Parusia faesae, Gibbs, 2023

Gibbs, David, 2023, A world review of the bee fly tribe Usiini (Diptera, Bombyliidae) - Part 3: Parageron Paramonov s. lat., European Journal of Taxonomy 863 (1), pp. 1-162 : 135-138

Parusia faesae gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:17BECF99-1B95-46D4-876F-E9A2FFA9908B

Figs 15 , 64

Etymology

Named after Jeannine Faes who, together with Jos Dils, collected a large proportion of the material used during this study.

Type material

Holotype

MOROCCO • ♂; “ Guercif 500 m N34°13.838 W03°39.979 27 April 2010 Leg. Dils J. Faes J. ”; NHMUK.

Paratypes

MOROCCO • 2 ♀♀; “ Guercif 500 m N34°13.838 W03°39.979 27 April 2010 Leg. Dils J. Faes J. ” NHMUK • 3 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀; “ Guercif 500 m N34°13.838 W03°39.979 27 April 2010 Leg. Dils J. Faes J. ”; PCJD .

Other material examined

MOROCCO • 1 ♂; “ Guercif 500 m N34°13.838 W03°39.979 27 April 2010 Leg. Dils J. Faes J. ”; PCJD (excluded from type series because mostly destroyed in transit) .

Description

MEASUREMENTS. Body length: 2.2–3.1 mm. Wing length: 2.2–3.2 mm.

Male

HEAD. Gena and mouth margin black to dark brown in ground colour, approximately equal to the apical breadth of a palp, grey-dusted gena exceedingly narrow, almost disappearing below, more shining mouth margin broader. Frons black to dark brown in ground colour, hind half of frons narrowing relatively abruptly, almost in line with angle of hind and front ocelli, from hind corners to just in front of the front ocellus, then widening but no abrupt change of direction, gently curved, the eye margin a little concave. Eyes separated at their narrowest by a little more than the diameter of the front ocellus, hind ocellus very narrowly separated from eye margin, almost contiguous. Ocellar tubercle shining, hardly dusted, narrow part of frons blackish dusted, greyer from some angles, grey dusted on front half from point where it starts to widen, and down past antennal bases. White hairs on ocellar tubercle a little less than twice as long as the width of the frons, narrow part of frons bare, anterior part of frons with numerous white hairs, some of which are almost as long as scape plus pedicel combined (variable and hairs easily lost). Occiput dark in ground colour grey-brown dusted, not entirely obscuring ground colour, slightly subshining, area behind ocellar tubercle more thinly dusted, shining. Outstanding pale yellow hairs to white hairs of occiput, short dorsally, hardly overtopping ocellar tubercle, longer ventrally where hairs are as long as those on front of mesonotum but not very dense. Ommatidia uniform in size across the eyes. Antennae black, postpedicel variable but usually from one and a half to twice length of scape and pedicel together, sensilla in subapical sulcus can be pale and so conspicuous. All antennal segments with short yellow hairs above, longest just before subapical sulcus, fewer and shorter than in related species. Palps short but easily visible, less strongly clavate than related species, black, the yellow apical setae as long as the length of the palps. Proboscis relatively short, approximately one and a half times head length, dorso-laterally clothed with short, inconspicuous, adpressed brown setae. Basoventral membrane dark murky brown.

THORAX. Black ground colour largely obscured by dark grey dust, more brownish on disc, paramedian and antehumeral vittae conspicuously more thinly black dusted, cuticle not entirely obscured, subshining. Paramedian vittae narrower then dusted acrostichal line, sometimes conspicuously so, widening rearward stopping rather abruptly above the wing base, at this point equal or wider than acrostichal line. Antehumeral vittae either completely separated or narrowed, but not entirely interrupted at the thoracic suture. Mesonotum rather uniformly covered with long, pale yellow hairs, the longest longer than those on the ocellar tubercle, rather less dense than in many related species. Scutellum grey to brown dusted as on mesonotum, scantily haired, hairs similar to those on mesonotum, a little longer marginally. Pleura with similar grey dusting to the notopleuron, hairs on pronotum, dorsal and hind third of anepisternum and a few fine hairs in dorsal part of katepisternum.

