Heteromeringia patula, Lonsdale, 2009

Lonsdale, Owen, 2009, The Heteromeringia (Diptera: Clusiidae: Clusiodinae) of Australia, Records of the Australian Museum 61 (3), pp. 229-262 : 253-255

Heteromeringia patula n.sp.

Figs 65–68 , 102

Type material. HOLOTYPE: New South Wales: Royal Natl.Pk., Scientists’ Cabin Trail , creek bed, sweep, 25.xii.2003, S.A. Marshall (1♂, AMS) . PARATYPES: New South Wales: same collection as holotype (1♂, DEBU), Otford , NSW, 29.ii.1964, D.K. McAlpine (1♂, AMS) .

Additional material examined. 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. saligna, WC-WN-127-6 (1♀, AMS) .

Description

Male. Body length 3.2–3.4 mm (male) and 4.0– 5.8 mm (female). Anepisternal disc present. First flagellomere orbicular. Bristles black. Arista closely pubescent. Vibrissa relatively long and curved. Ocellar bristle thin and longer than tubercle. Two dorsocentral bristles with small bristle in front of anterior dorsocentral. Gena shallow and not strongly angled or bent. Face and buccal cavity pilose and meeting at an angle. Posterior half of frons dark brown with lateral and posterior margins paler, and anterior half tomentose and bright yellow to orange anteriorly and laterally; occiput and back of head above foramen dark brown; distal margin and ventral ½–¾ of inner face of first flagellomere infuscated; ventral margin of gena shiny orange; remainder of head yellow; dorsal 2 ⁄ 3 of gena pilose. Thorax dark brown. Fore coxa white with outer base yellow to brown; mid coxa brown laterally; fore tarsi dark brown and ovate in cross section; fore tibia mottled brown laterally; fore femur with dark innerdistal spot and with variable brown mottling along length; basal 2 ⁄ 3 of mid and hind femora yellow, mottled brown, or with faint posterodorsal spot; remainder of legs yellow. Abdomen brown with tergite 1 yellow. M 1+2 ratio 4.0–8.8. Wing with light anterodistal infuscation. Halter white with base and side of stalk infuscated.

Female. As described for male except as follows: postpronotum and notopleuron paler; mid coxa light brown dorsally; fore tibia dark brown; fore femur light yellow on basal half and dark brown on distal half; mid femur with light brown medial mottling; hind femur with nearly indistinct medial mottling; frons brownish orange (yellow laterally); apex of palpus infuscated; first flagellomere yellow with anterior and inner-distal margin brown; occiput yellow; gena and face bronze and frons yellow with medial bronze/brown tint; abdomen entirely brown; wing infuscated along distal half of anterior margin.

Male terminalia ( Figs 65–68 ). Epandrium slightly higher than long and distinctly wider than high. Surstylus short and broadly triangular with apex rounded and posterior corner long and fused to epandrium. Cerci tapering apically and shallowly emarginate.

Hypandrium+pregonite with two stout bristles on anterior lobe, and very dark elongate posterior sclerite (wide and truncate distally with several posteromedial setae and several inner-distal setulae) that strongly projects laterally and is distinct even in non-dissected specimens. Phallapodeme thin, but relatively long, arched and broad distally. Ribs of distiphallus long, parallel and twisted medially.

Female terminalia (Fig. 102). Spermatheca slightly longer than wide, shallowly invaginated apically, dark, and with pronounced wrinkled collar. Spermathecal duct approximately four times length of spermatheca with apical section swollen. Ventral receptacle relatively large and recurved with flagellum long and loosely coiled.

Etymology. The specific name is Latin for “spread/ extended”, referring to the characteristic dark lateral processes on the hypandrium+pregonite.

Comments. The females listed above for Heteromeringia patula are only tentatively included in this species on the basis of medial pigmentation on the mid femur (uncommon in species with otherwise pale mid and hind legs), more extensive pigmentation on the fore femur (present only as outer mottling in the males), and a relatively pale bronzecoloured frons (two males also have a bronze anteromedial tint). The pigmentation on the antenna, fore tibia and wing, however, is quite different.

Heteromeringia stegna , H. macropa , H. patula and H. asteia are similar in that they have small, rounded surstyli and an uneven U-shaped sclerite on the distiphallus (free or attached). The genitalia of Heteromeringia patula are easily separable from those of the other species in that the posterolateral sclerite of the hypandrium+pregonite is produced into a long, dark bar that projects laterally from the abdomen and is usually visible without dissection. Furthermore, H. patula has a brown halter, the male palpus and clypeus are yellow, tergite 1 is yellow, the scutum is yellowish posterolaterally, there is yellow mottling on the fore tibia and the first flagellomere has an inner-ventral infuscation.

Of the remaining three species, Heteromeringia asteia has darkly-patterned wings, H. stegna has a brown halter and a basally brown palpus, minute ocellar bristles, a shiny frons and heavily modified external male terminalia, and H. macropa has an entirely brown palpus, a ventrally brown gena, an entirely shiny (not posteriorly tomentose) anepisternum, a dusky wing, an anteriorly infuscated first flagellomere, a relatively long, pointed surstylus and a long series of setae on the hypandrium.

Figures

Figures 62–68. Figs 62–64: Heteromeringia norrisi McAlpine; (62) puparium, posterior; (63) puparium, posterior, ventral; (64) abdomen, ventral. Figs 65–68: male terminalia, Heteromeringia patula n.sp.; (65) external, left lateral; (66) external, posterior; (67) hypandrial complex, anterior; (68) hypandrial complex (distal portion of distiphallus removed), left lateral. Scale bar = 0.25 mm.