Microdon mandarinus Reemer

Reemer, Menno & Stahls, Gunilla, 2013, Generic revision and species classification of the Microdontinae (Diptera, Syrphidae), ZooKeys 288, pp. 1-213 : 107-108

Microdon mandarinus Reemer sp. n. Figs 200-205, 213

Type specimens.

HOLOTYPE. Adult male. CHINA. Label 1: "Yunnan: Deqin / 10 km SW: Meili mts. / N28.423°, E98.868° / 2700 m / 20.VI.2009 leg. / Blank, Liston, Taeger / 048 China"; label 2: "Voucher code M. Reemer / 299 / DNA voucher labcode MZH:Y1093". Coll. CSCS.

PARATYPE. CHINA. Label 1: "Yunnan: / Deqin 33 km SE / N28.282°, E99.162° / 3200 m / 18.VI.2009 leg. / Blank, Liston, Taeger / 040 China". Coll. CSCS.

Diagnosis.

The orange colouration of large parts of this species’ body, most notably its head, legs and the lateral parts of the tergites, precludes confusion with any other known Palaearctic or Oriental species of Microdon s.s.

Description (based on holotype).

Adult male. Body size: 11 mm.

Head. Face occupying about 1/3 of head width in frontal view; orange yellow; entirely yellow pilose. Gena black, yellow pilose. Oral margin laterally weakly produced. Frons black; yellow pilose. Vertex yellow; yellow pilose. Occiput black; yellow pilose. Eye almost bare, sparse and short pile visible only under high magnification. Antennal fossa about as high as wide. Antenna pale brown; antennal ratio approximately as 3:1:2.5.

Thorax. Mesoscutum blackish bronze with green metallic hues, except yellow along lateral margins; entirely yellow pilose. Postpronotum, postalar callus and scutellum yellow; yellow pilose. Scutellum trapezoid with slightly concave posterior margin; with minute, barely discernable posterolateral calcars, their mutual distance about equal to 1/3 of width of scutellum. Pleuron blackish, except anepisternum anterodorsally with small yellow spot and katatergum medially with small yellow spot; all pilosity yellow. Anepisternum with deep sulcus separating anterior from posterior part; pilose anteriorly and posteriorly, with widely bare part in between. Anepimeron entirely pilose. Katepisternum pilose dorsally; bare ventrally. Katatergum long microtrichose, anatergum short microtrichose. Calypter and halter yellowish white.

Wing: Hyaline; microtrichose, except bare on posterobasal 1/4 of cell br.

Legs: Yellow, except narrowly blackish around basal cicatrix on femora; yellow pilose. Coxae and trochanters yellow, except hind coxa black on basal half; yellow pilose.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 black; yellow pilose. Tergite 2 black, except orange yellow on lateral 1/6; erect yellow pilose, except for fascia of appressed golden pile along posterior margin. Tergite 3 medially with semicircular black mark, anteriorly as wide as the black part on tergite 2, posteriorly narrow and just reaching posterior margin; laterally orange yellow; short black pilose on most of anterior half, except yellow pilose along lateral margins, with fascia of appressed golden pile along posterior margin. Tergite 4 largely orange yellow, except for vaguely defined blackish mark anteromedially; largely short yellow pilose, except for anterolateral patches of black pile. Sternite 1 black; yellow pilose. Sternite 2 and 3 yellow, except blackish near lateral margins; yellow pilose. Sternite 4 yellow; yellow pilose. Male genitalia as in Fig. 213.

Female. As male, except for the following differences. Body size: 14 mm. Frons largely yellow, except for small triangular black area posteriad of lunula. Antenna: scape and pedicel yellowish. Mesoscutum with pair of small submedian yellow spots at posterior margin. Scutellum without any sign of calcars. Anepimeron, dorsal part of katepisternum, katepimeron, katatergum and anatergum yellow. Tergite 4 with fascia of appressed golden pile on posterior half. Tergite 5 largely orange yellow, except blackish anteromedially; entirely appressed golden pilose.

Etymology.

The species name (adjective) refers to ‘mandarin’, which has a number of meanings. It’s an orange citrus fruit, it’s the most spoken language in China, and it used to be a high governmental function in imperial China. The name is considered appropriate for this species because of the characteristic orange colour of several body parts and the Chinese origin of the type material.