Lygistorrhina austroafricana Blagoderov, Papp & Hippa, 2013

Blagoderov, Vladimir, Papp, Laszlo & Hippa, Heikki, 2013, A new species of Lygistorrhina Skuse (Diptera: Sciaroidea: Lygistorrhinidae) from South Africa, Biodiversity Data Journal 1, pp. 962-962 : 962

Rank: SpeciesType of treatment: New taxonextantHabitat: terrestrialRoot classification: 8

Lygistorrhina austroafricana Blagoderov, Papp & Hippa, 2013 sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype Occurrence: catalogNumber: FGO50909 ; recordedBy: L. Papp & M. Földvári; individualCount: 1; sex: male; Location: country: South Africa; stateProvince: Eastern Cape Province; verbatimLocality: Bloukrans Pass, in a side valley; verbatimElevation: 70 m; verbatimLatitude: 33° 57\'09.6" S; verbatimLongitude: 23° 37\' 59.4" E; Event: eventDate: 2007-01-14/16; Record Level: institutionCode: HMNH; collectionCode: Diptera

Type status: Paratype Occurrence: catalogNumber: FGO50910 ; recordedBy: L. Papp & M. Földvári; individualCount: 2; sex: male; Location: country: South Africa; stateProvince: Eastern Cape Province; verbatimLocality: Bloukrans Pass, in a side valley; verbatimElevation: 70 m; verbatimLatitude: 33° 57\'09.6" S; verbatimLongitude: 23° 37\' 59.4" E; Event: eventDate: 2007-01-14/16; Record Level: institutionCode: HMNH; collectionCode: Diptera

Type status: Paratype Occurrence: catalogNumber: FGO50911 ; recordedBy: L. Papp & M. Földvári; individualCount: 2; sex: male; Location: country: South Africa; stateProvince: Eastern Cape Province; verbatimLocality: Bloukrans Pass, in a side valley; verbatimElevation: 70 m; verbatimLatitude: 33° 57\'09.6" S; verbatimLongitude: 23° 37\' 59.4" E; Event: eventDate: 2007-01-14/16; Record Level: institutionCode: HMNH; collectionCode: Diptera

Description

Male. Measurements (mm). Head height 0.38, palpi 0.65, proboscis 1.05, antenna 0.9, thorax length 0.63, thorax height 0.71, metepisternum anterior margin 0.15, posterior margin 0.25; coxa 1 0.53; coxa 2 0.47; coxa 3 0.4; wing 1.9.

Colouration. Body, head and antennae entirely dark brownish-grey, almost black, halters yellowish, legs yellowish-brown.

Head (Fig. 7) rounded, vertex slightly convex. Head dichoptic, oval. Ommatidia round, very densely set, equal in size. Interocular setae as long as the diameter of ommatidia. Three ocelli, almost in a straight line, equal in size, set each on its own mound, lateral facing to the sides, medial facing forward. Antenna (Fig. 4) with scape 1.3x shorter than wide, with ventral setae, pedicel spherical, with whorl of setae apically, flagellum 14-segmented, moniliform, flagellomeres with length 1.5x the width, covered with setae 0.5x the width of flagellomeres, flagellomeres 1-11 with a few slightly longer dorsal setae. Bases of setae on flagellomeres form round depressions. Circular bases of flagellomere setae connected with folds forming polygonal pattern. Face as long as wide, with ventral and lateral setae. Clypeus rounded at apex, its length 1.5x the width. Palpi long, 0.6x the length of proboscis, tapering, with a single row of setae in apical 2/3. Proboscis evenly curved caudally, its length 2x the length of fore coxa. Lingua of hypopharynx very thin, transparent, tapering, with very thin hair at each side, longest at tip.

Thorax, legs, and abdomen uniformly dark brown (Fig. 1). Scutum (Fig. 2) evenly covered with setae of medium length, with longer supraalar setae. Scutellum short, without long setae. Postpronotum apparent, wide. Antepronotum and proepisternum both with 8 setae. Anterior margin of notum well anterior to fore coxa. Ventral margin of preepisternum 2 widely rounded. Metepisternal cleft deep, posterior margin of metepisternum longer than anterior, not extending the level of laterotergite. Laterotergite with a posterior row of 6 long setae. Mediotergite very convex.

Wing (Fig. 3) hyaline, moderately wide, costal margin slightly convex. Microtrichia on membrane long (0.02 mm), overlapping. Costa with long setae, ending at 3/4 distance between R5 and M1. Sc ending at C. R1 and R5 slightly sinusoid, setose dorsally and ventrally. Crossveins r-m and tb weak but distinct. M1 and M2 straight, the base of their fork is reduced, M2 begins more proximally than M1. M3+4 and CuA evenly curved caudally, slightly diverging.

Legs (Fig. 5). Fore coxa is the longest, mid coxa a little shorter. Tibial and tarsal setae not in rows. Number of tibial spurs on fore, mid and hind tibia 1:2:2, fore tibia tibial spur short, ca. 1.5x the tibia diameter, mid and hind tibial spurs with inner spur longer, 1.7x and 1.4x the outer, respectively. Hind tibia expanded apically. Fore and mid tarsal claws blunt, curved, with a very small incision at apex and setiform curved basal process as long as the claw. Hind tibia claw pointed, almost straight, with shorter basal process.

Terminalia (Figs 6, 8). Tergite 9 (Figs 6c, d, 8) roughly arrow-shaped with rounded apex, length 0.17 mm, width 0.15 mm, with long scattered setae and a dense patch of short setae at apex. Apodeme of tergite 9 with short, narrow stalk, a little wider that ½ width of the tergite, with two strong semicircular anterior arms. Gonocoxites fused ventrally, with a deep incision, almost reaching the base of synsclerite (Fig. 6b). Synsclerite length 0.2 mm, width 0.26 mm. Gonostyli simple, length 0.13 mm, with a dorsoapical scoop-shaped tooth. Long flagellate setae on mediodorsal edge of gonostylus slightly shorter than gonostylus.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis

The species differs from all Afrotropical species of Lygistorrhina in being smaller (wing length <2 mm), uniformly coloured very dark brownish-grey to black, and having shorter proboscis, which is at most 2x the length of coxa 1. Lygistorrhina austroafricana is most similar to Lygistorrhina edwardsina Grimaldi & Blagoderov, 2001 ( Grimaldi and Blagoderov 2001), but differs in having a wider wing (length/width ratio 2.4 vs 2.7 in Lygistorrhina edwardsina ) with shorter Sc (0.24x the wing length vs 0.33x) and shorter and wider tergite 9, with stronger anterior arms of apodeme. Lygistorrhina magna Matile, 1996 ( Matile 1996) also has a uniformly dark coloured body and wide apodeme of tergite 9, but it is a much larger fly (wing length 4.8 mm), and tergite 9 apodeme with stem wide and anterior arms not developed.

Etymology

The specific epithet is an adjective in reference to the place of origin of the specimens.

Distribution

South Africa: Eastern Cape.