Ommatius coperitus, Scarbrough, 2010

Scarbrough, A. G., 2010, An overview of the Afrotropical Ommatiinae (Diptera: Asilidae) with a key to genera, Zootaxa 2540, pp. 1-47 : 25-26

Ommatius coperitus , n. sp.

Figs. 58–66

Description, male. Blackish. Body 7.6–10.7 mm; wing 5.3–6.0 mm. Head: Face yellowish-gray or gray tomentose with only scattered blackish bristles and setae, mystax sparse; FHWR 1.0:8.3. Proboscis whitish setose. Palpus, antenna, frons, and ocellar tubercle brown setose. Ocellar setae about as long as 3 antennal segments combined. Flagellum brown, scape and pedicel brownish-yellow, scape and pedicel together slightly longer than flagellum; FWLR 1.0:1.5–1.0:1.6. Frons brownish tomentose. Occiput yellowish-gray or gray tomentose with pale setae; 5–6 blackish postocular bristles with apex of longest bristle 1/2–2/3 distance toward ocellar tubercle.

Thorax: Black. Pronotum brown or brownish-yellow tomentose, vestiture white or yellowish. Mesonotum grayish tomentose, 2 narrow paramedial stripes and 2 small spots brown spots laterally; setae brown, sparse, most abundantly dorsally; 3 dorsocentral and 5 lateral bristles blackish. Scutellum brownish dorsally, narrowly grayish tomentose apically, setae scattered, blackish; 2 black marginal bristles. Pleuron yellowish- gray or gray tomentose, setae sparse, anepisternal, anepimeral and laterotergal bristles blackish; metacoxa brownish. Wing ( Fig. 58): Yellowish with brownish veins. Microtrichia from apex of wing to middle of cell r 4 and narrowly along posterior margin into anal cell. Cell r 4 sigmoid, base just beyond apex of cell d; R 4 joins costa at wing apex. Crossvein r-m at apical 1/3 of cell d, slightly shorter than CuA 1 +M 3. Cell m 1 wide beyond narrow base; M 1 moderately arched basally; m 1 WR 1.0:2.1:1.9. Legs: Coxae yellow to brownish-yellow; narrow base and apex darker brown; tomentum gray, vestiture brown or blackish, bristles brown; pro- and mesothoracic trochanters yellow, narrow apical margins black; metathoracic trochanter darker brown. Femora yellow with weak brown bristles; pro- and mesothoracic femora with anterdorsal 1/2 brownish-yellow, vestiture of prothoracic legs scattered and straight, none noticeably wavy, longest ventral bristle 1/4–1/3 as long as femur; metathoracic femur brownish-yellow on apical 1/2–2/3 dorsally; MFWLR 1.0:5.0–1.0:5.7. Tibiae yellow with only brownish vestiture, narrow apices of meso- and metathoracic tibiae brown; prothoracic tibia fringed laterally with sparse bristles and numerous moderately long setae, not forming a dense fringe. Tarsi mostly yellow, bristles brown; apical 2–3 tarsomeres mostly brownish-yellow; basal tarsomere of prothoracic tarsus without an obvious fringe of brownish setae laterally.

Abdomen: Brown, apical margins of most segments narrow yellowish; basal 5 segments with grayish tomentum grading to brownish apically, apical segments brown; tergite 2 medially and segments beyond mostly or entirely brown setose; tergites 1–4 laterally and sternites 1–6 entirely pale yellow setose; apical margin of tergites with bristles not especially thick or long. Terminalia ( Figs. 59–63): Reddish-brown, epandrium narrowly and gonopods entirely yellow, longer than segments 7–8 combined. Epandrium moderately wide apically, bladelike, pointed, slightly curved medially. Gonostylus with wide base and narrow curved apex. Hypandrium blackish setose.

Female. Body 9.5 mm; wing 7.3 mm; FWLR 1.0:2.0; FHWR 1.0:8.0; m 1 WR 1.0:2.7:2.7.1. Head: Dorsal postocular bristles long, apex of longest just before posterior margin of ocellar tubercle. Terminalia ( Figs. 64– 66): Sternite 8 with shallow transverse grooves, apical margin rounded, without obvious notch. Genital fork with base M-shaped. Spermatheca recurved, base large, oval, contrastingly narrow apically with slightly wider apices; spermathecal valves large, 2.5 times as long as wide.

Types. TANZANIA: Lake Man- / yara Nat'l Park Mto / Wa Mbu [3 o 20’S 35 o 39’E], 1386 m 27.xi.1969 / M.E. Irwin & / E.S. Ross (holotype ♂, CASC) . Paratypes, KENYA, Nairobi [1 o 16’S 36 o 48’E] Kenya / Inst. of Primate Res. / 11.x.95 / R. Copeland (1 ♀, USNM) ; Nguruman [1 o 43’S 36 o 32’E] Kenya / Acacia woodland / 29.x.96 / R. Copeland (1 ♂, NMKE) ; Nguruman Kenya / Acacia woodland / 5.xii.96 / R. Copeland (1 ♀, NMKE) ; Nguruman Kenya / Acacia woodland / 1 o 51’S 36 o 2’ E / 18 vi.1997, R.S. Copeland (1 ♀, USNM) .

Etymology. Latin coperitus for covering, refers to the expanded aedeagal sheath (epiphallus).

Distribution. Collected in woodlands in October through December from Kenya andTanzania.

Remarks. Ommatius coperitus is distinguished from congeners by the largely yellow femora, largely brown vestiture of the facial, thoracic, and legs, absence of a distinctive fringe on the prothoracic tibia, and the combined characters of the terminalia ( Figs. 59–66).