Cyrtosia zieglerii Gharali & Evenhuis

Gharali, Babak & Evenhuis, Neal, 2017, Review of the genus Cyrtosia Perris (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Platypyginae) in Iran, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4269 (2), pp. 230-244 : 240-243

Cyrtosia zieglerii Gharali & Evenhuis , sp. nov.

( Figs. 7 –8)

Type material. Holotype male (dried by HMDS), Nodahak rangeland, Nodahak village, N 35°57', E 49°35', 1328 m a.s.l., 1 June 2009, Leg. B. Gharali ( ZMHB); 2 males , 1 female paratypes, same data as holotype (in alcohol) ( BPBM) , 1 male, 1 female paratypes (male genitalia dissected, in alcohol), same data as holotype (BG).

FIGURE. 8. Cyrtosia zieglerii sp. nov., male genitalia: a. epandrium dorsal view; b. gonocoxites and phallic complex.

Diagnosis. Frons black except lower margin narrowly yellow; face and oral margin yellow; proboscis equal to head height; pronotum black, mesonotum black; scutellum black; halter stem yellow, knob white; epandrium with paired process on outer margin; gonocoxites apically with less sclerotized round plate and curved denticle, with two small plates apicomedially.

Description. Holotype male ( Fig. 7 a). Lengths. Body: 1.9 mm; wing: 2 mm. Head subglobular, slightly longer than high, eyes dichoptic, separated at vertex by 1.6 times distance between lateral ocelli; occiput, mentum and vertex black, frons ( Fig. 7 b) black except lower margin narrowly yellow (next to base of antennae); face and oral margin yellow; antennae dark brown, scape minute; pedicel cylindrical, slightly wider than long; first flagellomere ellipsoid, length about 1.2 times greatest width; second flagellomere about one-half length of first, with minute apical style; proboscis sclerotized, labella slightly wide, fleshy, equal to head height; labrum sclerotized, stiff, pointed apically, slightly shorter than proboscis. Thorax. Pronotum black, mesonotum black ( Figs. 7 c, e), matte; postpronotal lobe yellow; lateral margin from postpronotal lobe to postalar callus yellow interrupted widely with black stripes at wing base; scutellum black; halter stem yellow, knob white; pleura ( Figs. 7 a, b) black except yellow on the following: propleuron completely, small spot posteromedially on anepisternum, upper margin of katepisternum, katepimeron and upper margin of anepimeron. Legs. Coxae brown ( Fig. 7 d); femora brown except extreme apices yellow; tibiae brown; tarsal segments brown; claws black. Wing. Hyaline; Sc, Rs basally, vein separating basal cells and anal vein white to translucent; costal, radial, and medial veins brown; costa ends slightly beyond end of R4+5; vein Sc incomplete, ending at level about equal to origin of vein R2+3; vein R2+3 ends in wing margin equidistant from end of vein R1 and R4+5; cell dm open, without crossvein closing it apically; vein M1+2 onehalf length of fork point to margin of wing; length of cell br 1.5 times that of cell bm, anal cell narrowly open at wing margin; fringe of hair on posterior margin of wing minute. Abdomen. Tergites brown, posterior margin of all tergites narrowly yellow, laterally with sclerotized black dots; sternites almost all brown, posterior margins of sternites yellow. Male genitalia. Hypopygium dark brown; epandrium in lateral view subquadrate, higher than wide, with paired process on outer margin (Fig. 8a), short process above and long curved process below; lateral aedeagal apodemes large, triangular; basal aedeagal apodeme ( Fig. 7 b) large, fan-shaped, extending to level of gonocoxal apodeme, with perpendicular long cylindrical process at base; aedeagal bulb very small (compared to the other Iranian species), narrowing to long aedeagus; gonocoxal apodeme widened as a quadrate plate apically; gonocoxites completely fused, triangular, apically with less sclerotized round plate and curved denticle, with two small plates apicomedially.

Female. The female specimens are lighter than males in color and larger in size.

Female genitalia. Not dissected.

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of Dr. Joachim Ziegler, an outstanding Tachinidae taxonomist who supported the senior author for many years, especially during the 8th International Congress of Dipterology in Potsdam.

Distribution. Cyrtosia zieglerii sp. nov. is currently known only from Nodahak village of Qazvin province. This species was collected using a Malaise trap installed in the rangeland inhabited by abundant composite plants with yellow flowers ( Fig. 3 a).

Remarks. Cyrtosia zieglerii is easily distinguished from the congeners in Iran by the almost all black frons and completely black scutellum. Using Engel’s (1933) key, C. zieglerii runs to C. maculithorax Engel, 1933 but is distinguished from it by the very long proboscis of the female, about 1.5 times longer than head height (as long as head height in C. maculithorax ) and the yellow face (only the oral margin narrowly yellow in C. maculithorax ). This species is superficially similar to C. marginata Perris, 1839 from Europe. Both species have long processes on the epandrium and almost all black frons but C. zieglerii sp. nov. is distinguished by the black color of the scutellum (in C. marginata the posterior margin of the scutellum is yellow).

Figures

FIGURE 3. The different localities of Qazvin province from where type material were collected a. Nodahak rangeland (C. zieglerii sp. nov.), b. Joladak mountainous rangeland (C. bispermatheca sp. nov.), c. Loshan, rocky hills (C. baccadomus sp. nov.).

FIGURE 7. Cyrtosia zieglerii sp. nov., male and female: a. male holotype lateral view; b. male head dorsal view; c. male mesonotum dorsal view; d. female paratype lateral view (in alcohol); e. female mesonotum dorsal view.