Protypusia kerkini, 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 : 90-92

Protypusia kerkini gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:82A88DD4-C822-404F-8C71-B3DB47C9F344

Fig. 50

Etymology

Noun in apposition, after the type locality, Kerkini, in Northern Greece.

Type material

Holotype

GREECE • ♂; “ Kerkini , Midway site 750 m, N41°18′49.8″ E23°16′35.6″, 23-29 June 2008, leg. G. Ramel Malaise ”; NHMUK.

Paratypes

GREECE • 1 ♂; “ Kerkini , Lithotopos site, N41° 13740 E23° 21714, 20-26 June 2005, leg. G. Ramel Malaise ”; NHMUK • 1♀; “ Kerkini site, N41° 15181 E23° 19866, 20-26June 2005, leg. G. Ramel Malaise ”; NHMUK • 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; “ Tree 4 330 m, N41°16′33.4 E23°12′49.8, 14-20 July 2008, leg. G. Ramel pan trap”; OUMNH • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; “ Krousia Mts. Site 190 m, N41°11′32″ E23°3′59″, 27 June-3 July 2007, leg. G. Ramel Malaise ”; PCDG • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; “ Krousia Site 190 m, N41°11′32.4″ E23°3′59.5″, 11-17 July 2007, leg. G. Ramel Malaise ”; PCDG • 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ (pinned); “ Strymon F-Plain 55 m, N41°16’09” E23°19’39”, 21 May 2009, leg. G. Ramel Yellow Pan traps”; PCDG • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀ (pinned); “same data”; NHMUK • 24 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀ (in spirit); “same data”; NHMUK • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; “ Roupel’s Gorge 60 m N41°17′32″ E23°19′35″, 7 June 2009, leg G. Ramel Yellow Pan trap ”; PCDG .

Description

MEASUREMENTS. Body length: 1.7–2.8 mm. Wing length: 1.7–3.0 mm.

Male

HEAD. Gena very narrow, linear, almost invisible, the shining yellow mouth margin significantly broader than gena, about as wide as width of front ocellus. Gena broadening abruptly just below antennae, running into long narrow frons, at antennal insertions hardly as wide as scape, covered with whitish-grey dust, a little darker and browner centrally. Eyes very narrowly separated by about half the diameter of anterior ocellus. Vertex between the eyes densely brown dusted, a little darker than the frons. Ocellar tubercle dark in ground colour, dark brown dusted, all ocelli contiguous with the eye. Pale hairs on ocellar tubercle about as long as width across hind ocelli, often sparse or even absent. White hairs on frons also short and inconspicuous. Eye facets small and equal throughout. Occiput dark in ground colour, densely coated with grey-brown dust, area behind ocelli a little darker. Occiput covered with pale yellow to white hairs, upper ones short, those on ventral side of head a little longer. Antennae black with a brown or grey cast on scape and pedicel, postpedicel conspicuously longer than scape and pedicel together, obviously contracted below in apical third, convex, swollen below in basal two thirds, tip truncate. Palps small but larger than in many related species, easily seen, pale whitish with a few inconspicuous pale hairs apically. Proboscis black, fairly long, about equal to head-thorax length (with scutellum), hairless dorsally, the basoventral membrane pale whitish.

THORAX. Dark ground colour obscured by dense grey to brown dust, often with an olive tinge, patterned with sharply defined dark brown paramedian vittae back to just rear of wing bases and antehumeral vittae, the latter broadly separated at thoracic suture. Area in front of scutellum with a clear prescutellar vittae running forward almost to paramedian pair; supra-alar area just behind transverse suture lacking any defined spot. Hairs of mesonotum white to very pale yellow, relatively short, arranged along acrostichal and dorsocentral lines irregularly bi- to tri-serial more general on lateral parts of mesonotum. Scutellum dark grey-brown dusting similar to adjacent parts of mesonotum, yellowish to white hairs sparse on disc longer around margin. Pleura greyer dusted than mesonotum, pronotum and posterior two-thirds of the anepisternum, with short white hairs.

WING. Membrane hyaline with the faintest brownish tinge, the veins brown, yellower basally. Crossvein r-m between one third and mid-point of discal cell, distinctly beyond m-cu. Anal lobe well developed with evenly convex margin, clearly broader than anal cell.

HALTERE. Clear white knob lacking defined brown dorsal spot, stem slightly infuscated especially at base.

LEGS. Femora and coxae brown to black with trochanters yellow, hind ones more or less darkened, base and tips of femora narrowly yellow, tibia and base of basitarsi yellow, apical tarsal segment black. Coxae grey dusted like pleura, femora also grey-dusted but more thinly so. Coxae, femora and tibia clothed with short white hairs, longer on the coxae, fore and mid-femora posteriorly, hind femora antero-ventrally.

ABDOMEN. Dark brown dusted with greyer dust laterally with all tergites with broad, conspicuous yellow margins, broadest on basal tergites and laterally, extending right to edge of tergites. All tergites with white to pale yellow hairs mainly longer than the length of respective tergite, longest laterally, shorter and sparser on disc. Sternites similar to tergites but distinctly more grey-dusted, pale apical margins more obscure.

GENITALIA. Large for the genus, but still not quite as large as in Pro. punctipennis , dusting similar to lateral part of abdomen, epandrium shining apically, yellow to brownish or blackish. Gonocoxite also shining and more brownish apically. Both epandrium and gonocoxite with long hairs as on tergites, or even longer on gonocoxites.

Female

Differs from the male in its broadly separated eyes, about one fifth head width, hind ocelli separated from eye margin by a little more than their diameter. Frons dusted as occiput, a little greyer, a darker brown line down middle from front ocellus to antennae, short sparse hairs antero-laterally. Postpedicel averages a little shorter. Hairing of thorax, legs and abdomen shorter, significantly so on the abdomen. Femora often much paler, almost as yellow as tibia.

Remarks

This species forms a distinct group with Pro. punctipennis and Pro. strymonas gen. et sp. nov., all of which are clearly very closely related. They are characterised by their relatively large male genitalia, approaching the condition seen in Parusia gen. nov. However, the epiphallic complex and female genitalia are very much of the same type as seen in more typical members of Protypusia gen. nov. These three species are confined to the eastern Mediterranean, and while Pro. punctipennis is widespread, the other two are currently only known from the vicinity of Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece, an example of the propensity for endemicity within the Usiini .

Distribution

Greece.

Figures

Fig. 50. Protypusia kerkini gen. et sp. nov. a. Epiphallic complex ventral. b. Epiphallic complex lateral. c. Gonocoxite ventral. d. Gonocoxite lateral. e. Epandrium dorsal. f. Epandrium lateral. g. Female genitalia ventral. h. Female genitalia lateral.