Heteromeringia helina, Lonsdale, 2009

Lonsdale, Owen, 2009, The Heteromeringia (Diptera: Clusiidae: Clusiodinae) of Australia, Records of the Australian Museum 61 (3), pp. 229-262 : 243-244

Heteromeringia helina n.sp.

Figs 35–37 , 94

Type material. HOLOTYPE: New South Wales: Carrai SF, 30°54'33"S 152°16'28"E, 1075 m, E. Tasker, 3–8.xii.1997, sticky trap on E. campanulata, CC-CR-127-2 (1♂, AMS) . PARATYPES: New South Wales: Carrai SF, 30°54'19"S 152°17'36"E, 1055 m, E. Tasker, 3–8.xii.1997, sticky trap on E. campanulata, CC-DP-127-4 (2♂♂, AMS) , Werrikimbe NP, 31°11'56"S 152°10'23"E, 1025 m, E. Tasker, 1–7.xii.1997, sticky trap on E. viminalis, WC-WN-127-5 (1♂, DEBU) , Werrikimbe NP, 31°11'56"S 152°10'23"E, 1025 m, E. Tasker, 1–7.xii.1997, sticky trap on E. campanulata, WC-WN-127-1 (♂, AMS; 1♂, USNM), sticky trap on E. saligna, WC-WN-127-6 (1♂, AMS) .

Additional material examined. New South Wales: Leura Falls , 3.i.1973, D.H. Colless (2♀♀, ANIC) .

Description

Male. Body length 2.9–3.4 mm. Anepisternal disc present. First flagellomere orbicular. Bristles black. Arista pubescent. Vibrissa relatively long and curved. Ocellar bristle long and as thick as postvertical. Two dorsocentral bristles. Gena relatively small and angled inwards, but not bent at mid-height. Face and buccal cavity smoothly curving and velvety. Frons brownish-orange with anterior, lateral and posterior margins yellowish; first flagellomere light yellow; face rusty; back of head dark brown above foramen; anterior 1 ⁄ 3 –½ of gena sometimes rusty; upper half of gena silvery tomentose; anterior half of frons pilose. Thorax dark brown with orange tint on posterior half of postpronotum. Legs yellow with fore coxa light yellow, fore tarsi brown with basal one or two segments light brown to yellow, fore femur brown apically on sides, and fore tibia with dark inner and outer subapical spots (sometimes also with light outer sub-basal spot); apical spots on fore femur and tibia sometimes form complete bands. Fore tarsi ovate in cross section. Abdomen dark brown. M 1+2 ratio 6.0–8.5. Wing dusky along anterodistal margin. Halter white.

Female. As described for male except as follows: notum evenly brown; fore tarsi laterally flattened; fore tibia darker with faint brown mottling; first flagellomere yellow with anterior and inner-distal margins infuscated on dorsal half; dorsal half of occiput brown; gena yellow.

Male terminalia ( Figs 35–37 ). Epandrium well developed and relatively large (comparable to those of Sobarocephala species , but much smaller than that of H. magnicauda ). Cerci widest medially and emarginate. Surstylus dark, heavilysclerotized, triangular, with longitudinal wrinkles and two apical tubercle-like bristles. Hypandrium+pregonite long, thin and truncated with square anterodistal emargination. Distiphallus with two posterobasal projections at junction with basiphallus; with lobate posteriorly-directed sclerite projecting from one rib near base; other rib trifid with one process long and coiled.

Female terminalia (Fig. 94). Sternite and tergite 8 entirely fused. Spermathecae wider than long, transversely wrinkled, apically concave and with distal margin raised on one side. Ventral receptacle slightly tapered apically and with subterminal flagellum straight and long.

Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Greek for “vine tendril” (helinos), describing the shape of the phallus.

Comments. Like many Australian congeners, Heteromeringia helina has a dark notum, pale fore coxae and apically brown fore femora. Unlike these other species, however, the fore tibia is yellow with brown mottling, the palpus is relatively thin, the male face is reddish, the distiphallus has a characteristic apical “coil” and the distal margin of the spermatheca is produced on one side (also seen in H. hypoleuca ).

The two known females of this species are only tentatively included due to a relative lack of convincing autapomorphies. While they are similar to the males in overall colouration, other Australian Heteromeringia (such as H. patula , H. stegna , H. macropa and H. montana ) are also similarly coloured, and a conservative approach will be taken because of the aforementioned sexual dimorphism characteristic of Old World Heteromeringia . Of these similar species, H. macropa has a thin palpus but the fore tibia is brown; H. patula (also with tentatively assigned females) has a mottled fore tibia, but tergite 1 is yellow, the mid coxa is brown, and the mid and hind femora have light brown spots.

Figures

Figures 28–37. Figs 28–31: male terminalia, Heteromeringia bisetosa n.sp. (Mt. Cook male); (28) external, left lateral; (29) external, posterior; (30) phallus, anterior (left detail distiphallus of Mt. Tozer male); (31) hypandrial complex (distal portion of distiphallus removed), left lateral. Figs 32–34: male terminalia, Heteromeringia hardyi McAlpine; (32) external, left lateral; (33) external, posterior; (34) hypandrial complex, left lateral. Figs 35–37: male terminalia, Heteromeringia helina n.sp.; (35) external, left lateral; (36) external, posterior; (37) hypandrial complex, left lateral. Scale bar = 0.25 mm.