Neoempheria ferruginea ( Brunetti, 1912 )

Sueyoshi, Masahiro, 2014, Taxonomy of fungus gnats allied to Neoempheria ferruginea (Brunetti, 1912) (Diptera: Mycetophilidae), with descriptions of 11 new species from Japan and adjacent areas, Zootaxa 3790 (1), pp. 139-164 : 140-141

Neoempheria ferruginea ( Brunetti, 1912)

(Fig. 1a–f)

Mycomya ferruginea Brunetti, 1912: 74 ; Senior-White 1922: 84. [Japanese name: nagamado-kinoko-bae]

Description. Head (Fig. 1a): yellow in ground color, with dark brown mark on occiput and dark brown stripes along occipital and frontal furrows. Frons bare. Lateral ocelli on black well-developed ocellar prominence. Ocellar setae absent. Face yellow. Mouthparts short. Clypeus yellow, triangular, with scattered setae at apical margin. Palpus dark brown. Antenna 4.5 times as long as head, shorter than head and thorax together. Scape and pedicel yellow. Pedicel with single seta slightly shorter than 1st flagellomere. Flagellum dark brown.

Thorax (Fig. 1b): yellow in ground color. Scutum with 5 dark brown stripes (1 medial, 2 sublateral and 2 lateral). Setae present on each stripe. Scutellum with 2 pairs of lateral setae.

Wing (Fig. 1c): hyaline, tinged with dark brown on apical 1/4 and posterior margin, distinct dark brown mark on each of veins Rs and R4. Vein sc-r ending in basal 1/4 of anterior margin of cell r1. Cell r1 4 times as long as wide. Halter yellow, tinged with dark yellow in knob.

Legs (Fig. 1d): yellow. Tibia with erect setae slightly shorter than diameter of tibia.

Abdomen (Fig. 1b): yellow in ground color, with dark brown stripes on each abdominal tergite. Male genitalia (Fig. 1e): yellow in ground color. T9 with dorsal projection flattened dorsoventrally, bearing numerous setae on ventral side, tapered to apex.

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Mycomya ferruginea Brunetti, 1912 . a, head in anterior view. b. thorax in dorsal view. c. right wing in ventral view. d. imago in right lateral view. e. apex of abdomen in posterior view. f. labels. Note that the original photo of the wing was horizontally flipped. Abbreviations: dp, dorsal projection of of tergite 9; R4 and R5, 4th and 5th radial veins; r1 and r4, 1st and 4th radial cells; cu p, posterior branch of cubital vein; a1, 1st branch of anal vein.

Photographs examined. Lectotype, here designated. INDIA: 1♂, “Kurseong/ 5000 Feet [= 1500m]/ E. Himalayas/ 3-VII-08 ”, “Myco/ ferruginea / Brun. Type ♂”, “Myco/ ferruginea / ♂”, “ TYPE ”, “1904/ 20” (ZSI) (Fig. 1f).

Distribution. India (Darjeeling, Kolkata, Shillong) ( Brunetti 1912; Senior-White 1922), Sri Lanka (Peradeniya) ( Senior-White 1922).

Remarks. Brunetti (1912) described this species based on two males and one female, without explicitly designating a holotype, though the specimen from Kurseong was labeled as type when examined later ( Edwards 1924). ZSI holds only a single male from Kurseong with type labels (Fig. 1f) (Dr. S. Sheela, pers. comm.) and it is designated here as the lectotype.

As Edwards (1924) noted, the wing marks of the lectotype (Fig. 1c) are different from figure 12 of Brunetti (1912) in the following points: the wing anterior to veins M and R4+5 is hyaline and has distinct dark marks on veins Rs and R4; the dark brown mark in cell r4 is continuous to cell cua1 via the apex of cell r5, all of cell m1, and the apical portion of cell m; the brown mark in cell m1 fills the entire cell; and the brown mark on cell cu p expands into the apical half of the cell.