Chelipoda lateralis, Published, 2007

Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, Zootaxa 1537 (1), pp. 1-88 : 50-51

32. Chelipoda lateralis sp. n.

[ Fig. 34 ]

Type material. Holotype ♂: New Zealand, South Is. , SD, Chetwode Is., Te Kakaho, yellow pan trap in shoreline Coprosma repens , 11–16/ii/1988, CAM [ NZAC] . Paratypes: South Is ; 46♂, 64♀, same locality as holotype, 11–16/ii/1988, CAM and 25/v/1998, NAW [ NZAC, NMWC, LUNZ]; 1♀ Port Underwood Saddle , 1/ii/ 1982, CFB [ NZAC]; 1♂, NN , Abel Tasman NP, Totaranui, 23/xi/1977 [ NZAC]. North Is. ; 1♀, CL, Little Barrier Is, Waipawa stream bed, 28/xi/1954, RAH [ NZAC]; 2♂, 4♀, CL, Little Barrier Is, Awaroa and Kirikakawa streams, 8–11/xi/1985, ARP [ NMWC] .

Etymology: a reference to the strongly marked lateral thoracic stripes of this species.

Description. Male: length 2.5–3.0mm (wet specimens).

Head: black with black setae, paler on frons; slightly dorsoventrally flattened, eyes almost touching below antennae; ocl strong, verticals almost as strong, upo almost contiguous with vt2, quite strong becoming weaker below; lower occiput with short dark pile and a few stronger hairs posteriorly. Antennae brown, basal segments paler, scape short with 1 or 3 long bristles ventrally; postpedicel pointed ovate, almost 2X as long as deep, arista 3–4X as long. Proboscis dark brown; labellum and palpus yellow.

Thorax: rather elongate, bright yellow but paler on lower pleura; scutum with strongly marked lateral brown stripes from above pprnlb to root of wing, a similar stripe between prothoracic ‘collar’ and base of haltere. Thoracic setae black, dc2, unp and sa very strong; dc1, pprn, lnp, dc4 and dc5 small, dc3 apparently absent.

Legs: C 1 rather slender, about 0.9X as long as thorax, a line of small bristles in front. F 1 slightly longer than C 1, rather slender and evenly inflated, 5X as long as wide; about 18 short stout black av spines becoming smaller distally, about 15 longer yellowish pv bristles longest medially; a few bristles between av and pv rows at base. T 1 linear 0.8X as long as F 1, a linear series of about 15 minute adpressed denticles ventrally with a row of short erect hairs in front; at2 0.5X as long as at3. T 3 with dorsal ciliation of short bristles distally, mid and hind legs otherwise with short hairs.

Wing: veins brownish yellow, membrane tinged yellow; anal cell open, vein A 1 absent, CuA 2 strong; halteres grey with darker stems.

Abdomen: tergites 1–6 dark brown laterally forming a lateral abdominal stripe contiguous with pleural stripe; longish hairs on disc and posterior margins largest on tergite 6. Vent pale. Terminalia ( Fig. 34 ) brown, reflexed dorsally; epandrium and hypandrium separate; hypandrium large consisting of two chitinized lateral lobes broadly connected ventrally by a weakly chitinized membrane, each lobe with 3–4 distinct bristles posteroapically; epandrium small with strong setae posteroapically; cercus not fused with and extending beyond tip of epandrium, broad in lateral view, narrower in posterior view, bearing strong fine setae apically and a few stronger setae internally near base; phallus broad, long, extending well beyond tip of epandrium, strongly curved posteriorly near base and reflexed forward distally, apically bifid and grooved dorsally.

Description. Female: similar to male but tending to be larger (2.5–3.5mm); lower occiput with setae behind stronger and yellowish; F 1 slightly stouter, ventral bristles rather stronger, pv bristles strongest basally and av spines with 1 or 2 longer yellowish bristles basally; at2 0.4X as long as at3; abdomen with only short hairs confined to posterior margins of tergites 106; terminal papillae yellow with pale hairs.

Comments. The yellow and black striped thoracic pattern of this species is distinctive and confusable only with C. delecta from which it may be distinguished by having cell cup open and only two rows of ventral setae on F 1. C. lateralis is known from scattered localities in North and South islands with capture dates in February, May and November. A single female for the East Matukituki valley collected in a Malaise trap at forest edge in 1987 by JWE, NMWC is darker, the thorax being deep orange and the stripes intense black is probably a melanic high altitude form. It was not referred to in the description.

Figures

FIGURES 34–39. Male genitalia of Chelipoda spp. 34. C. lateralis sp. n. posterior view. 35–37. C. mirabilis Collin. 35. anterior view. 36. lateral view. 37. phallus. 38. C. longicornis Collin, apex of postgonite. 39. C. mediolinea sp. n. apex of epandrial lobe.