Meropidia flavens Hippa & Stahls

Morales, Mirian N., Stahls, Gunilla & Hippa, Heikki, 2013, Two new species of Meropidia Hippa & Thompson, 1983 (Diptera, Syrphidae) from the Andes Mountains, ZooKeys 338, pp. 55-65 : 59-60

Meropidia flavens Hippa & Stahls sp. n. Figs 9-15

Type specimen.

HOLOTYPE. Adult female, in good condition, except arista missing. Postabdominal segments V and beyond removed and placed in plastic vial on the same pin as the specimen. Deposited at NMNH, Paris, France. Type locality: COLOMBIA. Labels (Figs 13-15) "Bogota / October / 1892"; "This lable ‘sic’ / made by / Hippa / 1984"; "HOLOTYPE / Meropidia flavens / Hippa & Ståhls, 2013".

Description.

Adult female. Body size: 11 mm

Head. Elliptical in frontal view, (Fig. 11); face with a subdeveloped tubercle on inferior half (Fig. 10), shiny yellow medially, with brown U-shaped shiny area surrounding tubercle (Fig. 9), yellowish pollinose elsewhere, yellow pilose on pollinose areas; gena densely pale pollinose and long yellow pilose (Fig. 10); facial stripes brownish, short, matte, pale pollinose and pilose; lunula yellow, frontal area above lunula dark brown (Fig. 9), bare, brownish pilose; frons broad, densely yellowish pollinose and long pale pilose, antero-medial roundish and ocellar area bare; ocellar triangle slightly isosceles obtuse (Fig. 11), brownish long pilose; occiput densely pale pollinose, pale pilose, with some short black pile. Antenna: Scape brownish, 2 × longer than broad, short dark pilose dorsally; pedicel brownish about 2.5 –3× longer than broad, with short dark pile dorsally and ventrally; basoflagellomere darkbrown, shorter than high (Figs 9, 10); distance between antenna approximately twice its basal diameter (Fig. 9).

Thorax. Postpronotum yellow, densely pale pollinose and yellow pilose; scutum blackish, with four broad, longitudinal pale pollinose vittae extending to transverse pollinose area in front of scutellum (Fig. 11), long pale pilose, pale pollinose around transverse suture; anterodorsal edge of postalar callus with long pile on posterior half; scutellum yellowish (Fig. 11), long pale pilose, margin with pale pilosity with apex becoming browner, pile as long as scutellum. Calypters yellow with yellow marginal pilosity. Haltere yellow. Pleura brownish, slightly pollinose, except densely pale pollinose on posterior anepisternum, dorsal katepisternum and katepimeron. Propleura, posterior anepisternum, dorsal and ventral katepisternum, anepimeron with long yellow pilosity, katatergum with shorter yellow pilosity; metasternum black pilose.

Legs: simple, metafemur straight; yellow, except for coxae and trochanters brown (Fig. 12), femora narrowly brown antero-basally, and metatarsal segments 1-4 dark brown (Figs 11, 12).

Wing:completely microtrichose; slightly brownish along veins, wing veins brownish-yellow; four stigmatic crossveins; vein CuP long, almost reaching the level of posterior apex of cell bm (Fig. 11); alula shorter than anal lobe.

Abdomen. Tergum I yellow (Fig. 11), yellow pilose anteriorly, black short pilose posteriorly; tergum II yellow with brown spot antero-medially and posterior brownish stripe (Fig. 11), with long yellow pile at anterior corners and triangular area with short black pile; tergum III with antero-lateral corners broadly yellow (Fig. 11) and with yellow pile, with posterior brownish stripe with short black pile; tergum IV brown with antero-lateral corners yellow (Fig. 12) with short black pile. Sterna brownish, long pale pilose; sternum II with lateral areas yellow.

Comments.

Only type known.