Platypalpus brevicornoides Zouhair & Grootaert, 2024

Zouhair, Laila, Grootaert, Patrick & Kettani, Kawtar, 2024, Twelve new species of Platypalpus Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Morocco, with additional new records, European Journal of Taxonomy 951 (1), pp. 1-53 : 39-41

Platypalpus brevicornoides Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DD45D146-EFEE-4153-853B-2B7DA003353B

Figs 26–27

Diagnosis

A small black species (2.3 mm long) of the brevicornis group, with two pairs of long black verticals. Antennae black, postpedicel conical, 2× as long as deep, stylus 3× as long as postpedicel. Thorax with mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe greyish dusted and pleura greyish dusted, leaving a large polished spot on katepisternum. Legs yellow with hind four coxae, fore femur dorsally, a patch on apical third of mid femur dorsally, apical third of hind femur dorsally and fore metatarsus brownish except for yellow apex, hind metatarsus brownish apically, four apical tarsi dark brown except for yellowish base of tarsomeres 2–3, last tarsal segment dilated. Mid tibia with a short, pointed, black apical spur. Wings hyaline with veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 almost parallel before meeting wing margin.

Etymology

This species is named after its similarity to P. brevicornis .

Material examined

Holotype

MOROCCO – Rif • ♂; Chellal Akchour ; 17 Mar. 2019; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; RBINS.

Paratypes

MOROCCO – Rif • 3 ♂♂; Oued Sahil ; 5 Apr. 2014; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 1 ♂; Oued Sifalaou ; 17 Apr. 2016; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 2 ♂♂; Douar Hammadech ; 6 Jan. 2018; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 1 ♂; Barrage Talembote ; 19 Dec. 2020; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 3 ♂♂; Douar El Hamma ; 8 Jan. 2020; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 1 ♂; Amrah ; 15 May 2021; sweep net; M. Nourti leg.; RBINS . – High Atlas • 2 ♂♂; Bni Tadjite ; 9 Apr. 2017; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB .

Description

Male

LENGTH. Body: 2.3 mm; wing: 2.2 mm.

HEAD. Black in ground colour, occiput densely greyish pollinose with short pale setae, two pairs of long black verticals. Gena densely greyish pollinose with long pale setae. Ocellar tubercle greyish pollinose with two black, moderately long anterior setae and two pairs of short black posterior setae. Frons greyish dusted, slightly broader than pedicel. Face yellowish dusted, narrower than pedicel. Clypeus short, polished. Antennae entirely black ( Fig. 27A ; in some specimens, pedicel yellow at base, Fig. 27B ), postpedicel conical, 2× as long as deep, stylus 3× as long as postpedicel. Proboscis brown, shorter than head is high. Palpus yellow, ovate, with scattered pale setulae and two long yellow subapical setae.

THORAX. Black. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe greyish dusted. Pleura greyish dusted leaving a large polished spot on katepisternum. Postpronotal lobe with 1 long black seta and 2 minute setulae. Mesoscutum with 2 notopleurals (anterior long brown, posterior yellow and shorter), 1 long black postalar, 2 long, strong black prescutellars, 4 black scutellars (apical pair long and cruciate, lateral pair short); acrostichals yellow, biserial; dorsocentrals yellow, biserial, as long as acrostichals.

LEGS. Yellow with hind four coxae, fore femur dorsally, a patch on apical third of mid femur dorsally, apical third of hind femur dorsally (in dark specimens also fore and mid tibia ventrally, apical and basal parts of hind tibia darker brown, Fig. 27B ), fore metatarsus brownish except for yellow apex, hind metatarsus brownish apically, four apical tarsi dark brown except for yellowish base of tarsomeres 2–3, last tarsal segment dilated. CoXae and trochanters with ordinary yellowish setae of different lengths. Fore femur thickened, with pale anteroventral and posteroventral setae. Fore tibia somewhat thickened, clothed with ordinary yellow setulae, bearing 5–6 dark setae dorsally. Mid femur as thick as fore femur, with double row of black ventral spinules and row of long, yellow posteroventral setae. Mid tibia slender, clothed with ordinary short setae, with row of ventral spinules and a short, pointed, black apical spur. Hind femur slender, with two ventral rows of long yellow setulae. Hind tibia slender, slightly shorter than femur, covered with ordinary pale setulae.

WINGS. Hyaline, with paler brownish veins. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel throughout. Crossveins m-cu and r-m slightly separated, bm much larger and slightly longer than br. Vein Cu 2 straight, recurrent at base. Vein Cu reaching wing border. Anal vein indistinct. Squama yellowish with long yellow setae. Haltere whitish.

ABDOMEN. With tergites blackish, polished, covered with short pale setae. Sternites blackish brown, polished with similar setation. Male terminalia with both cerci equally long ( Fig. 26B ). Right cercus club-shaped, with a slightly swollen tip, left cercus digitiform with an excavation on left side ( Fig. 26B–C ). Left epandrial lamella bears regularly spaced setae on right side, longer on left border ( Fig. 26C ). Right border bears a distinct protrusion densely set with microtrichia.

Female

Unknown.

Remarks

The key in Grootaert & Chvála (1992) leads to P. brevicornis Zetterstedt, 1842 (couplet 217), but as described by Chvála (1975), the acrostichals are dark brown and 5-serial, the dorsocentrals are dark brown and multiserial, while in the new species the acrostichals are yellow and quadriserial, the dorsocentrals are yellow and uniserial. The legs in P. brevicornis are yellowish including all coxae, and just the basal two-thirds of the femora are brownish, whereas in the new species the legs are yellow with the hind four coxae brown, only the fore coxa is yellow, and the fore femur dorsally, a patch on the apical third of the mid femur dorsally, the apical third of the hind femur, the fore and mid tibia ventrally, and the apical and basal parts of the hind tibia are also darker brown. The fore metatarsus in the new species is brownish except for the yellow apex, the hind metatarsus is yellow, brownish apically, and the four apical tarsi of all legs are almost entirely brownish (except for the yellowish base), whereas all tarsi in P. brevicornis are entirely brown. They differ also in the colour of posteroventral setae, which are black in P. brevicornis and yellow in the new species. The genitalia of the two species are completely different (compare Chvála 1975: figs 498–500 with Fig. 26 ).

Figures

Fig. 26. Platypalpus brevicornoides Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov., male terminalia (holotype, RBINS). A. Right epandrial lamella. B. Epandrium, dorsal view. C. Left cercus in lateral view, left epandrial lamella and apex of hypandrium. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 27. Platypalpus brevicornoides Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov., ♂♂, habitus. A. Specimen with antennae entirely black (holotype, RBINS). B. Specimen with pedicel yellow at the base and the legs with fore and mid tibia ventrally, and apical and basal parts of hind tibia dark (paratype from Amrah, RBINS). Scale bars = 0.5 mm.