Empis Shamshev, 2020, s. str.

Key to species of Empis s. str. of Egypt, Israel and Syria 1 Male ............................................................................................... 2 - Female (unknown for E. insulata, E. nigropilosa, E. cilicauda, E. leucotricha and E. curticornis)..................... 16 2 Vein M 1 incomplete. Fore and mid legs with tarsomeres 1–3 greatly dilated (especially those of fore tarsus) and densely clothed with numerous very long setae dorsally..................................................... E. mirifica (Collin) - Vein M 1 complete. Fore tarsus with only tarsomere 1 sometimes slightly thickened, mid tarsus with slender tarsomeres; covered with short setae....................................................................................... 3 3 Halter blackish to dark brownish, sometimes stem somewhat paler.............................................. 4 - Halter yellow (rarely yellowish brown, E. inopinata, or stem somewhat darker).................................... 9 4 Abdomen covered with pale setae........................................................................ 5 - Abdomen covered with black setae....................................................................... 6 5 Body with only pale setae; terminalia—Collin (1960: 407, fig. 7)............................... E. leucotricha Collin - Mesonotum with black setae; terminalia—Collin (1960: 408, fig. 8a)............................ E. curticornis Collin 6 Scutellum with 2 setae; cercus deeply cleft into two lobes (E. chioptera - type): Collin (1960: 406, fig. 6) [Additional characters: fore basitarsus thickened, wings milky-white, epandrium with long dense setae at apex and below]..... E. cilicauda Collin - Scutellum with 4–6 setae; cercus unilobate................................................................. 7 7 Acrostichal setae arranged in four irregular rows; hind tibia with posteroapical comb; terminalia as in Fig. 11................................................................................................ E. nigropilosa Collin - Acrostichal setae biserial; hind tibia without posteroapical comb................................................ 8 8 Wing slightly whitish; phallus long, well exposed; hypandrium short, only slightly extending beyond margin of sternite 8 (Collin 1960: 403, fig. 4)............................................................... E. palaestinensis (Engel) - Wing distinctly brownish; phallus short, hidden; hypandrium very long, its apex extending almost to apex of cercus (Collin 1960: 404, fig. 5)........................................................................ E. occlusa Collin 9 Abdomen and laterotergite with black setae; hypandrium pilose ventrally (Collin 1960: 409, fig. 9)........ E. pexata Collin - Abdomen and laterotergite with pale setae (abdominal tergites sometimes with scattered black setae dorsally and laterotergite with additional dark setae); hypandrium bare.............................................................. 10 Published as part of Shamshev, Igor V., 2020, Empis s. str. (Diptera: Empididae) from Egypt, Israel and Syria: notes on some species described by J. E. Collin and a key to species, pp. 266-274 in Zootaxa 4743 (2) on page 272, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4743.2.9, zenodo.org