Panops conspicuus (Brunetti, 1926)

Winterton, Shaun L., 2012, Review of Australasian spider flies (Diptera, Acroceridae) with a revision of Panops Lamarck, ZooKeys 172, pp. 7-75 : 33-35

Panops conspicuus (Brunetti, 1926) Figs 34-38

Epicerina conspicua Brunetti, 1926: 579.

Panops conspicuus (Brunetti, 1926) - Edwards 1930: 193; Paramonov 1957: 529; Neboiss 1971: 210; Schlinger and Jefferies 1989: 376.

Type material examined.

Holotype female, AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: Kalamunda [-31.974, 116.058], 14. iii– 14.iv.1914, R.E. Turner, 1914-349 (BMNH).

Other material examined.

AUSTRALIA: Victoria: male, female, Kiata [-36.366, 141.791], R. Oldfield, X 4172, captured as copulating pair (NMV). Western Australia: female, Boulder Rock [-32.133, 116.166], 15.iii.1981, M.J. Smart, Jarrah Forest, 300m, hovering 2-3 m above ground, taken at rest on leaf (WAM); 4.5 km E Lake Monger on Wanarra Road [-29.544, 116.775], 7.v.2008, T.F. Houston and E. G. Cunningham, 1266-1 (WAM).

Diagnosis.

Eye apilose; proboscis longer than head height; body colour and shape sexually dimorphic: male black with slender body, female yellow and brown with globose abdomen; antennae yellow-brown to red-brown with black suffusion; parafacial without marginal pile; postpronotal lobe yellow; legs yellow with brown medially on femora and tibiae.

Redescription.

Body length: 11.0 mm (male), 12.0-13.0 mm (female). Head with eye apilose; ocellar tubercle raised laterally; medial ocellus present; occiput colour brown-black (male) or brown with dark yellow spot laterally (female); occipital pile yellow; postocular ridge and gena glabrous; clypeus shorter than oral cavity; yellow-brown; palpus yellow; margin of oral cavity (parafacial) glabrous; proboscis longer than head height; flagellum dark yellow, suffused with brown (female) or red with black suffusion (male), apex in male tapered, narrow apically; scape and pedicel brown. Thorax with postpronotal lobe yellow; scutum black (male) or yellow and brown (markings variable) (female); scutal vestiture dense white pile or dense yellow-gold pile; scutellum black or brown; pleuron brown; coxae brown; femora brown-black, apices dark yellow; tibiae dark yellow or dark yellow, suffused with brown; tarsi dark yellow; lower calypter white, with dark yellow margin; wing hyaline (male) or slightly infuscate (female), venation dark; vein R4 with spur vein. Abdomen shape rounded globose, much larger than thorax (female) or cylindrical along length (male), colour orange-yellow or brown-black, vestiture elongate yellow pile (whitish in male).

Comments.

Panops conspicuus is recorded from arid regions of southwest Western Australia and Western Victoria. There is dramatic sexual dimorphism in both body colouration and shape in this species, with males very similar to species of Mesophysa . Panops conspicuus can be differentiated from other Panops species by the bright yellow postpronotal lobes, elongate mouthparts, yellow and brown colouration (female), and apilose eyes. Females of this species are similarly coloured to females of Panops grossi comb. n., a species which also displays dramatic sexual dimorphism.