Teuchophorus temasek, Grootaert, 2006

Grootaert, Patrick, 2006, The Genus Teuchophorus (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) In Singapore, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 54 (1), pp. 59-82 : 62-64

Teuchophorus temasek , new species

( Figs. 5-8 )

Material examined. – Holotype male: SINGAPORE: Nee Soon , Central Catchment Area (Upper Peirce Reservoir), acidic swamp forest, Malaise trap, 3 Dec.2003 (23104, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 39).

Paratypes: SINGAPORE: 1 male, Nee Soon , 16 Mar.2005, Malaise trap 1 in swamp forest (25015, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 459) ; 1 female, Nee Soon , 16 Mar.2005, Mal. 2 (25016, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 481) ; 8 males, 2 females, Nee Soon , 16 Mar.2005, Mal. 3, (25017, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 496) ; 1 male, Nee Soon , 12 Aug.2005 (25291, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 949) ; 1 male, 1 female, Nee Soon , 19 Aug.2005 (25298, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 951) ; 5 males, 5 females, Nee Soon , 16 Sept.2005 (25350, coll. P. Grootaert, Si 1110, Si 1111) .

Diagnosis. – A species of the T. gratiosus group with third antennal segment nearly 3.5 times as long as wide and with arista longer than third segment. Acr absent.

Description. – Male. Body length: 1.5 mm; wing length: 1.65 mm.

Head. Frons broad, with shining metallic green ground colour; face concolorous with frons, narrow, near middle as wide as an eye facet. Eye facets enlarged in front and below, small above. Palpi small, brown, with a black apical bristle. Rostrum brown. Occiput shining metallic green. Chaetotaxy as usual; a pair of long brown ocellars and verticals, 2 small postocellars. Postocular cilia uniseriate, short, brown. Antenna ( Fig. 6 ) with basal segments yellow, third segment brown, very long, at least three times (3.2) as long as wide. Arista about 1.5 times as long as third segment.

Thorax. Mesoscutum and scutellum shining metallic green, but yellowish-brown on sides (humeri, notopleural depression, postalar calli). Pleurae brown in apical half, lower half of mesopleura and sternopleura yellow. Long bristles on mesoscutum brown. Chaetotaxy as usual, but no acr, 5 dc. Scutellum with 2 marginals, flanked each by a minute hair. Legs, including coxae, yellow.

Fore leg. Coxa with very short, sparse brown hairs, and a row of brown bristles towards apex. Femur with short, ventral bristles in basal third, half as long as femur is wide. A weak posterior preapical present. Tibia about as long as femur, without bristles or serration. First tarsomere without basal spinule. Length of femur, tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.49: 0.49: 0.3: 0.14: 0.14: 0.07: 0.07.

Mid leg. Coxa with long brown exterior bristle. Femur with a brown preapical av and a preapical pv. Tibia with a weak brownish yellow pd on basal third; 2 ad and apical crown with 2 somewhat longer bristles. Tarsomeres 4 and 5 unusually short. Length of femur, tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.63: 0.6: 0.31: 0.14: 0.8: 0.3: 0.3.

Hind leg. Coxa with a brown exterior bristle (shorter than that on mid coxa). Femur slightly thickened, without any bristle, except a preapical a and av. Tibia longer than femur, with 3 short brownish yellow pd. Length of femur, tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.7: 0.84: 0.14: 0.17: 0.1: 0.07: 0.06.

Wing faintly brownish tinged, with brown veins. Costa not thickened. r4+5 and m1+2 apically slightly diverging. Apical portion of Cu twice as long as tp. Halter yellow. Squama with almost black border and black cilia.

Abdomen brown; venter yellowish. Hairs and bristles brownish. First tergite with 5 pairs of long marginal bristles (outer most short). Hypopygium ( Figs. 7-8 ) brown; cerci brown. Cercus with a long apical bristle (about as long as cercus is long). A pair of strong pedunculate epandrial bristles and a short basal epandrial ( Fig. 7 ). Hypandrium a simple plate.

Female. Body length: 2.1 mm; wing length: 1.92 mm. Identical to male in most respects but third antennal segment short ( Fig. 5 ): a little longer than wide. Face a little broader than in male, a little wider than second antennal segment.

Etymology. – The species name temasek refers to the name of ancient Singapore, which means “city at the sea”. Used as a noun in apposition.

Discussion. – Teuchophorus temasek , new species, is closely related to T. gratiosus but the latter has uniseriate acrostichal bristles and the arista very short. In T. temasek , the arista is longer than the third antennal segment and there are no acrostichal bristles. A synapomorphy are the long marginal bristles on the first tergite.

Teuchophorus temasek , new species, and T. neesoonensis , new species, are sister species. The main differences in the two species are the length of the third antennal segment and the arista. In T. temasek the third antennal segment is nearly 3.5 times as long as wide with the arista longer than the third segment (about 1.5 times as long) and the basal antennal segments are yellowish. In T. neesoonensis the third antennal segment is 4.5 times as long as wide and the arista is shorter than the third segment (3/4 length of third segment). The basal antennal segments are brown. The structure of the hypopygium of both species is almost identical. Both have two strong lateral epandrial bristles on a tubercle and a small median epandrial seta. A strong dorsal bristle is present on the dorsal surstylus. The cercus bears a very long apical bristle. Finally, T. temasek and neesoonensis differ from T. antennatus new species in having no acrostichal bristles and the presence of a well-developed arista. T. antennatus has a very short spine-like arista and distinct, uniseriate acrostichals. It also lacks the very long apical bristles on the cercus and has only a single lateral epandrial bristle.

Distribution and habitat. – Singapore. Swamp forest.

Figures

Figs. 5-8. Teuchophorus temasek, new species: 5, female antenna; 6, male antenna; 7, hypopygium ventral view; 8, hypopygium lateral view. D: dorsal; V: ventral.