Conicera forcipis, Liu, 2023

Liu, Guang-Chun, 2023, Revision of the genus Conicera Meigen (Diptera, Phoridae) from China, Zootaxa 5380 (5), pp. 401-445 : 409-410

7. Conicera forcipis sp. nov. ( Figs. 7A–E )

Description. Male. Body ( Fig. 7A ) length 1.65 mm. Frons yellowish brown. Supra-antennal setae present. Lower fronto-orbital setae absent. Lower interfrontal setae slightly shorter than upper interfrontal setae and the distance between each other slightly shorter than that between upper interfrontal setae. First flagellomere brown, 0.16 mm long, with an aspect ratio of 1.86:1; arista 0.41 mm long, 2.56 times as long as that of first flagellomere. Palpus light brown, slender, with short setae apically.

Thorax dark brown. Fore and mid legs yellowish brown, hind leg brown. Fore tibia with 10 small near-dorsal setulae, the uppermost being longer than the rest. Fore tarsus with posterodorsal setal palisade on all five tarsomeres. Mid femur without sense-organ. Wing length 1.34 mm. Costal index 0.40, costal ratio 1.48:1, costal setulae length 0.03 mm. Second part of costa with 6 dorsal setulae. Vein Rs without basisetula. Veins brown, except A 1 +CuA 2 whitish gray. Membrane light grayish brown. Halter brown.

Abdominal tergites dark brown. Terminalia ( Figs. 7B–C ) brown. Left and right surstyli very different. Left surstylus ( Figs. 7B, D ) large, oval, with about 50 inner teeth. Right surstylus ( Figs. 7C, E ) split into forks, the upper branch large, rectangular, with 30 inner teeth, the lower branch small, triangular, with 16 inner teeth.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word forcipis (clamp), indicating characters of right surstylus.

Specimens examined. Holotype, ♂, Hainan, Mt. Diaoluo , 24-May-2004, Guangchun Liu.

Distribution. China (Hainan).

Remarks. The characters of right surstylus of the new species can be easily distinguished from the Palearctic and Oriental species. It is a little similar to C. slayi Disney, 2010 , from Nearctic Region, and C. megalodus Schmitz, 1927 and C. seticerca Borgmeier, 1969 from Neotropical Region in terms of the characters of right surstylus. The new species is distinguished from them by greater number of inner teeth on left and right surstyli and elliptical left surstylus.

Figures

FIGURES 7A–E. C. forcipis sp. nov., male. A. body, left view; B–C, terminalia; B. left view; C. right view; D. left surstylus; E. right surstylus. Scale bars: A = 0.5 mm; B–E = 0.1 mm.