Citrogramma currani, 2012

Mengual, Ximo, 2012, The flower fly genus Citrogramma Vockeroth (Diptera: Syrphidae): illustrated revision with descriptions of new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 164 (1), pp. 99-172 : 137-138

CITROGRAMMA CURRANI GHORPADÉ SP. NOV.

Citrogramma sp. D of Wyatt, 1991: 167. Wyatt, 1991: 158, 167.

Citrogramma variscutatum of Curran, 1928 (in part).

Description

The description of C. currani as well as the diagnosis and the etymology are written by K. Ghorpadé following my style and using my wording, and adapted to fit in this work. The studied material and remarks are written by me.

Male: Head: Face with facial tubercle, entirely yellow, yellow pilose; gena yellow, yellow pilose; lunule yellow; frontal triangle yellow, black pilose; vertical triangle black, black pilose, golden pollinose ( Fig. 95 ); antenna orangish brown; basoflagellomere orangish, dark dorsally; occiput black, silver pollinose, entirely yellow pilose.

Thorax: Scutum black with dorsomedial grey pollinose area, with sublateral matte black vitta and lateral yellow vitta, mainly yellow pilose with scattered black hairs; notopleuron yellow pilose, densely yellow pilose on lateral notopleuron and supra-alar area; postpronotum yellow; notopleuron yellow continuing until scutellum, with postalar callus entirely yellow with black hairs; scutellum yellow with dorsomedial broad sharpened triangular black macula, black pilose, subscutellar fringe complete with black hairs. Pleuron mostly yellow, except posterior anepisternum black on anterior half,

katepisternum black with dorsal yellow macula, anepimeron black with dorsomedial section yellow, meron black, katatergum black posteriorly, yellow pilose; metasternum pilose; calypter yellow basally and much blackened distally with long black hairs on margin; plumula yellow; halter yellow; spiracular fringes yellow.

Wing: Wing membrane hyaline, entirely microtrichose. Alula microtrichose, broad, broader than cell BM.

Legs: Coxa and trochanter orangish brown, black and yellow pilose; pro- and mesofemur yellow; pro- and mesotibia yellow; metafemur yellow on basal half to three fifths, black on distal half to two fifths; metafemur black; tarsi black.

Abdomen: Figure 101 . Parallel-sided; terga 3, 4, and 5 slightly margined. Dorsum mainly black, black pilose dorsally and laterally except tergum 1 yellow pilose and tergum 2 yellow pilose laterally on anterobasal half; tergum 1 black, yellowish laterally; tergum 2 black with two mesolateral yellow maculae, laterally extended forward to anterolateral tergal margin and broadened mesomedially, yellow lateral margin on anterior half; terga 3 and 4 black with broad, about half of tergum length, laterally and medially narrowed yellow fascia with anterobasal narrow black fascia; tergum 5 black with yellow fascia strongly narrowed medially; sterna mainly yellow, sterna 2–4 black on posterior half, yellow and black pilose; male genitalia as in Figures 127 and 130 .

Female: Similar to male except: frons yellow with medial triangular black macula towards ocellar triangle reaching or not reaching posterior black area, with black lateral margin on posterior half and small black fascia anterior to ocellar triangle ( Fig. 97 ); lunule dark; anterior anepimeron black only on dorsal two thirds and posterior anepimeron black on posterior half, leaving basal anepimeron yellow; abdominal fasciae narrower, about one third of tergum length, with margins almost parallel to tergal edge and pointed anteriorly on medial anterior margin ( Fig. 102 ).

Variation: Some specimens have black areas on pleuron with grey pollinosity, not visible in the holotype specimen. There are two male specimens with metafemur darker basally probably because of drying or storage conditions and the basal yellow half of the metafemur is not well distinguished. The two male specimens from Vietnam have the scutellar black macula slightly diffused, but clear. Females have scutum with a dorsal bluish metallic area and two dark vittae, not distinct .

Length (N = 5): Body, 10.0–10.8 (10.4) mm; wing, 9.0– 9.9 (9.5) mm.

Geographical distribution: India, Thailand, Hainan, Vietnam.

Etymology: The specific epithet refers to Charles Howard Curran (1894–1972), a Canadian entomologist and dipterist specialist who contributed extensively to descriptive dipterology, naming 2648 true fly species (see Arnaud & Owen, 1981). The species epithet to be treated as a masculine patronym.

Differential diagnosis: Species with face yellow, posterior anepisternum partly black, scutellum yellow with a triangular black macula, pro- and mesofemur yellow, and metafemur basally yellow. Species very similar to Citrogramma wyatti Mengual sp. nov., but without black macula on genal groove ( Fig. 99 ). Females of C. currani have frons yellow and a black macula medially, and lunule dark ( Fig. 97 ).

