Four species of Lissocephala (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from the Australian Region

Images of four Lissocephala species from the Australian Region, arranged side by side, allow direct comparison of some of the more easily observed morphological differences in dry-pinned museum specimens: the brown pleura of L. metallescens (Fig. 1, see further details in McEvey, 2026a), the slightly banded pleura of L. powelli—the crab fly of Christmas Island (Fig. 2, see McEvey, 2026b), the dark katepisternum and expanded lower calypter of L. fijiensis (Fig. 3, see McEvey, 2026c), and the shining dark brown anepisternum and pale katepisternum of L. versicolor of Samoa (Fig. 4, see McEvey, 2026d). Wing venation varies little in the four species and wing indices are similar (Fig. 5, Table 1). Previously only L. powelli has been reported from Christmas Island, a second much darker, almost blackish, undetermined, and low-abundance species—Lissocephala sp21890. McEvey—is also present.