Leia iturupensis Zaitzev, 2001

Polevoi, Alexei & Salmela, Jukka, 2016, New data on poorly known species of the genus Leia Meigen (Diptera, Mycetophilidae) from the Palaearctic region, Zootaxa 4103 (5), pp. 487-500 : 490-492

Leia iturupensis Zaitzev, 2001

( Figs. 2 ; 6B)

Leia iturupensis Zaitzev, 2001: 457

Material examined: RUSSIA: 1♂, Amur province, Klimoutsy, 40 km W of Svobodnyi, 13.8.1958 ( ZIN, Zinovjev leg., pinned).

Diagnosis. A yellow species with clear wings and tripartite gonostylus, dorsal branch forked apically.

Description. Male (n=1)

Head yellow with darkened spots around ocelli, covered with pale setae. Three ocelli, with laterals close to, but not touching eye margin,. Clypeus, mouthparts and palpus yellow. Palpus slightly longer than head height. Scape and pedicel yellow, flagellum yellow at the base, gradually darkened after segment 4. Pedicel with one elongate seta apically, reaching the apex of flagellomere 2. Middle flagellomeres 0.8 as long as wide.

Thorax mainly yellow with pale setae. Mesoscutum yellow with brown patches above wing bases. Scutellum yellow with four strong marginal bristles. Lateral parts of the thorax and mediotergite yellow.

Wing ( Fig. 6 B). Wing length 3.5 mm. Wing hyaline with small dark spot at base of anal veins. Veins yellow. All, except Sc and A2 densely setose on dorsal side. Sc2 well beyond the middle of Sc. Base of M-fork beyond the middle of ta. CuA1 interrupted at base. R1 0.8 times as long as ta, which is 0.16 times as long as R5 and 1.19 times as long as M-stem. Haltere pale yellow.

Legs. Coxae yellow, fore coxa with punctiform black spot at the apex, mid and hind coxa with narrowly darkened apical margins. Trochanters yellow with dark ventral spots. Femora yellow, apex of hind femur narrowly darkened. Tibiae and tarsi yellow. Ratio of femur to tibia for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.17; 1.0; 0.79. Ratio of tibia to basitarsus for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.11; 1.46; 2.24. Tibial setae black, spurs yellow. Fore tibia with one spur that is 2.57 times as long as apical tibial diameter. Mid and hind tibia with two spurs. Posteroventral spur on mid tibia 1.24 times longer than anteroventral spur and posteroventral spur on hind tibia 1.23 times longer than anteroventral spur.

Abdomen uniformly yellow with pale setae. Terminalia ( Fig. 2 ) yellow. Gonocoxite with only a few setae on the apical part. Medial ventral process of gonocoxite long and slender, with central protrusion bearing a group of long curved setae. Apicoventral corner of gonocoxite attenuated with two apical and several subapical setae. Gonostylus tripartite, dorsal branch forked apically. Tergite 9 small, rounded caudally and with several setae. Cerci elongate, about 2 times as long as tergite 9. Aedeagus with sclerotized, arrow-headed, apical part, ejaculatory apodeme bilobed. Paramere about 1.3 times as long as aedeagus, bowed in lateral view, with sharp apex and ventral flange in the middle. Hypoproct with slightly protruding apicolateral corners and medial group of stout setae.

Female. Unknown

Biology. Collected by sweep net in mixed oak-pine forest.

Distribution. East Russia (Kuril Islands, Amur Province).

Remarks. L. iturupensis was only known from the holotype from the Kuril Islands. The specimen studied by us is mostly yellow, while the holotype has brown spots on the thorax and abdomen ( Zaitzev 2001). Nevertheless the peculiar structure of the gonostylus leaves us in no doubt about the species determination. Based on male terminalia, L. iturupensis resembles L. graeca Bechev , L. umbrosa Caspers and L. subfasciata (Meigen) . Principal differences are found in the gonostylus. In L. iturupensis the dorsal branch of the gonostylus is forked apically, while in other species it is simple ( L. umbrosa , L. subfasciata ) or with a small preapical tooth ( L. graeca ) (see Caspers 1991, p. 329, Fig. 13, Bechev 1997, p. 180, Figs. 1–3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Leia flavipennis Laštovka & Matile, male terminalia. A. ventral view. B. dorsal view. C. lateral view. D. aedeagal complex, lateral view. E. aedeagal complex, ventral view. F. hypoproct. Scale bars = 0.2 mm. Abbreviations: aed = aedeagus, cerc = cercus, gc = gonocoxite, gst = gonostylus, par = parameres, tg = tergite, vmpg = ventral medial process of gonocoxites.

FIGURE 2. Leia iturupensis Zaitzev, male terminalia. A. ventral view. B. dorsal view. C. lateral view. D. hypoproct. E. aedeagal complex, lateral view. F. aedeagal complex, ventral view. Scale bars = 0.2 mm. Abbreviations: aed = aedeagus, apo = ejaculatory apodeme, cerc = cercus, dbg = dorsal branch of gonostylus, gc = gonocoxite, gst = gonostylus, par = parameres, tg = tergite, vmpg = ventral medial process of gonocoxites.

FIGURE 3. Leia nigricornis van Duzee, Holotype. (Photo by Mike Narahara).

FIGURE 6. Wings of Leia males. A. Leia flavipennis. B. Leia iturupensis. C. Leia nigricornis. D. Leia rufiptera. Scale bars = 2 mm.