Elaphropeza obliquinervis de Meijere, 1914

SHAMSHEV, IGOR V. & GROOTAERT, PATRICK, 2007, Revision of the genus Elaphropeza Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from the Oriental Region, with a special attention to the fauna of Singapore, Zootaxa 1488 (1), pp. 1-164 : 57-58

Elaphropeza obliquinervis de Meijere, 1914

Elaphropeza obliquinervis de Meijere, 1914: 73 , Taf. 2, Fig. 9 (wing) (male).

Re-description. Male. Body length 2.0 mm, wing length 3.1 (2.3 in the original description) mm. Head with occiput wholly black, subshining, finely greyish pollinose. Anterior ocellars long, proclinate; posterior ocellars minute. Inner verticals long, outer ones somewhat shorter. Antenna with scape and pedicel brownish yellow, postpedicel and style black. Pedicel with circlet of subequally short setulae. Postpedicel 3.0 times longer than wide. Style densely pubescent, quite thick, 2.5 times longer than postpedicel and 1.7 times as long as scape, pedicel and postpedicel combined. Gena not produced below eye. Palpus small, pale yellow.

Thorax almost wholly yellow, with yellow to brownish yellow bristles; scutum with 1 large rounded spot closer to notopleural space and median vitta in anterior part, hypopleuron in upper part, metapleuron wholly and metanotum posteriorly brownish. Scutellum, metapleuron and metanotum finely tomentose, otherwise thorax shining. Prothoracic episterna with 1 long upturned bristle just above fore coxa and 1 short bristle in upper part. Postpronotal bristle not prominent. Mesonotum with 2 notopleural, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 postalar and 4 scutellar (inner ones very long, cruciate; outer ones very short) bristles. Acrostichal and dorsocentral bristles multiserial, uniform (except long prescutellars).

Legs with fore and mid tibiae and tarsi brownish, hind femur on apical half and hind tibia entirely dark brown. Fore femur with rows of short antero- and posteroventral bristles and 2 longer bristles near base. Fore tibia lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Mid femur with 2 rows of spinule-like, short, ventral bristles, 1 long thin bristle near base and 1 anterior subapical bristle. Mid tibia with 1 row of black ventral spinules in apical part, lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Hind femur bearing 1 row of short anteroventrals and 3–4 erect dorsal bristles near base. Hind tibia lacking prominent bristles; apical projection hardly prominent, rounded, clothed in dense brownish setulae. Hind tarsomere 1 somewhat thickened.

Wing normally developed, uniformly finely brownish infuscate, covered with uniform microtrichia; veins yellowish to brownish yellow. Costal vein with moderately long setulae along anterior margin. Basal costal bristle moderately long, brownish. Costal index: 65/64/45/20. Vein Rs subequal to crossvein bm-cu. Vein R2+3 almost straight. Veins R4+5 and M1+2 parallel near wing apex, R4+5 straight, M1+2 bowed. Vein CuA1 reaching wing margin. Vein A1 present as fold. Crossvein bm-cu strongly oblique. Crossvein r-m far before middle of cell bm (cell br very short). Halter brown.

Abdomen with dark brown tergites, subshining. Tergites 3–5 with squamiform setae. Tergite 7 with rather long posteromarginal bristles.

Terminalia large, brownish. Not examined.

Female. Unknown.

Type material examined. Holotype male labelled: [red label] Elaphropeza / obliquinervis / de Meijere, 1914 / ZMAN type DIPT.0488.1; Elaphropeza / obliquinervis [hand-written] / det. de Meijere / Type [handwritten]; E. Jacobson / Nonghodjadjar / JAVA Jan 1911 ( ZMAN).

De Meijere (1914) described this species from a single male that is deposited in the ZMAN. Currently, the holotype is in good condition .

Distribution and bionomics. Indonesia (Java).

Remarks. The relationships of E. obliquinervis are unclear beyond inclusion within the E. biuncinata species group, primarily due to the presence of a long upturned bristle just above fore coxa and squamiform setae on abdominal tergite 3. Among species of the E. biuncinata group only this species has a very short cell br of the wing that is also found in some species of the E. ephippiata group. Elaphropeza obliquinervis can be readily distinguished from other yellow species having a black occiput but lacking prominent bristles on the hind tibia, by a strongly oblique cross-vein bm-cu. In many species of Elaphropeza cross-vein bm-cu is somewhat oblique but this condition differs distinctly from that found in E. obliquinervis . Additional distinguishable characters of this species are indicated in the key.

Figures

FIGURES 6–9. Elaphropeza sp. 42 (Malaysia: Langkawi) closely related to E. biuncinata (Melander) 6. antenna. 7. epandrium with cerci. 8. right surstylus. 9. left surstylus.