Claraeola parnianae Motamedinia & Kehlmaier

Motamedinia, Behnam, Kehlmaier, Christian, Mokhtari, Azizollah, Rakhshani, Ehsan & Gilasian, Ebrahim, 2017, Discovery of the genus Claraeola Aczél in Iran with the description of two new species (Diptera: Pipunculidae), Zootaxa 4227 (4), pp. 563-572 : 565-566

Claraeola parnianae Motamedinia & Kehlmaier sp. nov.

Figs 2–3

Type material. HOLOTYPE: 1♂, IRAN: Sistan-o Baluchestan province , Zabol county, Zabol, 31°05'04"N, 61°26'04"E, 482 m, 08.IV.2015, Malaise trap, leg. H.A. Derafshan ( DPPZ) . PARATYPES: 2♂ 1♀, same data as holotype, coll. SMTD (1♂ DNA voucher CK791, ENA: LT626246 ; 1♀ DNA voucher CK792, ENA: LT626247 ) ; 1♂ 1♀, same data as holotype, 29.IV.2015, coll. DPPZ .

Description. MALE ( Figs 2A–B , 3 A–G). Body length (excluding antennae): 5.2–5.7 mm (n=3). Head. Antenna evenly yellow; pedicel with a pair of long and short upper bristles and a pair of long plus a single short lower bristle; flagellum tapering and gray-white pollinose (LF:WF=2.8); arista dark, with thickened base. Eyes coming near but not meeting and separated by less than frontal facets. Frons dark silver-gray pollinose. Vertex black, lacking pollinosity. Occiput dark and gray pollinose. Thorax. Postpronotal lobe light yellow, gray pollinose. Prescutum black but light yellow at lateral margin. Scutum black, light yellow in supra-alar area with scattered long setae at anterior supra-alar area, two uniseriate rows of intra-alar setae and two uniseriate rows of dorsocentral setae. Scutellum yellow, with about twelve thin short setae along posterior margin (up to 0.06 mm). Subscutellum black. Pleura light yellow but dark brown on preepisternum, preepimeron and katepisternum. Wing. Length: 4.25– 4.4 mm. LW:MWW=2.8. Wing almost entirely covered with microtrichia. Only small basal cells of wing, e.g., bc, basal quarter of cell c, br and basal half of cell bm, cup and anal cell with microtrichia absent or reduced. Pterostigma dark-brown and complete. LS:LTC=1.0. LTC:LFC=1.0. Cross-vein r-m reaches dm shortly after one third of the cell's length. M1 strongly undulating in middle. Halter length: 1.0 mm. Whitish, narrowly brown at base. Legs. Yellow but brown-yellow at coxae. Coxae gray pollinose. Mid coxa with 2–3 black anterior bristles. Trochanters partly gray pollinose. Femora gray pollinose. Mid and hind femora bearing two rows of dark, peg-like anteroventral spines in apical one third. Tibiae gray pollinose, with two rows of short setae on anterior and three rows on posterior side. Fore and mid tibiae without distal spines. Hind tibia with 3–4 bristly setae in anterior and posterior margin. Tarsi yellowish but distitarsi brown, gray pollinose with scattered dark setae at anterior margin and brown setae at posterior margin. Pulvilli shorter than distitarsi. Claws white with black tips. Abdomen. Ground color dark, tergites 1–3 and partly 4 with two narrow posterolateral yellow spots. Tergite 1 with 4–5 dark lateral bristles (up to 0.14 mm). Tergites 1–5 with brown setae; tergite 6 gray pollinose. Tergite 5 slightly longer than tergite 4 and almost symmetrical in dorsal view (LT35:WT5=1.7, WT5:LT5=1.6, T5R:T5L=1.0). Sternites whiteyellow laterally and brown with dark mid-line centrally, gray pollinose. Syntergosternite 8 dark, gray pollinose without dorsal depression on side of right surstylus. LT35:WS8=3.0. Viewed laterally, higher than long (LS8:HS8=0.75). Membranous area ovate in caudal view, small sized, placed to right and caudally directed. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium and surstyli light brown, gray pollinose. Epandrium wider than long (MLE:MWE=0.76). Surstyli rather symmetrical. Right surstylus slightly larger than left one ( Fig. 3 G). Genital capsule in ventral view: gonopods large and equal in height, humped at apices ( Fig. 3 A). Phallus straight, strong, with three short ejaculatory ducts and a protruding membranous sheet that covers two thirds of the phallus and has a trilobate apex ( Fig. 3 B). Phallic guide strong, broad in its middle and narrow at apex. Genital capsule in lateral view: epandrium without projecting lobe on either side. Surstyli rather rectangular ( Figs 3 E–F). Phallic guide strong, hook-like at apex ( Fig. 3 C). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, symmetrical, with a bulb in its middle and fungiform at apex ( Fig. 3 D).

