Microselia lorien, Cox & Tees, 2023

Cox, Russell & Tees, Natalie A., 2023, A Remarkable New Species of Scuttle Fly and First Record of Microselia Schmitz (Diptera: Phoridae) from Australia, Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 75 (1), pp. 45-50 : 46-49

Microselia lorien sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2F1BB1CD-DE66-4B21-B162-D313B275B7EF

Figs 1–13

Holotype: 1 female, Australia, NSW, 3 km N of Lansdowne nr Taree , “Lorien” Wildlife Refuge, 31°45'10"S 152°32'20"E, elevation 61 m, January 2018, Malaise trap over creek, K. M. Bayless, D. Bickel and G. A. Williams collectors, subtropical rainforest; deposited in the Australian Museum: registration number: K.398211.

Diagnosis. Microselia lorien is readily differentiated from other described species of Microselia by the two rows of long, posteriorly curved, ventral, abdominal bristles ( Fig. 4 ).

Description (female). Body length. 1.5 mm.

Head. Median furrow present and complete ( Figs 3 , 6 ). Supra-antennal setae absent; interfrontal setae occupy this position. Frontal bristles as per Fig. 6 with numerous hairs. Third antennal segment with dorsal, pre-apical, 3-segmented arista ( Fig. 3 ). Conus of second segment inserted into base of third segment in normal way ( Fig. 3 ); not inserted into side of third segment as seen in specimens of Epacteon . Palps with pigmented bristles ( Fig. 5 ). Eyes: facets uniform. Post pedicel: pear-shaped.

Thorax. Anepisternum bare; anepisternal furrow present ( Fig. 5 ). Scutellum with four bristles: two strong, inner, posterior bristle and two weaker, outer, anterior bristles ( Fig. 1 ).

Abdomen. Abdominal sclerotised tergites ( Fig. 1 ) uniformly brown and entire. Tergites I–V longer than wide; tergite VI approximately square.

Ovipositor. Consisting of parasitic type oviscape and stylet as per Figs 7–8 .

Legs. Hind tibia with a single, near dorsal, longitudinal, hair palisade ( Figs 10–11 ); absent on mid and fore tibia. Hind tibia with postero-dorsal row of differentiated hairs ( Fig. 10 ); antero-dorsal row of differentiated hairs absent. Mid tibia without bristles in basal half ( Fig. 12 ). All tarsi five segmented. Last tarsal segments on both front and middle legs longer than fourth segments; tapered but not pointed ( Figs 12–13 ).

Wings. Fully developed. Infuscated. Vein 3 without hairs at base or along upper face. Subcostal vein strongly developed fusing with R 1. Costa, uniform in thickness. Axillary ridge with two bristles ( Fig. 9 ). Vein 3 (R 2+3 present) forked ( Fig. 9 ).

Male. Unknown.

Biology. Host unknown. However, all described species of Microselia and Epacteon are ant parasitoids: Microselia rivierae is reported to parasitize Camponotus cruentatus Latreille ; M. southwoodi Disney parasitizes C. vagus ; M. deemingi Disney parasitizes C. acvapimensis Mayr , M. texana Disney parasitizes Paratrechina melanderi Wheeler and Pheidole constipata Wheeler ( Disney & Shaw, 1994) , Epacteon latifrons Brown & Oliver attacking Technomyrmex jocosus Forel , and E. armatus Borgmeier —host unknown.

Habitat. The “Lorien” type locality is in the Manning River drainage on the New South Wales northern coast. Vegetation is predominantly subtropical rainforest ( Figs 14, 15 ) and wet sclerophyll forest, with a small representation of dry sclerophyll forest at the base of the escarpment cliff marking the northern boundary with Coorabakh National Park .

Etymology. The species is named in recognition of the “Lorien” Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area—a natural sanctuary established by Geoff and Thusnelda Williams. The “Lorien” site is the source of thousands of specimens collected over the past six decades and deposited in the Australian Museum. The specific epithet lorien is a noun in apposition to the generic name.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors thank Geoff Williams, Dan Bickel, and Keith Bayless for the original collection of material that yielded this unique and remarkable species. Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for providing useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We are grateful to Emily Hartop, Brian Brown and Henry Disney for their never-ending support and advice in all things phorid.

Figures

Figure 6. Microselia lorien sp. nov., line drawing of anterior view of head showing bristles and antennae.

Figures 1–5. Microselia lorien sp. nov.(1) dorsal habitus, (2) lateral habitus flipped horizontally, (3) anterior view of frons and antennae, (4) ventral view of abdomen, and (5) lateral view of head and thorax. Scale bars: 500 μm for Figs 1–2, 200 μm scale for Figs 3–5.

Figures 7–13. Microselia lorien sp. nov. (7) caudal view of ovipositor, (8) dorsal view of ovipositor, (9) base of wing showing axillary bristles and forked vein, (10, 11) hind leg showing hair palisade, (12) mid leg, and (13) foreleg.

Figures 14–15. The type locality, Lorien, NSW of Microselia lorien sp. nov.