Coriophagus chaudhuri Hui, Mukherjee & Hazra., 2023

Hui, Poulami, Mukherjee, Bindarika & Hazra, Niladri, 2023, Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n. (Strepsiptera: Halictophagidae: Coriophaginae): a male strepsipteran from Jharkhand, India with a tentative phylogeny and world key to known males, Zootaxa 5346 (2), pp. 131-150 : 133-141

Coriophagus chaudhuri Hui, Mukherjee & Hazra. sp. n.

GenBank Accession Number of holotype. OQ282516

( Figs. 1A–B )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:77CAFACF-FDD9-4438-94AB-917FADD36A9A

Material examined. Holotype male, India, Jharkhand, Jamtara, Mihijam (23.84° N, 86.88° E), 26.XI.2022, open UV light trap, Coll. P. Hui. Paratype one male, data same as the holotype .

Diagnosis. The adult male is distinguished from the other species of the genus Coriophagus by the following characteristics: detached vein R 3 touching basally at the distal ¾ th of the vein R 4, and flattened, oval-shaped tarsomere I of the forelegs.

Etymology. The name “ chaudhuri ” is given to honour Dr. Prasanta Kumar Chaudhuri, former Professor, Department of Zoology, The University of Burdwan for his extensive contribution to the field of Indian Strepsiptera .

Description of adult male (n=2)

Total length (from tip of frons to caudal margin of sternite IX) 2.16. Length of metathorax 0.74, width of metathorax 0.30. Length of antenna 0.34.

Colour. Head light brown, eyes dark red, thorax deep brown, hind wing translucent with brown veins, legs brown, end of tarsomeres pale white, and abdomen light brown.

Head ( Figs. 2A–B ). Head wider than thorax, length 0.10–0.15, width 0.43–0.50. Eyes protruding with 14–16 dorsal and 10–13 ventral ommatidia. Interommatidial space conspicuously pubescent. Mouthparts ( Figs. 2C–D ). Mandibles 0.04–0.05 in length, strongly sclerotised, triangular with broad base and not crossing each other. Maxillae two-segmented, with base 0.04 long and palp 0.09–0.10 long, slender attached somewhat sub-apically to maxillary base and a little longer than twice length of base, covered with long hairs and numerous small sensory pits.

Antennae ( Figs. 2E–F ) with sparse short hairs, seven segmented, with flattened flabella on antennomeres III–VI; scapus (antennomere I) sub-inverted pyramidal; pedicellus (antennomere II) disc-shaped, smaller than half length of scapus; antennomeres III and IV with flabella of equal length; flabellum of antennomere V shortest, flabellum of VI slightly longer than that of V but shorter than those of III and IV, antennomere VII flattened, widened and almost equal in length to flabellate VI. Lengths of antennal segments as follows: antennomere I 0.05, II 0.02, III (with flabellum) 0.23, IV (with flabellum) 0.23, V (with flabellum) 0.18, VI (with flabellum) 0.18, and VII 0.16. Scapus and pedicellus without sensory pits. Antennomeres III–VII studded with numerous nearly equal sized sensory pits.

Thorax. Prothorax convex, narrower than interocular distance of 0.24–0.26. Mesothorax with bilobed anterior extensions of same width as that of prothorax, posterior part slightly expanded. Metathorax ( Figs. 3A–B ) larger than prothorax and mesothorax. Prescutum rhomboid in shape with straight anterior margin, 0.20–0.26 in length and 0.13–0.14 in width. Scutum 0.21 long, 0.07–0.08 wide, rectangular in shape with rounded edges. Scutellum pentagonal, 0.22–0.25 in length and 0.08–0.11 in width. Postlumbium narrow, 0.04 in length, 0.21 in width, little constricted at centre. Postnotum 0.34–0.36 mm long, ‘U’ shaped with rounded posterior margin.

Mesothoracic halteres ( Figs. 3C–D ). 0.31 long. Apical part globular with 0.10 width; basal part narrow, stalklike, 0.04 mm wide.

Hind wings ( Figs. 3C–D ). Wing span 1.00–1.07 from base to middle of radial sector and 1.08–1.15 from base to edge of subcostal margin. C+Sc 0.55 in length, united resulting an impression of a single deeply pigmented vein; R 1 0.48–0.55 long, unified with R 4 at base; area between Sc and R 1 pigmented, pigmentation darker from middle of Sc vein extending beyond apical portion of both Sc and R 1 to some distance along wing margin forming a lanceolateshaped patch. R 2 detached, 0.30–0.32 in length, thicker than other veins, apical half bent along anterolateral angle of wing margin; R 3 0.55 long, somewhat curved distally, basally touching R 4 at a point of 0.16–0.18 distance from apex of R 4; R 4 0.65–0.66 in length, basal 1/5th united with R 1 at base, with a small, darkly pigmented patch present at apical end which is in close proximity to R 5 than R 3; R 5 0.37 long arising near apex of R 4, adjacent to a point where R 3 touching R 4, extending to wing margin; MA and CuA almost equal in length, 0.69–0.72 and 0.71–0.73 respectively; CuP 0.46–0.49 in length, a little broader than MA and CuA being close to anal margin.

