Metadon persicus Gilasian & Reemer

Gilasian, Ebrahim, Reemer, Menno & Parchami-Araghi, Mehrdad, 2015, The first southwest Asian record of the subfamily Microdontinae, and the description of a new species of Metadon Reemer from Iran (Diptera: Syrphidae), Zootaxa 4058 (1), pp. 112-118 : 113-117

Metadon persicus Gilasian & Reemer sp. nov.

( Figs 4–12 )

Type material. Holotype ♀, Iran, Lorestan province, Doroud, Bisheh village, 33°20'28.2"N 48°52'29.7"E, 1310 m, 20.iv.2009, leg. E. Gilasian, coll. HMIM.

Diagnosis. Face 1/2 times as wide as head in frontal view ( Fig. 5 ); basoflagellomere nearly as long as scape ( Figs 6–7 ); mesoscutum with three transverse golden fasciae; wing hyaline, without dark parts ( Fig. 10 ); scutellum blackish brown without calcars ( Fig. 12 ); abdomen 1.4 times as long as wide, abdominal tergites 3–5 each with an anterior fascia of golden pile which clearly narrows medially on tergites 4–5 and with a distinct gap on tergite 3 anteromedially; tergite 2 orange except for anteromedian semicircular black spot; almost anterior 1/2 of tergite 3 (except median portion) and posterior 1/4 of tergite 5 orange ( Fig. 9 ).

Description of holotype. Body length: 13.5 mm. Head ( Figs 5–7 , 11 ). Face, gena and occiput yellowish orange, golden pilose; frons brownish with golden pilosity, half of frons anterolaterally blackish brown extending towards lower eye margin as a narrow black strip; vertex brownish orange; frons, vertex and upper third of postocular margin with numerous black dots; face about 1/2 times as wide as head, straight in lateral view; oral margin not projected; scape and arista brownish orange, pedicel and basoflagellomere black; basoflagellomere 0.93 times as long as scape and about 4 times as long as pedicel. Thorax ( Figs 8 , 12 ). Mesoscutum blackish brown, golden pilose, with three thicker median longitudinal vittae of golden pile and three transverse fasciae of thicker golden pile along anterior margin, transverse suture and posterior margin close to scutellum (dorsal view); postpronotum yellow with golden pilosity; lateral margin of mesoscutum brown; postalar callus dark brown; scutellum semicircular, blackish brown; golden pilose; anepisternum with deep sulcus, blackish brown and entirely golden pilose; anepimeron brownish black, entirely pilose; katepisternum brownish black with golden pilosity in dorsal half, ventral half bare; meron (hypopleuron) brownish black, pilose dorsally; katatergum with long microtrichosity; anatergum brownish orange and with short microtrichosity. Wing ( Fig. 10 ). Hyaline, without infuscated parts; covered predominantly with microtrichosity except narrow posterior portion of cell r1 close to vein Rs, basal 1/3 of cell br extending narrowly to apical 4/5 of cell along vein M, most of cell bm (only posteroapical protion of cell microtrichose), basal 1/4 of cell cup and median portion of alula; tegula dark brown, blackish pilose; basicosta dark brown; calypter and halter whitish yellow. Legs. Yellow, predominantly yellow pilose with a few apparent black pilosity on femora; Coxae blackish brown, yellow pilose; trochanters yellow dorsally and brownish black ventrally, yellow pilose with a few blackish pilosity ventrally. Abdomen ( Fig. 9 ). Relatively long, about 1.4 times as long as wide; tergite 1 mostly black, anterolaterally brown, yellow pilose; tergite 2 orange except for anteromedian semicircular black spot, golden pilose anteriorly, posterior half black pilose; tergite 3 orange in about anterior 1/2, posterior black portion narrowly extends to anteromedian margin; tergite 4 and anterior 3/4 of tergite 5 black; posterior 1/4 of tergite 5 orange, tergites 3–5 each with an anterior fascia of golden pile which clearly narrows medially on tergites 4–5 and with a distinct gap on tergite 3 anteromedially, posterior 1/3 of tergite 4 and posterior 1/2 of tergite 5 with mixture of golden and black pilosity; sternite 1 black, yellow pilose, other sternites yellow, yellow pilose.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology. The name ‘ persicus ’ [Latin, adjective] refers to Persia, the historical name of Iran.

Figures

FIGURES 4 – 9. Female holotype of Metadon persicus sp. nov.. Fig. 4: dorsal view. Scale bar = 1 mm. Fig. 5: head, frontal view. Fig. 6: head, lateral view. Fig. 7: head, dorsal view. Fig. 8: anepisternum. Fig. 9: abdomen. Scale bars of Figs 5 – 9 = 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 10 – 14. Figs 10 – 12: Female holotype of Metadon persicus sp. nov. Fig. 10: wing. Fig. 11: frons. Fig. 12: mesoscutum. Figs 13 – 14: Female Metadon nr. persicus. Fig. 13: frons. Fig. 14: mesoscutum. All scale bars = 0.5 mm.