Minjerribah litoura Bickel, 2019

Bickel, Daniel J., 2019, Minjerribah (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), a new genus from coastal Queensland, Australia, Zootaxa 4686 (4), pp. 593-599 : 594-595

Minjerribah litoura Bickel , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–5 )

Type Material. HOLOTYPE ♂ , PARATYPES 2 ♂, 3♀ , AUSTRALIA: Queensland: North Stradbroke Island, Dunwich [approx. 5–100 m, 27°30′S 153°24′E], 22.VIII.1958, C.D. Michener . PARATYPES: 1 ♂, same but F.J. Perkins; 3 ♂, 4 ♀, same but S.S. Sekhon [Holotype, QMB registration T245508 , 5 ♂ & 6 ♀ paratypes, QMB; 1 ♂ & 1 ♀ paratypes, AMS]

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Description. Male ( Fig. 4 ). Body length: 3.9–4.1 mm; wing: 3.8 x 1.6 mm. Head ( Fig. 1 ). Cuticle of postcranium, vertex, frons and face dark brown, with frons covered by dense orientated brown pruinosity, and postcranium and face covered by dense grey pruinosity; head slightly wider than high in anterior view; setae black; postoculars forming single row of short black setae around posterior orbit; pair of distinct converging postvertical setae on dorsal postcranium, not in line with postocular setae; ventral postcranium without field of setae; pairs of strong vertical and diverging ocellar setae present; upper face narrowed under antennae; lower face and clypeus wide, and clypeus distinctly tectiform; eye facets uniform; palpus ovate with grey pruinosity and black subapical seta; proboscis brown and rather short; antenna dark brown; scape bare, pedicel with corona of short black setae, and with conus protruding into socket-like base of postpedicel, evident in both median and lateral views; postpedicel lobate and rounded, with slight dorsal depression, from which arista arises; arista as long as head height. Thorax. Mesonotum, scutellum, and pleura dark brown; pleura covered by dense grey pruinosity, and mesonotum mostly covered with lighter brown pruinosity, but ac and dc bands with orientated pruinosity which appear dark brown in posterior view; all setae black; ac totally absent; 5 strong dc present, decreasing in size anteriorly; 1 strong pa, only 1 sa, 1 sr, 1 strong hm, 1 pm, 2 npl; median scutellar setae strong, lateral scutellar seta weak, about one-quarter length of median seta; proepisternum just dorsad of coxa I with strong curved seta. Legs. Coxae and remainder of legs mostly dark brown with yellowish cuticle where coxae join trochanters/ femora, and femoral “knees” slightly yellow; coxae covered with grey pruinosity; CI with strong distolateral row of 4 strong black setae and with some short black vestiture along distal half; CII with some short black anterolateral setae; CIII with strong black lateral seta at 1/3; legs covered with short black vestiture, and stronger setae as noted; Leg I: 3.5; 3.8; 0.9/ 0.7/ 0.5/ 0.4/ 0.6; FI bare; TI with ad seta at 3/10 and stronger ad seta at 2/5; strong dorsal seta at 3/5, strong pv setae at 1/2 and 3/5, and with subapical circlet of anterior (weak), ad, pd (strong) and posterior setae; tarsus I unmodified; Leg II: 5.0; 5.0; 2.5/ 1.0/ 0.8/ 0.5/ 0.7; FII with strong anterior and posterior preapical setae at 4/5; TII with very strong ad setae at 1/4 and 1/2, strong dorsal setae at 1/5, 1/3, and 3/5, ventral at 1/2 (weak) and 3/4, and with subapical circlet of strong pd, dorsal (shorter), ad, av, and pv setae; tarsus II unmodified; Leg III: 5.0; 6.5; 1.9/ 0.9/ 0.8/ 0.6/ 0.6/ 0.5; FIII with only strong anterior seta at 4/5 and with two short av setae distally; TIII with strong ad setae at 1/5, 1/3 (stronger) and 5/8, strong dorsal setae at 1/5, 3/10, 1/2 and 7/10, double posterior row of some 12–15 irregular setal pairs along length, strong ventral seta near 1/2 and 2/3, and subapical circlet of strong av, ad, dorsal, and pv seta; tarsus III unmodified. Wing. Rather broad; membrane hyaline, but with brownish infuscation on membrane along major veins and dm-cu crossvein; R 2+3 ending in costa near 9/10; R 4+5 and M diverging from base, and bowed with respect to each other beyond dm-cu crossvein, but subparallel apically with R 4+5 joining costa anteriad of apex, and M joining posteriad; vein M with flexion or bosse alaire halfway between join with dm-cu and apex; CuAx ratio: 0.9; anal angle absent; lower calypter brown with fan of black setae; halter pale yellow. Abdomen ( Fig. 2 ). Tergites 1–5 wide and rounded, not dorsoventrally flattened, and mostly shiny dark brown with each distal margin with narrow band of silvery pruinosity; tergites covered with short black vestiture and each with row of longer setae near tergal margins; sternites not visible; tergite 6 bare and short, almost entirely retracted under segment 5; segment 7 bare, reduced to short band; sternite 8 ovate with setae only along distal third; tergites 6, 7, 8 and hypopygium mostly retracted under tergite 5 at rest; epandrium rounded, subrectangular; hypandrium not evident; phallus internal with apical hook; surstylus not strongly differentiated from epandrium but fused to it and with 7–8 strong setae along margin; cercus yellowish, lobate and externally rounded and covered with yellow hairs.

Female ( Figs 3 , 5 ). Body length: 4.0 mm; wing: 3.8 x 1.7 mm; similar to male except as noted: lower face and clypeus slightly wider; oviscapt broad, tergite 9+10 divided into two acanthophorites, each bearing 4 strong pointed spines ( Fig. 3 ).

Remarks. Minjerribah litoura sp. nov. is known from a collection made in August on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland (see Discussion, below). The specific epithet litoura is from Greek, with “litos” meaning simple or plain, and “oura” meaning tail, in reference to the rather simple hypopygium of this species.

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Minjerribah litoura sp. nov.: 1, male head, anterior; 2, male postabdomen, extended, left lateral; 3, female postabdomen, left lateral. Legend: cer, cercus; st, sternite, sur, surstylus, tg, tergite. Scale bars: 1, 0.2 mm; 2–3, 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 4–5. Minjerribah litoura sp. nov.: 4, male habitus, left lateral (note protruding cercus); 5, head and thorax, left anterior. Legend: cer, cercus. Scale bars: 4, 1.0 mm; 5, 0.2 mm.