Claraeola khorshidae 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 : 568-569

Claraeola khorshidae Motamedinia & Kehlmaier sp. nov.

Figs 4–5

Type material. HOLOTYPE: 1♂, IRAN: Southern Khorasan province, Birjand county, Mohammadieh , 32°52'40.3"N, 59°01'17.2"E, 1419 m, 26.IV.2015, Malaise trap, leg. B. Motamedinia, coll . DPPZ ( DNA voucher CK864, ENA: LT626248 ). PARATYPES: 2♂, same data as holotype, 23.VIII.2015, coll . DPPZ; 1♀, same data as holotype, 15.IV.2015, coll . SMTD ( DNA voucher CK882, ENA: LT626248 ); 2♀, same data as holotype, 14.VII.2016, coll . DPPZ.

Description. MALE ( Figs 4A–B , 5 A–G). Body length (excluding antennae): 3.4–3.6 mm. Head. Face dark, silver-gray pollinose. Scape and pedicel dark; pedicel with a pair of short upper bristles and a pair of long lower bristles; flagellum dark yellow, tapering and gray pollinose (LF:WF=2.6); arista dark, flattened, with thickened base that bears short setae dorsally. Eyes meeting for a distance of eight facets. Frons dark, silver-gray pollinose; vertex dark, lacking pollinosity; occiput dark, gray pollinose. Thorax. Pleura, prescutum, scutum and scutellum dark. Pleura gray pollinose. Postpronotal lobe yellow, weakly gray pollinose and with 5–6 postpronotal setae along upper margin. Prescutum and scutum narrowly gray pollinose except in anterior quarter, with two uniseriate dorsocentral rows of setae and some supra-alar setae. Scutellum gray pollinose, with about eight thin short setae along posterior margin (up to 0.06 mm). Subscutellum gray pollinose. Wing. Length: 3.15–3.3 mm. LW:MWW=3.25. Wing almost entirely covered in microtrichia. Only small basal cells of wings, e.g., cell bc, basal half of c, sc, br, bm and cup with somewhat reduced microtrichia. Pterostigma brown and complete (LS:LTC=1, LTC:LFC=0.6). M1 gently undulating. Halter length: 0.4 mm. Base brown, stem white and knob paler than base. Legs. Coxae dark, gray pollinose. Mid coxa with some short dark anterior bristles and two strong bristles on inner apical margin. Trochanters brownish-yellow, partly gray pollinose. Mid and hind trochanters with two short setae posterodorsally and two long setae anteroventrally. Femora dark, distinctly yellow at apex, gray pollinose. All femora bearing two rows of dark, smaller peg-like anteroventral spines in apical two thirds and full posterodorsal row of peg-like spines. Tibiae brown, distinctly yellow at apex, gray pollinose with three rows of setae on anterior and posterior sides, without apical spines. Tarsi light brown and paler than tibiae, gray pollinose, with some black setae dorsally. Distitarsi brown. Pulvilli shorter than distitarsi. Abdomen. Ground color dark. Tergite 1 with four to five strong lateral bristles, arranged in one row. Tergites 1–5 with brown setae. Tergites 1–2 gray pollinose laterally and dorsally, and tergites 3–5 gray pollinose laterally extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin. Tergite 5 symmetrical. LT35:WT5=1.4, WT5:LT5=1.21 and T5R:T5L=1. Syntergosternite 8 dark, brown pollinose without dorsal depression on side of outer surstylus. LT35:WS8=2.1. Viewed laterally, as long as high (LS8:HS8=1.0). Viewed caudally, membranous area ovate, small sized, placed to right and caudally directed. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium paler than tergites, brown pollinose and longer than wide (MLE:MWE=1.3). Surstyli paler than epandrium, brown pollinose and rather symmetrical, right surstylus of rectangular shape and left surstylus roughly of triangular shape, tips of both surstyli bent inwards ( Fig. 5 E). Genital capsule in ventral view: gonopods rather large and almost symmetrical ( Fig. 5 A); phallus trifid, all ejaculatory ducts with four downwards directed saw-like teeth along their sides that gradually increase in length from tip to base ( Fig. 5 B); phallic guide small, broader in base and hard to detect. Genital capsule in lateral view: epandrium without projecting lobe on either side. Both surstyli distinctly convex and bent towards sternites ( Figs 5 F–G). Phallic guide thin and gently bent ( Fig. 5 C). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, asymmetrical, with a bulb in its middle and fungiform at apex ( Fig. 5 D).

FEMALE ( Figs 4 C–D, 5H–I). Body length (excluding antennae): 3.3 mm. Head. Pedicel with a pair of short upper bristles and a pair of long lower bristles. LF:WF=2.5. Frons facets moderately enlarged (0.04 mm). Frons dark, lower half silver-gray pollinose, otherwise shining. Frons with a weak median keel, ending in a tubercle shortly before antenna. Occiput gray pollinose. Thorax. Postpronotal lobe light yellow, gray pollinose with some dark bristles. Pleura, prescutum, scutum and scutellum dark, gray pollinose. Postalar callus brownish. Wing. Length: 3.1–3.2 mm. LW:MWW=3.12. Pterostigma brown and complete (LS:LTC=1.0. LTC:LFC=0.6). Legs. Mid coxa with 3–6 black anterior bristles. Mid and hind trochanters with a black antero-dorsal seta. Mid and hind femora with two small ventral rows of dark peg-like spines in apical half. Hind tibia without apical spines. Pulvilli longer than distitarsi. Abdomen. Tergites 1–5 gray pollinose laterally extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin. Tergites 2–5 with dark scattered bristles. Ovipositor. Base of ovipositor dark, dorsally with some gray pollinosity. Viewed dorsally ( Fig. 5 H), base rather rectangular, without a median longitudinal furrow, longer than wide. Anal opening ovate. Suture between tergite 7 and 8 visible. Piercer yellowish-brown. Proximal part of piercer narrow and triangular. Viewed laterally ( Fig. 5 I), base of piercer curved, piercer slightly angled between proximal and distal part and longer than base. LP:LB=2.1. LDP:LPP=1.8.

Distribution. Iran.

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

Differential diagnosis. Claraeola khorshidae sp. nov. is similar to C. discors (Hardy) , known from Nepal and partly illustrated by Kehlmaier (2005b), C. clavata (Becker) , known from Europe and redescribed by Kehlmaier (2005a), and, judging from the original figures, to Eudorylas thekkadiensis Kapoor, Grewal & Sharma , described from southern India. However, C. khorshidae sp. nov. differs from these three species by the distinctly-larger gonopods, more strongly bent surstyli in lateral view and longer membranous teeth on all ejaculatory ducts.

Figures

FIGURE 4. A – B: Male paratype of Claraeola khorshidae sp. nov. in lateral view (A); in dorsal view (B). C – D: Female paratype of Claraeola khorshidae sp. nov. in lateral view (C); in dorsal view (D). Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 5. Terminalia of male holotype (A – G) and female paratype (H – I) of Claraeola khorshidae sp. nov. A) Phallic guide, gonopods and hypandrium in ventral view. B) Distiphallus with ejaculatory ducts in lateral view. C) Phallic guide in lateral view. D) Ejaculatory apodeme. E) Surstyli in dorsal view. F) Left surstylus in lateral view. G) Right surstylus in lateral view. H) Ovipositor in dorsal view. I) Ovipositor in lateral view.