Long-proboscid nemestrinid flies are keystone pollinators of dozens of Southern African plants and, consequently, their taxonomic status might have important consequences for insect and plant conservation. We focus on Prosoeca peringueyi, considered to be a single, morphologically variable species, upon which a guild of ~28 plants in the winter rainfall region depends for pollination. We quantified morphological variation and established whether it was associated with genetic variation within and among sites. Phylogenetic analyses of the mitochondrial COI gene revealed two well-supported clades. One clade contains long-proboscid individuals that conform morphologically to the holotype of P. peringueyi. The sister clade contains individuals that frequently occur sympatrically with P. peringueyi and have shorter proboscides, with additional diagnostic characters that set it apart from P. peringueyi. A haplotype analysis based on nuclear ribosomal 28S DNA sequences of a subset of individuals corroborated these results. Based on our results, we propose the recognition of two species: P. peringueyi and Prosoeca torquata sp. nov., which is described here. Future research is required to quantify the interaction networks of these two fly species and the plant guilds with which they interact, to facilitate conservation in the global biodiversity hotspot where they occur.

中文翻译：

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关键的长喙蝇传粉者被忽略：形态和分子分析揭示了新的Prosoeca（Nemestrinidae）种

长喙nemestrinid蝇是数十种南部非洲植物的主要授粉媒介，因此，它们的分类地位可能对昆虫和植物保护产生重要影响。我们关注Prosoeca peringueyi，它被认为是单一的，形态上可变的物种，冬季降雨地区约有28种植物的行会依赖于授粉。我们量化了形态变异，并确定了它是否与站点内和站点之间的遗传变异有关。线粒体COI基因的系统发育分析显示了两个支撑良好的进化枝。一个进化枝包含长喙个体，其形态学上与P. peringueyi的原型一致。姐妹进化枝包含经常与P. peringueyi同胞发生的人，并且proboscida较短，并且具有其他诊断特征，使其不同于P. peringueyi。基于个体子集的核糖体28S DNA序列的单倍型分析证实了这些结果。根据我们的结果，我们建议识别两个物种：P. peringueyi和Prosoeca torquata sp。十一月 ，在此进行说明。需要进一步的研究来量化这两种蝇类及其相互作用的植物行会的相互作用网络，以促进在它们发生的全球生物多样性热点地区的保护。