Recent discoveries in the Blepharicera tenuipes group, including descriptions of two new species from Appalachia (Diptera: Blephariceridae)

Two new species of Blepharicera (B. appalachiae and coweetae) are described in the Blepharicera tenuipes group. Both occur in the southern half of the Appalachian Mountains in eastern North America, the former of wide distribution, the latter restricted to a small portion of the upper Little Tennessee drainage. A key to all the known stages in the B. tenuipes group is provided along with new information on ecology, distribution, and phytogeny (for which the sister Blepharicera micheneri group is newly recognized).