Sixteen in one: white-belted Megaselia Rondani (Diptera: Phoridae) from the New World challenge species concepts

We review the species of Megaselia similar to M. sulphurizona Borgmeier. A close examination of M. sulphurizona indicates that its current concept includes at least 16 species, 15 of which- M. albizona, M. borealizona, M. colombizona, M. cryptizona, M. danizona, M. guanizona, M. marizona, M. nivizona, M. oklizona, M. paulizona, M. reductizona, M. solizona, M. tropizona, M. wendizona, and M. winnizona are described as new, based primarily on molecular data. The identity of the holotype of the species M. sulphurizona is clarified through wing vein morphometrics. Two of the new species, Megaselia albizona and M. cryptizona, are the 47th and 48th new species of phorid fly described from the BioSCAN project, an urban biodiversity study in Los Angeles, California, USA.