WING. Membrane faintly brown tinged, the veins brown. Crossvein r-m a little beyond basal third of discal cell but before middle, conspicuously beyond m-cu. Anal lobe moderately developed with evenly convex margin, equal to the anal cell.

HALTERE. Pale yellow, base of stem slightly brownish.

LEGS. Coxae black with a coating of dark grey dust similar to that on the pleura. Remainder of legs black or very dark brown, very thinly dusted so the shining cuticle is hardly dulled. Coxae externally with rather long, pale yellow or white hairs, anterior four femora ventrally and posteriorly similarly haired, hind femora with similar long white hairs on anterior and ventral faces, longer than the greatest depth of the femora, although sparser than in related species. Femora elsewhere and tibia rather densely covered with short steeply inclined pale yellow or white hairs.

ABDOMEN. All tergites thinly black dusted subshining, especially on apical tergite, laterally, on the reflexed margin, densely grey-brown dusted obscuring the ground colour, most extensive on tergite one where it covers whole disc. Tergites two and three also with the brownish dust laterally more extensive and visible from above. All tergites with very narrow more or less well demarcated pale yellow apical margins, at least laterally. On tergite one this margin is obsolete laterally, but well-marked medially. On the remaining tergites it tends to be broader laterally then tapering away on reflexed margin and often obscure medially, usually darker and browner. Sternites black and densely grey dusted obscuring the ground colour, apically any yellow margins very obscure, hardly visible. Tergites and sternites all covered with long, erect white hairs.

GENITALIA. Conspicuously large and globular, approximately as voluminous as the abdomen, larger than in related species (only cyrenaica gen. et sp. nov. approaches these proportions). Gonocoxites black, shining, composed of two rounded hemispheres separated by a deep sulcus. Epandrium shining black, apico-lateral corners distinctly produced unlike any other member of the genus, usually visible in dried specimens. Gonostyli strongly bent inwards, outer curve almost forming a semi-circle. Apical third with

twisted apical flange relatively large and sub-triangular. Both gonocoxite and epandrium covered in long pale yellow to white hairs, those on gonocoxite even longer than those on tergites.

Female

Very similar to male except for broader frons, narrowest at front ocellus where it is three times or more as wide as the diameter of that ocellus. Rear half of frons widening very slightly, almost parallel before widening out in anterior half. Hind ocellus separated from eye margin by about the diameter of that ocellus. Hairs more extensive along eye margins in a single row almost to the level of the front ocellus, on anterior part of frons scattered white hairs, rarely much longer than scape. Yellow apical margins to the tergites relatively broader, although still obsolete centrally in some individuals, tergite eight shining with broad yellow margin. Sternites more obviously with yellow apical margins. Abdominal hairing a little sparser and shorter. Proximal part of genital fork at about 90° angle to the arms, rather boat-shaped, bluntly pointed, arms very robust, basal spermathecal ducts greatly expanded and fusing before the fused vaginal plate/genital fork forming a short common duct.

Remarks

Thus far only known from the type locality in Guercif Province, northeastern Morocco. A relatively small species with exceptionally large globular male genitalia, perhaps showing affinity with Pru. benoisti gen. et sp. nov., but could be equally closely related to several other Parusia gen. nov. It is another remarkable example of the strong propensity for endemism within the Usiini , and more cryptic species within the genus can be expected.

Distribution

Northeastern Morocco (Guercif).

Figures

Fig. 15. Parusia faesae gen. et sp. nov., ♂.

Fig. 64. Parusia faesae gen. et sp. nov. a. Epiphallic complex ventral. b. Epiphallic complex lateral. c. Gonocoxite ventral. d. Gonocoxite lateral. e. Epandrium dorsal. f. Female genitalia ventral. g. Female genitalia lateral.