Legs. Forelegs ( Figs. 5A–B ) stout, coxa 0.20 long, trochantofemur 0.16–0.18 long, its inner margin bearing long hairs; tibia 0.13–0.14 long, tarsomere I 0.06 long, II and III 0.04 long each. Foretarsomere I enlarged, flattened and oval shaped. Midlegs ( Figs. 5C–D ). Coxa 0.19 long, trochantofemur 0.24, tibia 0.26–0.28; tarsomere I 0.07, II 0.09, III 0.07 long. Hindlegs ( Figs. 5E–F ). Trochanter 0.10, femur 0.25, tibia 0.30–0.32 long; tarsomere I 0.08, II 0.09 and III 0.09 long. Tarsomere II of all three legs inserted in middle of dorsal surface of tarsomere I; tarsomeres II and III of all legs paddle-shaped without claws.

Abdomen. Ten segmented and sclerotised. Sternite IX 0.15 long, elongated, narrowed distally and ventrally bent at tip to accommodate aedeagus. Sternite X ( Figs. 6A–B ) roughly triangular in shape with tapered tip.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 6C ). Aedeagus 0.09 long, swollen basally, tapered to evenly curved apical extremity with a terminal hook of 0.013 in length forming an almost right angle with stout shaft and without ventral prong.

Remarks. Coriophagus chaudhuri Hui, Mukherjee & Hazra. sp. n. belongs to the genus Coriophagus Kinzelbach of the subfamily Coriophaginae on account of the presence of robust head sclerites, distinct frontal and epistomal sutures, sclerotised mandibles, distal end of the foretibia spatulate and enlarged fore tarsomere I ( Kinzelbach 1971; Kathirithamby 1989, 1992). The maxillae of the proposed new species are similar to those of C. casui Cowley, 1984 and C. monteithi Kathirithamby, 1992 but differs from all the previously described species of Coriophagus in the detached vein R 3 touching the subapex of vein R 4. The structure of the metathorax of the species show similarities with several earlier described species: the prescutum with that of C. rieki Kinzelbach, 1971 and C. calcaneus Roy & Hazra, 2016 in shape, the scutum showing likeness of C. maai Kifune & Hirashima, 1989 , C. gressittorum Kifune & Hirashima, 1989 , C. rieki Kinzelbach, 1971 ; the similarity of scutellum with that of C. borneoensis Kathirithamby, 1993 , C. monteithi Kathirithamby, 1992 ; affinity of the postlumbium with that of C. latimanus Luna de Carvalho, 1972a and C. jennyae Kogan, 2012 ; postnotum resembling that of C. maai Kifune & Hirashima, 1989 and C. gressittorum Kifune & Hirashima, 1989 but other characters differ from the above species. The structure of aedeagus of Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n. draws affinity to C. zanzibarae ( Bohart, 1962) and C. rieki Kinzelbach, 1971 with the dorsal hook forming a right angle with the shaft of the aedeagus, while in C. zanzibarae and C. rieki , the dorsal hook is attached with the shaft of the aedeagus forming an acute angle. The above characters seem sufficient to consider the species as a new member of Coriophagus .

There is no COI sequence of any species of the genus Coriophagus Kinzelbach , at NCBI, except the Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n. So, any molecular phylogenetic analysis could not be made at present.

Female. Unknown.

Host. Unknown.

Figures

FIGURES 1A–B. Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n., ♁ adult. A, Dorsal view of habitus. B, Ventrolateral view of habitus.

FIGURES 2A–F. Coriophagus Chaudhuri sp. n., ♁ adult. A–B, Ventral side of the head with antennae and mouthparts. C–D, Mandible and maxilla. E–F, Antenna. (Scale bar: Figures A–F 0.2 mm).

FIGURES 3A–F. Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n., ♁ adult. A–B, Metathorax (dorsal view). C–D, mesothoracic haltere. (Scale bar: Figures A–B 0.5 mm; Figures C–D 0.2 mm).

FIGURES 5A–F. Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n., ♁ adult. A–B, Foreleg. C–D, Midleg. E–F, Hindleg. (Scale bar: Figures B, D & F 0.2 mm).

FIGURES 6 A–C. Coriophagus chaudhuri sp. n., ♁ adult. A–B, Terminalia (lateral view). C, Aedeagus. (Scale bar: Figures A–C 0.1 mm).