The New Zealand genus <i>Tetrachaetus</i> (Diptera: Dolichopodidae): synonymisation of <i>Tetrachaetus bipunctatus</i> and <i>T. simplex</i>

The New Zealand genus Tetrachaetus Bickel & Dyte, 1989 (Dolichopodidae: Sympycninae), is a fairly common long-legged fly lineage often found in riparian habitats. As first described by Parent (1933), the genus included two species, Tetrachaetus bipunctatus and T. simplex. The species are similar and attempts by modern specialists to differentiate them have been unsuccessful. Here a large number of specimens from major New Zealand collections were reexamined and the genus is revised. Based on morphometric, phenotypic, chaetotaxic and genetic evidence the two putative species are in fact conspecific, and are here formally synonymised under Tetrachaetus bipunctatus Parent (1933).https://www.zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/6AD20BE2-77D2-4D04-8295-1AAAC7F3F2FF