Pedrowygomyia

Pedrowygomyia is a genus of neotropical simuliid flies erected in 1998 from the Gigantodax cortesi species group of the 1925 genus Gigantodax after a cladistics analysis of the species groups recognized in the genus indicated that it was paraphyletic.[1][2] The genus was named in recognition of the contributions to science of entomologist Petr Wolfgang Wygodzinsky. Pedrowygomyia originally comprised four species, P. cortesi, P. jatunchuspi, P. punapi and P. chacabamba,[1] all described in 1989 from high-elevation (above 3,000 m) areas in the Andean region.[2] In 2020, a new species, P. hanaq, was described from the south-central Andes of Peru at an altitude above 4,000 m.[2] Based on the pupal stage, the new species appears to be most closely related to P. punapi, a species known from Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.[2]