula on lower 1/4 and broader one on upper 2/3, white pilose except for some
black pile above antennae and in front of ocelli; vertex shiny, black pilose on anterior 1/4, yellowish-white pilose on posterior 3/4; occiput silvery-white pollinose on lower 2/3, brown pollinose on upper 1/3 in male, shiny on anterior edge and white pollinose posteriorly on upper 1/3 in female; antennal pits narrowly separated; eyes light brown pilose, of male holoptic and touching
for 9-11 ommatidia. Antenna brownish black except reddish orange on ventral 1/2 of scape and pedicel and basoventral 1/3 of basoflagellomere, black pilose on dark areas, light pilose on pale areas, scape and pedicel subequal, 1/3 as long as basoflagellomere in male, slightly shorter in female; basoflagellomere elongate, 2.5x as long as broad in male, about 1/6 longer in female; arista bare, brown, slightly shorter than basoflagellomere.
Thorax: Bluish black, white pilose except for few black hairs above wing, shiny except for propleuron sparsely white pollinose and indistinct trace of very short brownish pollinose medial vitta on mesonotum of male; plumula, calypter white in female, brownish white in male; halter pale yellow to orange. Legs: Mostly shiny bluish black and white pilose; coxae sparsely white pollinose; femoral-tibial joints broadly orange; pro- and mesotarsi with basal 2 tarsomeres orange; metatarsus orange on apical 1/4 of basitarsis, 2nd tarsomere, and basal 1/2 of 3rd tarsomere, brown on apical 1/2 of 3rd tarsomere, black elsewhere; legs black pilose on apex of pro-and mesofemora, on apical 1/4 of metafemur, on anteromedial 1/2 of pro- and mesotibiae, on apical 1/4 of mesotibia, and on dark areas of tarsi. Wing: Hyaline, microtrichose except bare as follows: cell bc, basal 1/3 or less of costal cell, basal 1/4 or less of R2+3, cells R and BM, basal 1/4 of R4+5, narrowly along posterior edge of cell DM on basal1/3, narrowly along anterior and posterior margins of CuA1 on basal 1/3, and anterobasal 1/4 of CuP.
Abdomen: Bluish black; 1st tergum shiny except subshiny medially, white pilose; 2nd and 3rd terga of female dull black and appressed black pilose on apical 1/4, shiny and white pilose elsewhere; 2nd tergum of male dull brownish-gray pollinose and white pilose on basal 2/3, shiny on sides, more blackish-gray pollinose and appressed black pilose on apical 1/3; 3rd tergum of male same as 2nd except shiny areas on sides extend medially at middle length of segment, thus forming pair of triangular shiny areas; 4th and 5th terga of female shiny, white pilose; 4th tergum of male shiny except narrowly brownish pollinose along basal margin, white pilose; venter shiny except for white pollinose apicomedial spot on 4th sternum of male, white pilose except for black pilose on apical 1/2 of 4th sternum of male.
Synonyms:
Parapenium banksi of Telford, 1973: 236 (Puerto Rico).
Trichopsomyia antillensis Thompson, 1981.
Thompson, F.C. (1981) The flower flies of the West Indies (Diptera: Syrphidae). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington 9, 200 pp. [1981.09.02]
unless otherwise stated