Remarks: Wyatt (1991) mentioned this taxon as Citrogramma sp. D based on a single female from Thailand, originally identified as C. variscutatum by Curran (1928), with metafemur partly yellow as the diagnostic character. Two other females from India (in Arunachal Pradesh state, close to Myanmar) that key out to Citrogramma sp. D were found in the USNM collection. The two females from India were identical to the female from Thailand. At the beginning, I thought that these three females could be variants of C. wyatti , but there are some important diagnostic characters of that species that are not present: black macula on genal groove, coloration of frons and lunule. As they were all females, I decided to not describe and name them formally. Later, Ghorpadé sent me the description and the type material of his new species from Thailand, C. currani , based only on male specimens. Soon I realised that these were the same species. The only confusion about C. currani is a couple of males with darker metafemur that might key to C. gedehanum . Both species have very similar overall morphological characters, especially abdominal patterns.

Holotype male deposited in the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen (København [= Copenhagen], Denmark) and labelled: ‘ THAILAND: Chieng Mai Province/Doi Suthep, summit/ 1600 m 27.ix.1981 / Zool. Museum Copenhagen leg.’ ‘UZM’ ‘ HOLOTYPE / Citrogramma / currani /Ghorpadé, 2010/HOLOTYPE’ [pink].

Type locality: Thailand: Chiang Mai Province, Doi Suthep , 1676 m, 18°48′46′′N, 98°53′37′′E .

Material examined: Type material. Holotype, as above. Paratypes. THAILAND: Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep , 1600 m, 27.ix.1981, Zool. Museum Copenhagen [6♂, ZMUC]; Chiang Mai, 26.x.1920, F.4567 acc:22628 [4♂, AMNH] .

Nontype material. THAILAND: Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Khao Luang , 2000 ft, 29.iii.1922, H.M. Pendlebury ‘ Paralectotype Citrogramma variscutatum’ [1♀, BMNH]; CHINA: Hainan, Ledong County, jianfengling, 16.xi.2006, Ke–Ke Huo [3♂, SBSC] (Huo, unpubl. data); INDIA: Arunachal Pradesh, Tirap District , Hornbill Camp , 2000 ft, 8.xii.1981, M.L. Ripley [1♀, USNM];..., 14.xii.1981,... [1♀, USNM]; Vietnam : Cao Bang Prov. , Pia-Oac Mt Road , 1422 m, 22°33.972′N 105°52.238′ E, 24.v-5.vi.2011, Castanopsis flowers, S Lingafelter, E. Jendek, E. Vives, P. Hong Thai [1♂, USNM];..., general daytime collecting,... [1♂, USNM] .

Figures

Figures 88–99. 88–89, Citrogramma citrinum: 88, lateral view of male head and pleuron; 89, dorsal view of female abdomen. 90, Citrogramma citrinoides, dorsal view of male abdomen. 91–92, Citrogramma henryi: 91, dorsal view of male abdomen; 92, dorsal view of female abdomen. 93, Citrogramma variscutatum, dorsal view of male abdomen. 94, C. citrinoides, frontal view of male head. 95, Citrogramma currani, dorsal view of male head. 96, C. variscutatum, lateral view of male head. 97, C. currani, anterodorsal view of female head. 98, C. henryi, lateral view of male head. 99, C. currani, lateral view of female head.

Figures 100–111. 100, Citrogramma variscutatum, dorsal view of female abdomen. 101–102, Citrogramma currani: 101, dorsal view of male abdomen; 102, dorsal view of female abdomen. 103–106, Citrogramma wyatti: 103, dorsal view of male abdomen; 104, dorsal view of female abdomen; 105, anterodorsal view of male head; 106, dorsal view of female head. 107, Citrogramma fascipleurum, anterodorsal view of female head. 108–109, Citrogramma difficile: 108, frontal view of male head; 109, dorsal view of female head. 110, C. fascipleurum, lateral view of female pleuron and head. 111, C. difficile, dorsal view of head, scutum and scutellum.

Figures 122–130. 122–123, Citrogramma frederici: 122, frontal view of female head; 123, dorsal view of female abdomen. 124–126, Citrogramma notiale species group: 124, lateral view of puparium; 125, dorsal view of puparium; 126, posterior view of posterior breathing tube and spiracular openings (detail). 127, Citrogramma citrinum, left lateral view of male genitalia. 128–129, Citrogramma henryi: 128, left lateral view of male genitalia; 129, tergum 9 and surstyli, dorsal view. 130, C. henryi (from Vockeroth, 1969 as C. citrinum): a, left lateral view; b, superior lobe, lateral, outline only; c, sternum 9, superior lobes and aedeagal base, ventral view.