Platypalpus dalongtanus, Yang & Li, 2011

Yang, Ding & Li, Weihai, 2011, New Platypalpus Macquart from Hubei, China (Diptera, Empidoidea, Hybotidae, Tachydromiinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 118 (1), pp. 39-44 : 40-42

Platypalpus dalongtanus sp. n.

Figs 1-3

MATERIAL: Holotype ♂, CHINA, Hubei, Shennongjia, Dalongtan , 27. VI. 2009, leg. Qifei Liu ( CAU). – Paratypes, 2 ♂, same data as holotype ( CAU, MHNG) .

ETYMOLOGY: The specific name refers to the type locality.

DIAGNOSIS: Thorax yellow except mesonotum with a black mid-longitudinal stripe, scutellum and mediotergite black. 2 pairs of vt. Antenna dark yellow; first flagellomere short oval (1.2-1.3 times longer than wide); mid femur without true posteroventral bristles; mid tibia with a finger-like, obtuse apical spur ventrally which is about as long as diameter of apex of tibia. Hind femur with a row of 8 black tiny ventral black spines on apical half.

DESCRIPTION

Male: Body length 3.2-3.5 mm, wing length 3.8-4.3 mm.

Head black, gray microtrichose. Distance between eyes on frons slightly wider than diameter of anterior ocellus; face narrower than frons. Hairs and bristles on head pale. Ocellar tubercle with 1 pair of oc and 4 very short posterior hairs; 2 pairs of vt. Antenna dark yellow; scape without dorsal bristles; pedicel with a circle of pale apical hairs; first flagellomere short oval, 1.2-1.3 times as long as wide, with some apical hairs; arista very long, 3.4-3.5 times as long as first flagellomere, blackish, short pubescent. Clypeus dark brown, shining. Proboscis almost as long as height of head, brownish yellow with brown hairs; palpus dark yellow with 3 long pale bristles ventrally.

Thorax yellow, thinly gray microtrichose; mesonotum subshining, with a black mid-longitudinal stripe (its short posterior part narrowed and not reaching scutellum); scutellum and mediotergite black. Hairs on thorax pale, bristles brownish yellow; 1 short hair-like h curved inwards, 2 npl (anterior npl short and hair-like), acr short, indistinctly 4-seriate, 1 long psa (nearly as long as posterior npl), 1 short presc (distinctly shorter than psa), scutellum with 2 pairs of sc (basal pair very short, one third as long as apical pair).

Legs yellow, but tarsomere 5 of all legs brown. Hairs on legs pale. Fore femur weakly and mid femur distinctly thickened, fore femur 1.1 times and mid femur 1.7- 1.8 times as wide as hind femur; mid femur with two rows of short black ventral bristles (av very short, pv slightly longer than av, those on basal 1/4 distinctly longer and paler, more brownish yellow), without row of true pv; mid tibia with a row of blackish ventral bristles and a finger-like, obtuse apical spur which is about as long as apical diameter of the tibia. Hind femur with a row of 8 black tiny ventral spines on apical half.

Wing hyaline; veins brownish yellow, R 4+5 and M parallel apically; basal cells equal, crossveins contiguous. Squama yellow with pale hairs. Halter yellow.

Abdomen yellow except tergites 1-6 brown or blackish, pale gray microtrichose; hypopygium black. Hairs on abdomen pale.

Male genitalia (Figs 1-3). Left epandrial lamella medially with a row of evenly long medially directed hairs in one row; right epandrial lamella wide in dorsal view, its apical projection (surstylus) nearly quadrate with obtuse apex; left cerci rather long, pointed and spine-like apically; right cercus short with nearly obtuse apex.

Female: Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION: China (Hubei).

REMARKS: The new species is similar to Platypalpus hamatus Yang & Yang from Tibet, but it can be separated from the latter by the mesonotum with a narrow mid-longitudinal stripe and the left epandrial lamella with a weak basal process with a brush of long bristles. In P. hamatus , the mesonotum has a rather wide mid-longitudinal stripe and the basal process of the left epandrial lamella is bare ( Yang & Yang, 1989).