Dasyhelea sandrageorgei Dominiak

Dominiak, Patrycja & Alwin, Alicja, 2013, Five new species and new records of biting midges of the genus Dasyhelea Kieffer from the Near East (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 3683 (2), pp. 133-144 : 139-140

Dasyhelea sandrageorgei Dominiak sp. nov.

( Figs 13–15 )

Type material. Holotype: adult male. Lebanon. Tyre, Al-Bass ruins, N 33° 16.232 E 35°12.706, 19 m asl, 12.V.2012, net, leg. P. Dominiak (UG).

Diagnosis. This species has a pair of slightly convergent aedeagal processes, which are membranous in their lateral parts, and slender posterior process of right paramere, distinctly bent in its distal portion.

Description. Male. Head. Flagellum length 0.56 mm, AR 0.86. Distal flagellomeres with two rows of long setae, flagellomere 13 without apical prolongation ( Fig. 13 ). Clypeus composed of two separate sclerites, elongate, bearing 9 strong setae. Maxillary palp ( Fig. 14 ) with third palpal segment slender, 62 μm long, PR III 5.17. Thorax.

Transverse suture absent. Wing membrane hyaline, covered with fine macrotrichia. Only one radial cell present. Wing length 0.76 mm, CR 0.41. Scutellum yellow, with 6 stout setae. Legs uniformly colored, TR I 2.3, TR II 2.4, TR III 2.0. Genitalia ( Fig. 15 ). Tergite 9 tapered distally, bearing two cornet-shaped apicolateral processes. Posterior margin of sternite 9 extended, conical, fused to aedeagus by conspicuous bridge. Gonostylus evenly arched, with short, ventral, finger-like projection in basal part. Parameres asymmetrical and fused. Posterior process broadly fused to right basal arm, long, slender and distinctly bent apically. Submedian projections of aedeagus slightly convergent, with recurved tips and membranous lateral borders.

Female and immatures. Unknown.

Derivation of the name. The species is named after Sandra Abou Najm and George Kachacha, who deserve special thanks for their kind assistance during field research in Lebanon.

Distribution. Lebanon.

Comments. Dasyhelea sandrageorgei is close to D. leptoclada Remm. The two species slightly differ in the shape of aedeagus and in the length of the bent part of paramere that is markedly shorter in the new species.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 15. Dasyhelea nauta Dominiak sp. nov. (9 – 12), holotype male: 9. flagellomeres 9 – 13, 10. palpus, 11. ventral view of genitalia, 12. parameres; Dasyhelea sandrageorgei Dominiak sp. nov. (13 – 15), holotype male: 13. distal flagellomeres, 14. palpus, 15. ventral view of genitalia.