Thinophilus zhuae, Grootaert, Patrick, Tang, Chufei & Yang, Ding, 2015

Grootaert, Patrick, Tang, Chufei & Yang, Ding, 2015, New species of Thinophilus Wahlberg (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from mangroves in southern China (Shenzhen), Zootaxa 3956 (4), pp. 547-558 : 553-556

Thinophilus zhuae sp. nov.

( Figs 11–15 )

Diagnosis. Large species. Legs mainly yellow, but fore coxae with a black lateral streak at base; mid and hind coxae brown except apex; tip of hind femur and base of hind tibia with a faint brownish ring in male, blackish in female; tarsomere 5 of all legs dorsally black. Fore coxa with short, black bristles on apical half. Wing faintly brownish tinged, darker anteriorly between costa and R2+3 and R3+4; without spots. Fore femur ventrally widened with a double row of short, strong spine-like bristles; fore tibia with a ventral row of black spinules. Fore tarsomere 1 ventrally with a dense row of thick flattened spinules. Fore tarsomeres 4 and 5 flattened. Five dc lengthening towards scutellum. Antenna yellow, pedicel and postpedicel faintly browned dorsally. Cercus large, black, keelshaped with dense long black apical bristling.

Description. Male. Body length 13.4 mm; wing length 11.5 mm. Head. Frons and face with shiny dark metallic green ground colour. Face wide, twice as wide as width of postpedicel. Clypeus nearly half length of epistoma, slightly protruded. Proboscis dark brown. Postcranium shiny dark metallic green. Two long divergent ocellars; 2 convergent verticals, directed forward, shorter than ocellars; 2 very short postocellars; 2 postverticals, much stronger and longer than, and far below row of upper postoculars. Upper postoculars uniseriate, short, black; lower postoculars longer, white and multiseriate towards mouth margin. Antenna short, yellow; pedicel and postpedicel dorsally faintly brown. Postpedicel rounded ( Fig. 13 ), somewhat truncate at tip, slightly shorter than high. Arista dorsal, 3X as long as antenna, black, very shortly pubescent; basal aristal segment very short. Palpus large, yellow, bearing black bristly hairs. Thorax and scutellum shiny dark metallic green, with coppery and purple reflections. No dull black spots. Acr absent; 5 long dc lengthening towards scutellum, preceded by short bristle; fifth dc set-off outwards from row of dc. Scutellum with 2 marginals, without lateral hairs. About 15 pale upper propleural and 5 short, pale and 1 long yellow lower propleural bristles. Legs. Fore coxa yellow, with black lateral streak at base; mid and hind coxae dark brown but both yellow at apex. Legs yellow, only tarsomere 5 of all legs dorsally black. Tip of hind femur and base of hind tibia brownish leaving knee yellow. Fore leg. Coxa with short black bristles on apical half only. Fore femur widened, ventrally with double row of short black spine-like bristles in basal ¾, uniseriate on apical quarter; 3 strong preapical pv. Tibia with 3 strong ad; ventrally row of strong spinules over entire length. Tarsomere 1 ventrally with dense row of thick flattened spinules. Tarsomeres 4 and 5 flattened. Length of femur, tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 3.50: 3.75: 1.50: 1.75: 0.50: 0.50: 0.75. Mid leg. Coxa with long, black exterior bristle above middle and long black anterior bristles. Femur narrower than fore femur, ventrally flattened, on this flattened surface: anteriorly with double row of spinules, posteriorly with single row of minute bristles; short anterior bristle on apical fourth; 2 minute preapical av. Tibia about as long as femur; 3 strong ad, 2 dorsal and 2 long pv and crown of long apical bristles. Length of femur, tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 4.10: 4.50: 2.50: 0.75: 0.40: 0.40: 0.75. Hind leg. Coxa with long black exterior bristle near middle. Hind femur wider and much longer than mid femur; dorsoventrally curved; with 4 strong ad bristles; without ventral bristles. Tibia with 3 ad, 3 dorsal and crown of apical bristles. Length of femur, tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 4.75: 5.50: 1.00: 0.65: 0.60: 0.50: 0.90. Wing uniformly brownish tinged, without spots. Veins brown. Basal part of apical section of M1+2 slightly undulating; tip of R4+5 and M1+2 converging before reaching wing margin, then diverging. Tp straight, apical part of M3+4 twice length. Anal vein not reaching wing margin. Halteres, squamae and ciliation white. Abdomen shiny dark metallic green; Hairs and hind-marginal bristles on terga short, black. Sternites with longer and denser black bristles. Terminalia ( Figs 14–15 ) robust; epandrium blackish brown. Cerci keel-shaped, about as long as epandrium, black, very large and concealing surstyli; dorsally not fused; covered with long black hairs with somewhat curled tip; apical bristles longest. Dorsal surstylus quite short; tip ventrally flattened and set with row of long, flattened black bristles with several shorter spine-like bristles on side. Foramen at base of epandrium, completely ventral. Female. Body length 12.5 mm; wing length 11.5 mm. As long as male. Proboscis larger than in male. Tip of hind femur and base of hind tibia with black ring, leaving knee yellow. All tarsomeres browner than in male, hind tarsus entirely blackish brown.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE ♂: CHINA, Guangdong prov., Shenzhen, Dapeng Peninsula, Luzui, Yanzao Village, 5.ix.2014 (leg. Hui Dong; CAU). PARATYPES: 2 ♀, same data as holotype. 1 ♀, Longgang Yanba (114°51'E 22°65'N), 13.ix.2014, along creek in mangrove (reg. 34011, leg. P. Grootaert & I. Van de Velde); 2 ♀, same provenance (leg. Y. Zhu, Shanghai).

Etymology. The species is dedicated to Dr. Yajun Zhu (Shanghai) specialist in Chinese Thinophilus .

Discussion. Thinophilus zhuae sp. nov. is a large species. In the key of Yang et al. (2011) it runs to couplet 14, where there is a choice between the fore coxa bearing white bristles, or having a single black bristle among the white bristles. The new species has however only black bristles on the fore coxae, as in T. dongae sp. nov. described above and consequently separated easily from the species with white bristles on the fore coxae. The following modification of the key in Yang et al (2011) is proposed:

14 Fore coxa with black bristles only...................................................................... 14a - Fore coxa without black bristles or with a single black bristle among white bristles................................ 14b 14a Large species (> 10 mm) with thickened fore femur with short but strong ventral bristles; fore tibia with a row of ventral

spinules, tarsomere 1 with a row of densely set flattened spinules................................... T. zhuae sp. nov. - Small species (about 5–5.5 mm) with rather slender fore femur without ventral bristles; fore tibiae without a row of ventral

spinules, tarsomere 1 without strong spinules................................................. T. dongae sp. nov. 14b Fore coxae without black bristles....................................................................... 15 - Fore coxae with long white bristles and a single black bristle...................... T. nitens Grootaert & Meuffels, 2001

Figures

FIGURES 11 – 12. Thinophilus zhuae sp. nov. 11, male; 12, female.

FIGURES 13 – 15. Thinophilus zhuae sp. nov. male 13, male antenna; 14, hypopygium lateral view; 15, hypopygium dorsal view. Abbreviations: c: cercus; ds: dorsal surstylus. Scale bar = 0.45 mm.