Lichtwardtia monstruosa Tang & Grootaert

Tang, Chufei, Yang, Ding & Grootaert, Patrick, 2018, Revision of the genus Lichtwardtia Enderlein in Southeast Asia, a tale of highly diverse male terminalia (Diptera, Dolichopodidae), ZooKeys 798, pp. 63-107 : 63

Lichtwardtia monstruosa Tang & Grootaert sp. n. Figs 14, 15

Material examined.

Holotype male (coll. RBINS): CAMBODIA: Siem Reap prov., Angkhor, Preah Khan Temple, 18-25 April 2006, Malaise trap in secondary forest (leg. Oul Yothin). Paratype (coll. RBINS): 1 male, same provenance as holotype.

Diagnosis.

Postpedicel of antenna mostly brownish yellow. Wing faintly tinged brownish, no swelling of the costa present. Mid coxa with two brown bands laterally, one brown, one light brown. Hind coxa entirely yellow. Tip of hypandrium bifurcate with a black narrow ventral arm that is strongly toothed and a broad arm dorsally yellowish at base and black at tip; apex rounded, bordered with teeth. Phallus yellowish with a very strong yellowish brown dorsal hook near middle resting in the ventral cavity of the epandrium; apical half of phallus, with a ventral curved followed by a strong dorsal curved; tip pointed.

Description.

Male.Body length 4.0 mm, wing 3.8 × 1.3 mm. Head with frons shining metallic green; face slightly raised, as wide as postpedicel, frons and face covered with a thick white dusting. Hairs and bristles on head black; upper five postoculars black, lower postocular bristles pale. Antenna mainly yellow, postpedicel largely brownish yellow; postpedicel nearly triangular, blunt apically, with yellow pubescence, 1.2 times as long as wide; arista-like stylus dark yellow, nearly as long as width of head, feather-like, basal portion 0.5 times as long as apical portion. Proboscis dark yellow, with black hairs; palpus dark yellow, with one short weak black apical bristle.

Thorax dark metallic green, with a fine pale grey pollinosity. Hairs and bristles on thorax black; five strong dc, ten pairs of acr half as long as dc. Scutellum with two pairs sc, apical pair long strong, basal pair short and weak. Legs mainly yellow, but mid coxa with two brown bands laterally, one brown, one light brown. Fore and mid coxae anteriorly to laterally with rows of bristle-like hairs and eight preapical bristles; mid coxa with one strong outer bristles at apical third, hind coxa with two outer bristles, basal one strong, apical one relatively weak. Mid trochanter with two dorsal ap. Hind trochanter with one outer bristle at middle. Fore femur without distinct bristles. Mid femur with one strong ad and a weak pd. Hind femur with one strong ad at apical quarter. Fore tibia with two ad, two pd, one av and four ap. Mid tibia with two ad, three pd, one pv and four ap. Hind tibia with four ad, four d and four ap; ventrally in basal third with a row of small erect hairs. Fore and mid tarsomere I without distinct bristles. Hind tarsomere I with one strong d at apical third. Relative lengths of tibia and five tarsomeres of legs LI: 8.2: 5.0: 2.0: 1.6: 1.0: 1.0; LII: 13.2: 6.6: 3.3: 2.6: 2.0: 1.3; LIII: 13.2: 6.0: 6.0: 4.3: 3.3: 1.6. Wing nearly hyaline, tinged brown; veins brown. M with fading M2, M1 with one short subvein. Crossvein dm-cu straight. CuAx ratio 1.0. Lower calypter pale with black hairs. Haltere pale.

Abdomen metallic green, with fine pale pollinosity. Hairs and bristles on abdomen black.

Male terminalia (Figure 15): Epandrium 2.1 times longer than wide, narrowing towards tip; epandrial lobe with three long pale bristles. Ventral surstylus with three long pale bristles. Cercus nearly quadrate, as long as wide, pale except the black marginal seam, with weak digitations around outer margin, with black marginal bristles on digitations. Tip of hypandrium bifurcate with a black narrow ventral arm that is strongly toothed and a broad arm dorsally yellowish at base and black at tip. Apex rounded bordered with teeth. Phallus yellowish with a very strong yellowish brown dorsal hook near middle resting in the ventral cavity of the epandrium (Figure 14); a short black pointed tooth at the left side and at the base of the large tooth; apical half of phallus, with a ventral curved one followed by a strong dorsal curved; tip pointed.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology.

The species name alludes to the monstrous appendages on the male terminalia.

Comments.

The male is easily recognised having these huge extensions on the terminalia. The very strong dorsal tooth on the phallus resembles superficially the strong tooth present on the tip of the hypandrium of L. polychroma and L. zhangae . However the origin of these structure is different: in L. monstruosa sp. n., it is on the phallus, while in the others it is on the hypandrium.

Distribution.

Cambodia.