FEMALE ( Figs 2 C–D, 3H–I). Body length (excluding antennae): 4.85–5.9 mm (n=3). Head. Eyes separated; with enlarged frontal facets. Frons gray pollinose, especially in middle. Occiput gray pollinose except for the brown-pollinose area posterior to ocellar triangle. Thorax. Postpronotal lobe light yellow, gray pollinose. Prescutum black but light yellow along lateral margins. Scutum black, light yellow in supra-alar area, gray pollinose with scattered long setae at anterior supra-alar area. Wing. Length: 3.25–3.4 mm. LW:MWW=2.06. Pterostigma light-brown and slightly complete (LS:LTC=0.98. LTC:LFC=0.71). Legs. Mid coxa with 1–2 black anterior bristles. Mid and hind trochanters with a black antero-dorsal seta. Mid femur bearing two small ventral rows of dark peg-like spines in the apical third. Hind tibia without distinctly stronger bristly setae. Pulvilli longer than distitarsi. Abdomen. Tergites 1–6 with brown setae. Ovipositor. Base of ovipositor dark brown, dorsally with some gray pollinosity. Viewed dorsally ( Fig. 3 H), base rectangular to ovate, without a median longitudinal furrow, longer than wide. Anal opening ovate. Suture between tergite 7 and 8 visible. Piercer yellowish-brown with gray pollinosity. Proximal part of piercer narrow and triangular. Distal part of piercer long and thin. Viewed laterally ( Fig. 3 I), base of piercer curved, piercer slightly angled between proximal and distal part and longer than base. LP:LB=2.5. LDP:LPP=1.4.

Distribution. Iran.

Etymology. This new species is named after Behnam Motamedinia’s daughter for her interest in entomology.

Differential diagnosis. Claraeola parnianae sp. nov. is similar to the Eastern Palaearctic C. oppleta (Collin) , recorded from Russia and North Korea and redescribed by Kehlmaier (2005b), and C. alata (Kozánek & Kwon) , described from North Korea by Kozánek & Kwon (1991). Males can be separated from the latter species by the narrow but distinct yellow markings on the abdominal tergites, the lateral shape of the surstyli and the structure of the membranous sheet being trilobate at its apex. Females can best be distinguished by their yellow abdominal markings.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A – B: Male paratype of Claraeola parnianae sp. nov. in lateral view (A); in dorsal view (B). C – D: Female paratype of Claraeola parnianae sp. nov. in lateral view (C); in dorsal view (D). Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Terminalia of male holotype (A – G) and female paratype (H – I) of Claraeola parnianae sp. nov. A) Phallic guide, gonopods and hypandrium in ventral view. B) Phallus and membranous sheet in lateral view. C) Phallic guide in lateral view. D) Ejaculatory apodeme. E) Left surstylus in lateral view. F) Right surstylus in lateral view. G) Surstyli in dorsal view. H) Ovipositor in dorsal view. I) Ovipositor in lateral view.