''Ulurumyia macalpinei'' is a species of fly in the superfamily
Oestroidea
Oestroidea is a superfamily of Calyptratae including the blow flies, bot flies, flesh flies, and their relatives. It occurs worldwide and has about 15,000 described species.
The superfamily includes the families:
*Calliphoridae
*Mesembrinellidae ...
endemic to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It was first discovered in the 1970s, but was not described until 2017, and in the intervening decades was informally known to
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
s as McAlpine's fly. It is said to be clearly distinct from other oestroid families but its exact position within the superfamily has not been determined with certainty.
The genus name ''Ulurumyia'' is derived from
Uluru
Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...
, also known as Ayers Rock, Australia, and ''myia'', the Greek word for fly; the species name ''macalpinei'' commemorates the Australian
dipterist
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...
David K. McAlpine, the first person to collect specimens of this fly and realize their evolutionary distinctiveness.
References
Monotypic Diptera genera
Oestroidea
Diptera of Australasia
{{Oestroidea-stub