Allograpta flavophylla belongs to a group, subgenus Rhinoprosopa, characterized by: face greatly produced anteriorly, with low indistinct tubercle or no tubercle; oral opening about 5.5 times as long as wide, with oral apex greatly extended beyond level of antennal base; antennal pits distinctly separated; plumula absent; subscutellar pile fringe absent; wing microtrichose, without apical dark macula; alula absent or narrow, less than 1/2 as wide as cell BM; metasternum bare; abdomen narrowly to strongly petiolate (Mengual et al. 2009).
Species with scutellum yellow; katepimeron, meron and katatergum brownish black. Very similar to Allograpta sycorax, but A. flavophylla has a narrow alula, about as wide as the 2nd costal cell and only half as wide as the cell BM..
Allograpta (Rhinoprosopa) flavophylla (Hull, 1943).
Hull, F.M. (1943) New species of Baccha and related flies. Entomological News 54, 135-140.
Adapted from original description (Hull 1943).
FEMALE.
Head: face and front brownish yellow, the latter with a narrow obscure brown vitta and blackish macula above the antennae, the lunule depressed on either side and brownish. The face is quite peaked and conical, in profile forming an equilateral triangle. The epistoma slants as much upward as downward. Antennal pits widely separated, the antennae orange; basoflagellomere black narrowly above; the arista black. Extreme upper front and vertex metallic black. Frontal pile black.
Thorax: scutum broadly black over the middle, vittae if present obscured by effects of preservation; postpronotum and the wide lateral margins, the whole of anterior and posterior anepisternum, katepisternum and anepimeron yellow. Calypter dark brown with long brown fringe. Scutellum yellowish, the disc viewed laterally, dark brown with sparse, long brown pile and no fringe. Wings: deeply tinged with brownish yellow; apically, with well-defined brownish macula. Alulae present but narrow. Legs: reddish yellow, the metafemora light brown on the apical half, their tibiae and tarsi light brown. Mesotibiae dark brown near the apex.
Abdomen: quite slender basally, dark brown with yellow markings. Second tergum with an oblique, large, yellow lateral vitta meeting anteriorly. Third tergum with a similar, central, oblique, large yellow vitta. Fourth tergum with a still more oblique macula meeting near the base of the tergum. Fifth tergum obscurely yellow on the sides, apparently with a similar oblique macula.
In the study of Mengual et al. (2008b), this species was included with the name of Allograpta (Rhinoprosopa) aenea. The species was resolved as sister group of Allograpta sycorax in a very well-supported clade including all the species of Rhinoprosopa. The subgenus Costarica was placed as sister group of Rhinoprosopa.
Holotype female collected in Peru, Perené Valley, El Campamiento on June 21st, 1920, by the Cornell University Expedition.
Species also found in Costa Rica.
unless otherwise stated