Styringomyia edwardsorum THEISCHINGER & BILLINGHAM, 2018

Theischinger, Günther, D, Zacariah & Martin, John, 2018, The genus Styringomyia LOEW in Australia (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Limoniidae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (2), pp. 1587-1633 : 1593-1594

Styringomyia edwardsorum THEISCHINGER & BILLINGHAM nov.sp. ( Figs 23-25 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l. Holotype ♂: Australia, Northern Territory, Cobourg Peninsula Swamp at Black Point, 11°09’S / 132°10’E, 8-viii-1996, I. Edwards (AM). Paratypes: 1♀, same data as holotype (AM).

D e s c r i p t i o n (the unique specimens are preserved in ethanol, therefore much discoloured/bleached which is reflected in the overall description)

Male ( Figs 23, 24 )

Head. Including rostrum, palps and antennae pale yellowish brown.

Thorax. Pale yellowish brown, including coxae and trochanters, other leg segments missing.

Wings. Infumed very pale yellowish brown; darkening on crossveins r-m detectable.

Abdomen. Pale yellowish brown.

Hypopygium. Tergite 9/10 very long, truncate with apical corners well rounded. Sternite 9 with apical half approximately parallel sided, ending in two very short digitate lobes separated by rather shallow V-shaped notch and each with apical seta. Gonocoxites subconical apparently with very large rounded mesal lobe making them look almost bilobed and with moderately stout and long, distinctly curved apical seta. Gonostyli, largely obscured dorsally by tergite 9/10 and ventrally by the large mesal lobe of the gonocoxites, and apparently made up of several elements, one looking flat, one more mesal, looking thumb-like, and two more lateral, one of them with three stout curved spines, and one including a longer slimmer curved spine and kind of a comb of slim shorter spines. What can be detected in ventral view of the aedeagus, is widening toward a truncate apex and shows three small, distinctly darkened areas.

Dimensions. Wing length ca 4.5 mm.

Female ( Fig. 25 )

Head. Much as in male.

Thorax. Much as in male, but hindlegs complete. Darkening (indicating incomplete ring) at about midlength of metafemora and apex of metatibiae detectable.

Abdomen. Much as in male

Terminalia. Cerci reaching backward somewhat beyond the slightly pointed tips of the almost straight hypogynial valves.

Dimensions. Wing length ca 4.0 mm.

D i s t r i b u t i o n. Northern; known only from Northern Territory ( Map 1 ).

E t y m o l o g y This species is named for I. Edwards (gender and affiliation unknown) who collected the unique male and female of this species and to the wellknown British entomologist F.W. Edwards (1888-1940) in recognition of his pioneering work on Styringomyia .

D i s c u s s i o n. Even though only dated material in ethanol of Styringomyia edwardsorum nov.sp. is available, making its affinities difficult to assess, it is included in the S. bancrofti group. The large tergite 9/10 and the large mesal lobe of the gonocoxites, both obscuring much of the gonostyli, make the male clearly stand out from the other species of the group.

Figures

Map 1: Distribution of the species of the Styringomyia bancrofti group: S. bancrofti, S. baroalba, S. collessi, S. remex, S. edwardsorum.

Figs 23-25: Styringomyia edwardsorum nov.sp., terminalia: (23, 24) male: (23) ventral; (24) dorsal; (25) female, lateral.