Howickia holti, Kuwahara & Marshall, 2022

Kuwahara, Gregory K. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2022, A revision of the Australian species of Howickia Richards (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae: Limosininae), Zootaxa 5192 (1), pp. 1-152 : 122-124

Howickia holti sp. nov.

( Figs. 37.1–37.8 )

Description. Body length: Males 1.2–1.3 mm, female 1.4 mm.

Head: Black, heavily microtrichose, lower third of frons reddish; gena black with anterior corner reddish; antenna brown. Frontal width 1.9x interfrontal height, frontal vitta narrow. Three pairs of large interfrontal bristles; 2 lateroclinate orbital bristles, anterior bristle 0.5x length of posterior bristle. Gena with 3 strong but fine upcurved setae, finely striate, some shine visible through dense microtrichia; vibrissal angle with 1 subvibrissal seta. Palpus clavate with 2 large apical setae. Eye height 3.3x genal height.

Thorax: Black; scutum dull, posterolateral edges reddish. One pair of dorsocentral bristles; 6–7 rows of long, fine acrostichal setulae. Prosternum broad, anteriorly rounded. Scutellum shiny but heavily microtrichose, reddish, semicircular, its length 0.3x its width; 4 scutellar bristles long, basal pair 1.1x length of apical pair.

Legs: Black, tibiae proximally and distally lighter; tarsi yellow-brown. Male mid tibia with a stout apicoventral bristle. Basal half of mid tibia with 3 dorsal bristles (2 anterodorsal and 1 posterodorsal), distal half with 2 dorsal bristles (1 anterodorsal and 1 posterodorsal).

Wing/halter: Halter absent.

Male abdomen: Black, heavily sclerotized, shiny, postabdomen slightly reddish. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly longsetose along entire surface. S5 broad but short (width 3.0x length), symmetrical (right side equal to left), sparsely long-setose, broadly posteromedially desclerotized with 8 stout medial setae and a posterior row of 16 short, flat teeth. Epandrium small, uniformly long-setose; cercus small, rounded with numerous long setae. Hypandrium medially sinuate; ventral lobe small, rounded and broadly joined to main part via a broad sclerotized sheet; posterodorsal lobe small. Surstylus bilobed (ventromedial constriction weak); anterior lobe larger, rounded with numerous fine setulae and 2 large inner thorn-like setae; posterior lobe rounded with several stout ventrolateral setae, including 2 distinctly enlarged thorn-like setae; outer surface of surstylus with sparse setulae. Postgonite broad, proximally with a pair of anterior setulae, anterior edge broad about midlength and constricted apically with a small apical notch. Phallapodeme sinuate, constricted at anterior tenth with small dorsal fin along entire length; basiphallus elongate, arms broadened and truncate apically. Distiphallus simple, tubular, less sclerotized, very gently tapered along entire length, apex membranous with indistinct separation of membrane and sclerites.

Female abdomen: Black, heavily sclerotized, shiny. T2–5 and S2–5 uniformly long-setose along entire surface. Preabdomen subequal in length to head + thorax. Postabdomen short, stout, 2.2x length of T5. T6 and T7 reduced to stout, lateral L-shaped plates, each bearing 3–4 apical setae. Epiproct pentagonal with a small posteromedial tab, medially desclerotized and dorsomedially bearing a pair of sinuate setae. Cercus short, rhombic with 3 long sinuate setae (1 preapical, 1 apical and 1 dorsal) and several smaller setulae. S6 a broad, microtrichose plate bearing a posterior row of 9–10 setae; S7 reduced to a broad, microtrichose plate bearing a posterior row of 8 setae. S8 reduced to a stout, subtriangular, microtrichose plate bearing a posterior row of 4 setae. Hypoproct broadly emarginated anteromedially, posteriorly microtrichose with a row of setae. Spermathecae stout, cup-shaped (though possibly collapsed in female paratype), entirely lightly grooved; stem elongate (1.5–2.0x length of spermatheca) and cylindrical.

Material examined. Holotype: AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: lower Gibraltar Range , 29˚31’S 152˚22’E, 800 m, rainforest, pitfall trap, 23.ix.1999, J. Holt, debu00160466 (♂, AMSA).

Paratypes: AUSTRALIA: same data as holotype (3 ♂, 1 ♀, AMSA, DEBU) .

Etymology. This name is a patronym recognizing J.A. Holt, the collector of the type series.

Comments. Howickia holti externally resembles H. auricoma but has a reddish head and lacks outer vertical setae ( H. holti has small outer vertical setae).

The male S5 of Howickia holti is very similar to that of H. flavipes , with a row of scattered, blunt preapical setae and a posteromedial comb of flattened setae. This combination of characters is found in some winged species of Howickia (such as H. fuscalis and H. hardyina ), but is not found in any other wingless species of Howickia . In both of these species, the surstylus is bilobed, though the posterior lobe in H. holti has long setae, whereas the anterior lobe in H. flavipes has long setae. The rest of the body of H. holti differs from H. flavipes as follows: head dark brown to black (as opposed to yellow in H. flavipes ), legs dark brown (yellow with dark brown fore tibia in H. flavipes ), and halters absent (present in H. flavipes ).

Figures

FIGURES 37.1–37.5. Howickia holti sp. nov. 37.1, male habitus, lateral; 37.2, male head, anterolateral; 37.3, male S5–8, ventral; 37.4, male terminalia, lateral; 37.4a, left surstylus, posterior; 37.5, aedeagus and associated structures, lateral. Scale bars indicate 0.5 mm.