Claraeola conjuncta ( Collin, 1949 ) Kehlmaier, 2005

Kehlmaier, Christian, 2005, Taxonomic studies on Palaearctic and Oriental Eudorylini (Diptera: Pipunculidae), with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 1030 (1), pp. 1-48 : 9-13

Claraeola conjuncta ( Collin, 1949) comb. nov. ( Figs 3a–l )

Eudorylas conjunctus Collin, 1949: 191 .

Material studied

Egypt 1♀ (holotype), Helwan , XI.1944, leg. R.L. Coe, coll. NHM ; Algeria 1♀, Zentral­Algerien , Hassi Babah, 11–20.X.1929, leg. Zerny, coll. NHMW ; Israel 1♂, Palestine , Gwulot, 21.X.1954, leg. O. Theodor, coll. TAU ; 1♀, 29.X.1984, West Negev , En HaMe’ara, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♂, Ein Mur , 30.X.1984, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♀, Eim Feshkha , 22.XI.1986, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♂, Ein Gedi , 20.I.1976, leg. Kugler, coll. TAU .

Redescription

Male

Body length. 3.5–3.6mm.

Head. Face dark, silver­grey pollinose. Scape dark, without upper bristle. Pedicel dark, with three or four dark upper and one or two long and one shorter lower bristle. Flagellum dark with pale tip, pointed to short tapering (LF:WF=2.4–2.7) and grey pollinose. Arista dark, flattened, with thickened base. Eyes meeting for 12 to 14 times diameter of ocellus. F:EM:V=1:0.8–0.9:0.8. Frons dark, silver­grey pollinose. Vertex dark, lacking pollinosity, bearing an elevated slightly isosceles ocellar triangle. Occiput dark, entirely grey pollinose.

Thorax. Pleura dark, grey pollinose. Postpronotal lobe pale, grey pollinose, and with three to four postpronotal hairs along upper margin (up to 0.05mm). Prescutum and scutum dark, predominantly grey pollinose, only dorsocentrally with some brown pollinosity to various extend, with two uniseriate dorsocentral rows of white hairs and some supra­alar hairs. Scutellum dark, grey pollinose, with a fringe of 14 short hairs (0.06mm).

Wing. Length: 3.3–3.5mm. LW:MWW=2.9. Wing with reduced microtrichia in small basal cells, e.g. bc, basal quarter to third of c, br, bm, cup and anal lobe, beginning of r 1 and somewhat in the middle of cell sc. Pterostigma dark and complete (LS:LTC=1.0). LTC:LFC=1.2–1.7. r­m reaches dm between basal third and half of the cell’s length. M 1 slightly bent.

Halter . Length: 0.4mm. Base darkened, stem and knob pale.

Legs. Coxae dark, grey pollinose, with pale anteroapical margin. Mid coxa with one dark anterior bristle on inner apical corner. Trochanters dark, partly weakly grey pollinose. Femora dark with pale apex, weakly grey pollinose except hind femur shining posteroventrally and front and mid femora shining ventrally in basal half. Femora stronger than in most species of Eudorylini and with a posterodorsal row of pale longer hairs (up to 0.08mm). All femora with two ventral rows of dark, peg­like spines in apical half, very long on hind femur (see Fig. 3f ). Tibiae with at least basal third and apex pale, otherwise darkened, weakly grey pollinose. Front and mid tibiae without distal spines. Hind tibia with a wrinkled indentation midanteriorly bearing two or three distinctly stronger bristles. Tarsi pale, with distitarsi darkened, grey pollinose. Pulvilli slightly shorter than distitarsi.

Abdomen. Ground colour dark. Tergite 1 with three to four dark lateral bristles. Tergite 1 entirely grey pollinose. Tergite 2 to 5 laterally grey pollinose, extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin and (largely) meeting (especially on tergite 5), otherwise brown pollinose. Tergite 5 slightly asymmetrical (T5R:T5L=1.1). Sternite 1 to 7 dark, grey pollinose. LT35:WS8=1.8. Syntergosternite 8 dark, weakly greyish pollinose, viewed laterally higher than long (LS8:HS8=0.8). Viewed dorsally, syntergosternite 8 without a dorsal depression on side of outer surstylus. Viewed caudally, membranous area of medium size, somewhat ovate, slightly higher than wide, placed to the lower right and ventro­caudally directed ( Fig. 3e ).

Genitalia.

Genital capsule dorsal view: Epandrium somewhat pale, greyish pollinose and wider than long (MLE:MWE=0.8–0.9). Surstyli somewhat pale, greyish pollinose, symmetrical, slightly bow­shaped ( Fig. 3j ).

Genital capsule ventral view: Gonopods equal, rather large, each with six to seven strong bristles on inner side ( Fig. 3a ). Phallus with a strong and straight base and with three broad and slightly bent ejaculatory ducts, two of them bearing two to three saw­like teeth along their side ( Fig. 3c ). Phallic guide short but broad, especially at apex ( Fig. 3a ).

Genital capsule lateral view: Epandrium without projecting lobe on either side. Surstyli broadened apically ( Figs 3k–l ). Phallic guide straight, with a distinct hook at apex ( Fig. 3b ).

Ejaculatory apodeme nail­shaped with a bulbous middle ( Fig. 3d ).

Female

Differing from the male in the following points:

Body length. 3.2–3.5mm.

