Lichtwardtia singaporensis Grootaert & Tang

Tang, Chufei, Yang, Ding & Grootaert, Patrick, 2018, Revision of the genus Lichtwardtia Enderlein in Southeast Asia, a tale of highly diverse male terminalia (Diptera, Dolichopodidae), ZooKeys 798, pp. 63-107 : 63

Lichtwardtia singaporensis Grootaert & Tang sp. n. Figs 10, 11

Material examined.

Holotype male (coll. LKCNHM): SINGAPORE: West Coast Park, 7 December 2003, shrubs along sandy beach (leg. P Grootaert), sweeping. Paratype (coll. LKCNHM): 1 female; collecting information same to the holotype

Diagnosis.

Wings clear, but having the cross veins brownish seamed. Mid coxa brown with one anterior dark brown stripe and one lateral band, both dark brown. Hind coxa yellow. Hypandrium simple. Phallus with one row of five big clear regular black denticles ventrally, with one blunt denticle hidden in hypandrium.

Description.

Male.Body length 3.7 mm, wing 3.4 × 1.1 mm.

Head dark metallic green, with thick pale pollinosity; face slightly raised, frons and face both with thick pale pollinosity, gradually narrowed downward. Hairs and bristles on head black except posteroventral hairs pale. Antenna dark yellow; postpedicel nearly triangular, blunt apically, 1.2 times as long as wide, with pale pubescence; arista-like stylus dorsal, inserted at basal half of postpedicel, nearly as long as head width, dark yellow, feather-like, with long black pubescence, basal segment 0.3 times as long as apical portion of arista-like stylus. Proboscis dark yellow, with black hairs; palpus dark yellow, with one black apical bristle.

Thorax dark green, with pale grey pollinosity. Hairs and bristles on thorax black; five strong dc, ten pairs of strong acr. Scutellum with two pairs sc, apical pair long strong, basal pair short and weak. Legs mainly yellow, but fore coxa somewhat brownish at base, mid coxa brown with one anterior dark brown stripe and one lateral band, both dark brown, hind coxae dark yellow, lightly brownish at basal half; mid and hind tarsi brown from tip of tarsomere II to tarsomere V. Fore and mid coxae anteriorly with row of thin bristles and four strong bristles at apical half, hind coxa with two short outer bristles. Fore trochanter with three weak outer bristle at middle. Mid trochanter with two short weak outer bristles. Fore femur with one short weak av. Mid femur with one strong pd at apical 1/6 and one preapical pv. Hind femur with one strong pd at apical quarter. Fore tibia with two pd, one av, and one pv and three short ap. Mid tibia with two ad, four pd (basal 1st relatively weak), one pv at middle and four ap. Hind tibia with four ad, four pd, two pv and three ap. Fore tarsomere I with one short av at base. Hind tarsomere I with one short strong ad at middle, one pv at basal fifth and two short apical bristle. Relative lengths of tibia and five tarsomeres of legs LI: 6.0: 3.0: 1.6: 1.2: 1.0: 1.0; LII: 8.0: 5.0: 2.0: 1.6: 1.2: 1.0; LIII: 10.0: 4.0: 4.0: 3.0: 2.0: 1.4. Wing nearly hyaline, cross veins seamed brownish; veins brown. M with fading M2, M1 with one short subvein. Crossvein dm-cu straight. CuAx ratio 1.0. Lower calypter pale with black hairs. Haltere pale.

Abdomen metallic green, with pale pollinosity. Hairs and bristles on abdomen black.

Male terminalia: Epandrium 1.8 times longer than wide; epandrial lobe with three pale ap. Surstylus with five short nail-like ap. Cercus nearly triangular, pale, covered by thin pale bristles, with weak digitations around outer margin, with long strong pale marginal bristle on digitations. Hypandrium simple. Phallus with one row of five big clear regular black denticles ventrally, with one blunt denticle hidden in hypandrium.

Female. Body length 3.6-4.0 mm, wing length 3.1-3.2 × 1.1 mm. Very similar to male, but postpedicel as long as wide. Wing hyaline with anterior border faintly brownish and cross veins brownish seamed. No swelling of the costa before or at the point where R1 joins the costa. The ratio of the proximal section of M1, and the distal section is 0.4/0.6 (Figure 12). Thus the distal section is much longer than the proximal section. Fore coxa yellow, mid coxa brown and hind coxa yellowish.

Comments.

This species is comparable to L. infuscata sp. n. but the latter has quite brownish wings also with the cross veins seamed brown. Both species have also the hind coxa entirely yellow and the phallus bears ventrally rather strong spines. In L. singaporensis sp. n. there are five strong spines while in L. infuscata there is a double row of ten denticles that are smaller than in L. singaporensis sp. n. The epandrium has a pointed tip while its tip in L. infuscata sp. n. is truncated. The size of the cercus is larger in L. infuscata sp. n. L. infuscata has a pale ventral protuberance with a black seam on the epandrium on which the phallus-hypandrial complex is resting. This protuberance is absent in L. singaporensis sp. n. The brownish seams along the cross veins suggest that L. singaporensis sp. n. represents the enigmatic L. ziczac . However we refrain from given the description of the male of L. singaporensis sp. n. as the true L. ziczac . See comments under L. ziczac .

Distribution.

Singapore.