Megaselia exspodoptera Disney & Karimzadeh, 2024

Disney, R. Henry L., Karimzadeh, Javad, Besharatnejad, Mohammad-Hassan, Gilasian, Ebrahim & Sheikhigarjan, Aziz, 2024, Scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) reared from Spodoptera exigua (Hübner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Iran, Zootaxa 5448 (2), pp. 292-300 : 294

Megaselia exspodoptera Disney & Karimzadeh sp. n.

( Figs 1 –15)

Diagnosis. The combination of the following characters diagnose the new species: yellow thorax and legs (apart from the dark tips of the hind femora) and halteres, bare mesopleuron, coastal index <0.4 and the hypopygium whose anal tube is shorter than the dorsal face of the epandrium; proctiger hairs are about as long as those of cerci but are longer than those at the rear of abdominal tergite 6, in Disney (1989) ’s key to the males of the British species this runs to couplet 217, which leads to M. brevior (Schmitz) , but its similar hypopygium has a distinctly longer left hypandrial lobe. This species belongs to a complex that was subsequently reviewed by Disney (2006). The new species is the most similar to the species Megaselia microcurtineura Disney, 1991 from Zimbabwe ( Disney 1991) which was subsequently recorded from the United Arab Emirates and Yemen ( Disney 2008b). Its male hypopygium is very similar to our new species, but the shapes of the enpandrium differ ( Figs 5 , 16). The females are readily distinguished and diagnosed by their abdominal tergites 6 and 7, and sternite 7.

Description. Male. Fig. 1 , head. Fig. 2 , postpedicels, with SPS vesicles, palps and proboscis. Fig. 3 , side of thorax with its bare mesopleuron and 2 notopleral bristles; scutellum with an anterior pair of hairs and a posterior pair of bristles. Abdomen ( Fig. 4 ): the venter with hairs on segments 4–6. Hypopygium as Figs 5–7 . Legs yellowish apart from dark tips to hind femora. Front tarsus as in Fig. 8 , with a near dorsal palisade on segments 1–4. Mid tibia and basitarsus as in Fig. 9 . Hind femur as Fig. 10 . Wing ( Fig. 11 ) 1.34 mm long. Costal index 0.36. Costal ratios 5.28/1.18/1. Sc vein pale but free. Costal cilia 0.07 mm. Vein 3 hair 0.05 mm. 2 axillary bristles, the longest 0.09. Halteres yellow.

Female. Head and thorax much as male. Abdominal tergites 4–6 as Fig. 12. Tergite 7 as Fig. 13. The reversed C shaped internal spermatheca as Fig. 14 and sternite 7 as Fig. 15.

Material examined. Holotype: IRAN • 1 ♂; Esfahan province, Mobarakeh, Arazi ; 32.4036°N, 51.6097 E; alt. 1646 m a.s.l.; 14 Sep. 2022; J. Karimzadeh leg.; reared from larvae of Spodoptera exigua feeding on cauliflower; UCMZ, 26–97; deposited in UCMZ (Cambridge, UK) . Paratypes: 2 ♂, 8 ♀ as holotype, deposited in UCMZ ( Cambridge , UK) .

Etymology. Named after the genus Spodoptera of moth host of the dipteran larvae; as being from (ex) the larva of Spodoptera .

Figures

FIGS 1–11. Megaselia exspodoptera sp.n. male. 1, frons and postpedicels; 2, postpedicels, palps and proboscis; 3, side of thorax; 4. Abdomen; 5-7, hypopygium,; 8, front tarsus; 9, mid tibia and basitarsus; 10. Hind femur; 11, wing. Figs 12–15. Megaselia exspodoptera sp. n. female. 12, abdominal tergites 4-6; 13, tergite 7; 14, spermatheca; 15, sternite 6. Fig 16. Hypopygium of Megaselia microcurtineura Disney.