A taxonomic revision of Vermipardus Stuckenberg, 1960, with descriptions of new species and notes on the biology and biogeography of the genus (Diptera: Vermileonidae)

An analysis of the distribution of apomorphies among Afrotropical vermileonids shows the South African taxon Vermipardus Stuckenberg, 1960, originally descriptionbed as a subgenus of Lampromyia Macquart, 1835, to warrant generic status. The genus is redescriptionbed; a key is given to three species-­groups and ten species; the following new species are descriptionbed: V. sylphe, V. londti, V. sathon, V. munroi. Notes are given on adult phenology and the biology of the larval stages; the larvae make pitfall­traps in sheltered, mesic sites, and are opportunistic predators of small arthropods. The biogeography of Vermipardus is examined in terms of area cladograms derived from taxon cladograms for the intermedius and brevirostris species-groups, and against the background of geomorphological evolution of the Great Escarpment and the eastern slopes between the Drakensberg Mountains and the sea. The existence of a previously undetected endemicity centre involving northern Lesotho + Mont-aux-Sources is reported.