Head. Scape dark, with one dark upper bristle. Flagellum with at least apical half pale and darkened base, tapering (LF:WF=2.9–3.0) and grey pollinose ( Fig. 3g ). Front facets enlarged (0.05mm). Frons black, widened in middle (MWF:WFA=1.2–1.3) and silver­grey pollinose, however in upper half only weakly so along lateral margins, occasionally completely shining prior to ocellar triangle, with a median keel lacking pollinosity, ending in a tubercle shortly before antenna. Ocellar triangle equilateral.

Thorax. Prescutum and scutum can be entirely grey pollinose.

Wing. Length: 3.2–3.4mm. LW:MWW=2.8–3.0. Wing with greatly reduced microtrichia in small basal cells, e.g. bc, basal two thirds of c, br, bm, basal half of cup, the beginning of r 1, r 2+3, anal lobe and the middle part of cell sc. LS:LTC=1.0. LTC:LFC=1.1–1.3. r­m reaches dm shortly before half of the cells length.

Legs. Femora slightly thicker than in male. Hind femur as in Fig. 3f . Hind tibia with one midanterior bristle. Pulvilli of fore and mid legs distinctly longer, of hind legs slightly shorter than distitarsi.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 with four to six dark lateral bristles. Tergite 1, 2 and 6 entirely grey pollinose or almost so. Tergite 3 to 5 laterally grey pollinose, extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin and (largely) meeting, otherwise brown pollinose. Tergite 5 almost same length than tergite 4. Tergite 6 longest. LT35:WT5=0.8. WT5:LT5=3.2–3.7.

Ovipositor. Base dark, weakly grey pollinose in basal half, otherwise shining. Viewed dorsally ( Fig. 3i ), base weakly cone shaped, almost twice as long as wide. Suture between tergite 7 and 8 visible as a furrow. Anal opening ovate. Proximal part of piercer narrowly dark at base otherwise pale and shining. Distal part pale, shining and narrow. Viewed laterally ( Fig. 3h ), piercer rather high and strongly curved towards sternites, reaching anterior margin of sternite 4. LP:LB=1.5–1.6. LDP:LPP=2.3–2.5.

Discussion

Due to the shape of the inner male genitalia, E. conjunctus is hereby transferred to the genus Claraeola ( Cla. conjuncta ( Collin, 1949) comb. nov.). Cla. conjuncta is closely allied to the Western Palaearctic Cla. clavata (Becker, 1897) and the Oriental Cla. discors ( Hardy, 1966) , with which it forms the clavata species group. Apart from the structure of the male genitalia (phallic guide, gonopods, surstyli) and the female ovipositor, Cla. conjuncta can be characterized in both sexes by its extensively white pollinosity on thorax and abdomen, large ventral spines on hind femur, and by the basal half of front and mid femora which is shining ventrally.

The specimens from Israel were previously published as Eudorylas pannonicus by De Meyer (1995). Cla. conjuncta is currently known from Algeria, Egypt and Israel.

Claraeola discors ( Hardy, 1966) comb. nov. ( Figs 4a–h & Fig. 5a )

Pipunculus (Eudorylas) discors Hardy, 1966: 440 .

Material studied

Nepal 1♂ (holotype), Tumlingtar, bare rock slopes above R. Sabhaya, west bank, c 1900ft, 8.–24. XII .1961, leg. R.L. Coe, coll. NHM .

Discussion

Hardy (1966) presents a fine description of P. (E.) discors and figures its antenna and tip of abdomen, the latter in dorsal and lateral view. The male holotype and so far only specimen known was dissected and the genitalia are illustrated in detail in Figs 4a–h . The species is hereby transferred to the genus Claraeola ( Cla. discors ( Hardy, 1966) comb. nov.). Cla. discors is related to Cla. conjuncta but stands very close to Cla. clavata , recently redescribed by Kehlmaier (2005), from which it differs by a generally smaller size (body length: 3.3mm; wing length: 3.5mm), slightly different shaped surstyli (tips less overlapping as in Fig. 4f ) and phallic guide (somewhat shorter in lateral view) ( Fig. 4b ), a slightly larger LTC:LFC­ratio (1.8) and an only weakly undulating vein M 1 ( Fig. 5a ). With more material at hand, the two species might even prove to be synonymous in the future.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Claraeola conjuncta (Collin, 1949). (a) Phallic guide, gonopods and hypandrium ventral view. (b) Phallic guide lateral view. (c) Phallus ventral view. (d) Ejaculatory apodeme. (e) Syntergosternite 8 caudal view. (f) Left hind femur of female posterior view. (g) Female antenna lateral view. (h) Ovipositor lateral view. (i) Ovipositor dorsal view. (j) Surstyli strictly dorsal view. (k) Outer surstylus lateral view. (l) Inner surstylus lateral view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Claraeola discors (Hardy, 1966). (a) Phallic guide and gonopods ventral view. (b) Phallic guide lateral view. (c) Phallus ventral view. (d) Syntergosternite 8 caudal view. (e) Ejaculatory apodeme. (f) Surstyli strictly dorsal view. (g) Outer surstylus lateral view. (h) Inner surstylus lateral view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 5. (a) Left wing of Claraeola discors (Hardy, 1966) posterior view. (b) Left wing of Claraeola clavata (Becker, 1897) posterior view.