Silba namibia

The combination of partly yellow tarsomeres, tall epandrium
and cerci and surstyli with teeth exposed on the margin show that S.namibia belongs to the
group of species which includes S. admirabilis McAlpine,1956, S. apodesma McAlpine,
1960 and S. pappi, Soós 1977. Within the African species of Silba this species is comparable
at present only to S. apodesma. S. namibia is similar in many respects to S. apodesma
sharing the yellow basal tarsomeres and the broad female ovipositor. It clearly differs,
however, in characters of the male genitalia, in particular the aedeagus.
S. namibia differs from the closely related S. apodesma by the following character
states: the orbital plate bears only the orbital bristle with no additional hair or hairs being
present, the lunule and face have a silvery tomentum, in S. apodesma the lunule is orangebrown,
in S. namibia sp. nov. the length of the plumosity on the arista is approximately
equal to the depth of the first flagellomere, whilst in S. apodesma the length is approximately
only three quarters the depth of the first flagellomere.