Aphaniosoma nigrum Ebejer 1998

Aphaniosoma nigrum Ebejer, 1998 Fig. 66 Material examined TUNISIA • 1 ♂; Pont de Bizerte; 17 May 1995; M.J. Ebejer leg.; marsh; MJE. Remarks An almost completely black species with sparse microtomentum (Fig. 66A). It is similar to A. creperum and A. nigricauda. The male abdominal tergite 5 is clearly longer than tergite 4 when observed dorsally at middle (Fig. 66B), a character not observed in similar species. The twisted and incised lower lateral margin of tergite 6, the shape of the black postgonites and the shape of the pregenital sternite (Ebejer 1998: 216, figs 47–49) are the easiest characters for identification and separation from the similar species. Distribution Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia (Ebejer 1998, 2016, 2021a).Published as part of Ebejer, Martin J., 2023, The genus Aphaniosoma Becker, 1903 (Diptera: Chyromyidae) in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, with descriptions of new species, pp. 1-161 in European Journal of Taxonomy 872 on page 116, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.872.2131, http://zenodo.org/record/801830