Platypalpus imlilensis Grootaert & Zouhair, 2024

Zouhair, Laila, Grootaert, Patrick & Kettani, Kawtar, 2024, Twelve new species of Platypalpus Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Morocco, with additional new records, European Journal of Taxonomy 951 (1), pp. 1-53 : 31-32

Platypalpus imlilensis Grootaert & Zouhair sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:60254BDF-034F-4FC1-994D-23CAF73C03EF

Figs 19–20

Diagnosis

A small brown species (2.8 mm long) of the pallidiventris-cursitans group, with one pair of long yellow verticals. Antennae dirty yellow with extreme tip of pedicel at insertion of stylus darker, stylus black, postpedicel conical, slightly elongate, about 2.3× as long as wide at base, stylus about 2.5 × as long as postpedicel. Thorax with mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe densely yellowish dusted, pleura densely yellowish dusted, leaving a polished small spot on katepisternum. Legs yellow including coxae, with fore tarsi sharply annulated dark brown, mid and hind tarsi annulated paler brown. Fore tibia with a small brown spot near apex. Mid tibia with a sharp, pointed, black apical spur, as long as tibia is wide. Wings with veins M 1+2 and R 4+5 almost parallel before reaching wing border.

Etymology

This new species is named after the type locality (Oued Imlil), located in the High Atlas, where the holotype was collected.

Material examined

Holotype

MOROCCO – High Atlas • ♂; Oued Imlil ; 25 Mar. 2017; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; RBINS.

Paratypes

MOROCCO – Middle Atlas • 1 ♂; Zaouyat Ifrane ; 2 Apr. 2017; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 1 ♂; Lac Ouiouane ; 9 Jun. 2017; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB . – High Atlas • 2 ♂♂; same collection data as for holotype; LESCB • 1 ♂; Lac Tislit ; 29 Apr. 2017; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB . – Anti Atlas • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Boudnibe ; 3 Apr. 2017; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB .

Description

Male

LENGTH. Body: 2.8 mm; wing: 3.0 mm.

HEAD. Black in ground colour, occiput densely greyish pollinose, with short pale setae, one pair of long yellow verticals. Gena densely greyish pollinose with long yellow setae. Ocellar tubercle greyish pollinose with 2 long, yellow anterior setae and 2 very short, yellow posterior setae. Frons greyish dusted, broader than postpedicel is wide at base and parallel-sided. Face densely yellowish dusted, narrower than postpedicel is wide at base, but broader toward clypeus. Clypeus short, polished. Antennae dirty yellow, with extreme tip of pedicel at insertion of stylus darker, stylus black, pedicel as long as deep, postpedicel conical, slightly elongate, about 2.5× as long as wide at base, stylus about 2.5× as long as postpedicel. Proboscis brownish, shorter than head is high. Palpus whitish yellow, ovate (not strapshaped), with numerous long, pale yellow setae.

THORAX. Brown. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe densely yellowish dusted, pleura densely yellowish dusted, leaving a polished small spot on katepisternum. Postpronotal lobe with 1 long yellow seta. Mesoscutum with 2 notopleurals, 1 long yellow postalar, 2 pairs of yellow prescutellars (one strong, long pair, one short, weak pair), 4 yellow scutellars (apical pair long and cruciate, lateral pair very short), acrostichals yellow, biserial, dorsocentrals yellow, uniserial, as long as acrostichals.

LEGS. Yellow including coxae, with fore tarsi sharply annulated dark brown, mid and hind tarsi annulated paler brown (in some specimens, annulations of mid tarsi slightly darker than on hind tarsi). Coxae and trochanters with ordinary yellowish setae of different lengths. Fore femur distinctly thickened in basal third, with pale anteroventral and posteroventral setae. Fore tibia slightly thickened, clothed with ordinary pale setulae, with a small brown spot near base (absent in some specimens or much paler). Mid femur as thick as fore femur, with double row of black ventral spinules and row of long, yellow posteroventral setae. Mid tibia slender, with a row of ventral spinules and a sharp, pointed, black apical spur, as long as tibia is wide. Hind femur slender, clothed with ordinary yellow setulae. Hind tibia slender, as long as femur, with ordinary short, yellow setulae.

WINGS. Hyaline, with pale yellow veins. Costa with one moderately long yellow seta. Vein M 1+2 and vein R 4+5 almost parallel before reaching wing border. Crossveins m-cu and r-m separate, bm distinctly longer and larger than br. Vein Cu 2 straight, recurrent in basal part. Vein Cu reaching wing border. Anal vein distinct. Squama yellowish. Haltere whitish.

ABDOMEN. With yellowish brown tergites, dusted, covered with pale setae. Sternites yellowish, with similar setation. Male terminalia ( Fig. 19 ) with small cerci, concealed in epandrium. Right border of right epandrial lamella with a brush of long setae near middle ( Fig. 19A ). Left epandrial lamella with apical part of right margin and apex with long setae. Left margin with a brush of very long, densely set setae near middle ( Fig. 19C ).

Female

Unknown.

Remarks

The key in Grootaert & Chvála (1992) leads to Platypalpus flavicornis Meigen, 1822 (couplet 156). According to the description in Chvála (1975), P. flavicornis is very close to P. imlilensis sp. nov.: they both have one pair of yellow verticals, the antennae are yellow with a dark stylus, but in the new species the postpedicel is darker at the extreme tip and longer than in P. flavicornis . The katepisternum has only a small polished spot in both species, the acrostichals are biserial and the dorsocentrals are uniserial in both species. The legs in P. flavicornis are yellow and all tarsi have sharp blackish-brown to black annulations, while in the new species the legs are also yellow with annulated tarsi, but only the fore tarsi are sharply dark brown annulated, the mid and hind tarsi being paler brown annulated. The genitalia of the two species are clearly different, especially in the shape of the cerci and the left epandrial lamella (compare Chvála 1975: figs 480–482 with Fig. 19 ).

Figures

Fig. 19. Platypalpus imlilensis Grootaert & Zouhair sp. nov., male terminalia (holotype, RBINS). A. Right epandrial lamella. B. Epandrium with cerci. C. Left epandrial lamella. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 20. Platypalpus imlilensis Grootaert & Zouhair sp. nov., ♂, habitus (holotype, RBINS). A. Lateral view. B. Antennae; fore tibia with a small brown spot near the base. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.