Dasyrhicnoessa adelpha Munari, 2005

Munari, Lorenzo, 2016, The Canacidae of the Arabian Peninsula (Diptera: Brachycera: Carnoidea), Zootaxa 4092 (4), pp. 489-517 : 496

Dasyrhicnoessa adelpha Munari, 2005

(figs. 9‒12)

Dasyrhicnoessa adelpha Munari, 2005a: 589 [ India. Goa, Panjim, beach; HT ♂, TAU].

Distribution. Afrotropical: United Arab Emirates (new). Oriental: India ( Goa).

Additional material examined. United Arab Emirates: Khor Kalba, 25°0.9’N – 56°21.6’E, mangrove, 4.iii.2010, W.N. Mathis, 3 ♂♂ 4 ♀♀, [LMC, USNM].

Remarks. This species belongs to the Dasyrhicnoessa tripunctata -group (Munari, 2015a). It differs from the other species of this group mainly by the different outlines, in lateral view, of both anterior and posterior surstyli (figs. 9‒10). However, the specimens examined here differ from those of the type series from Goa ( India) in having a slightly different shape of the anterior surstylus in lateral view (fig. 12). This is probably due to geographic variation, in that the posterior surstylus in the two populations is quite similar in both lateral and posterior views ( Figs. 9, 11 ). Actually, the posterior surstylus is always consistently diagnostic in all species of the Dasyrhicnoessa tripunctata -group. Munari (2005a) stated that this species is characterised by having frons and gena distinctly darker than those of D. tripunctata Sasakawa, 1974 . However, further observations, including the descriptions of two other new species, have proved these character states are not consistent, and fall within the range of variation seen within this group. Therefore, the most reliable method of distinguishing this species from the others with spotted abdominal tergites is to examine the structures of the male terminalia. D. adelpha is recorded here for the first time from the United Arab Emirates.

Figures

FIGURES 9 ‒ 12. Dasyrhicnoessa adelpha Munari: 9 — Male terminalia in lateral view; 10 — particular of the left anterior surstylus in lateral view; 11 — male terminalia in posterior view; 12 — the left anterior surstylus of the Arabian specimens examined. Scale bars = 0.1 mm (figs. 9, 11), 0.05 mm (figs. 10, 12) (fig. 12: original; figs. 9 ‒ 11: after Munari, 2005 a).