Chelipoda otiraensis ( Miller, 1923 )

Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, Zootaxa 1537 (1), pp. 1-88 : 23-25

11. Chelipoda otiraensis ( Miller, 1923)

[ Figs. 52, 53 , 103 , 121 , 128 ]

Litanomyia otiraensis Miller, 1923: 443–445 , Figs. 11–19 .

Chelipoda otiraensis: Collin, 1928: 32 .

Type material. Miller (1923) described Litanomyia otiraensis from a male (No. 1253) and a female (No. 1225) from Otira, J. W. Campbell, Weraroa, amongst swamp vegetation. The male, in NZAC, is labelled 1253, Ot. 11.19 [Nov 1919]. Miller’s description states ‘ Holotype: ♂, No. 1253; ♀, No 1225, D. M.’ and it is not clear which specimen he intended as holotype. However, Miller’s ‘Catalogue of Flies’ (a handwritten account of specimens he collected and now in NZAC) has an entry against specimen No 1253 stating it ‘is the holotype of Litanomyia otiraensis n.s. collected 1.11.1919 at Otira’ and a holotype label was subsequently fixed to the specimen by T. K. Crosby. The female (No. 1225) is not in NZAC and is presumed lost. The locality Otira is in the South Island, WD, 42° 50`S, 171° 34`E. Collin (1928) correctly referred Litanomyia otiraensis to Chelipoda .

Additional material: 26♂, 35♀, from AK, BP, CL, TO, RI, WO and WN in the North Island and WD in the South Island , [ NZAC, NHM, NMWC] .

Description. Male: length 3.0–4.0mm.

Head: Ground colour black, face paler, yellowish; heavily grey-dusted, particularly on frons and upper occiput; face with short silvery or yellowish pile. Vt, ocl and upo black, lpo pale yellow; vt1 about 0.5X length of ocl, vt2 about 0.6X length of vt1. About 5 upo; lpo 2–3 serial. Ocellar region with a few fine hairs and a pair of ft on front of frons. Lower margin of neck with short dark setae. Antennae ( Fig. 103 ) brownish-black; scape 1.5X long as deep, dorsal apical bristle rather longer than segment; ped globular, apical circlet of fine hairs longest ventrally and on outer face; postpedicel short-lanceolate, 1.2–2.0X as long as wide (but rather variable), with pale rather erect pubescence. Arista about 3X as long as postpedicel, minutely pubescent, slightly swollen basally with minute basal article narrower. Proboscis brownish-yellow, often darker apically, labellum with longish fine pale hairs; palpi pale yellow, pale-haired with 1 or 2 longer terminal fine setae.

Thorax: ground colour blackish with yellow markings less well developed than in C. consignata and often difficult to see through heavy dusting. A fairly distinct yellow stripe is usually present passing from just above C 1 across upper katepisternum and upper meron terminating below posterior spiracle. Lower katepisternum and lower meron distinctly dark but the pleura above the yellowish stripe variably dirty yellow to brownish, frequently a small triangular area on anepimeron below wing and a faint line between pprnlb and notopleural depression are clearer yellowish. Dark coloration on lower katepisternum often not extending ventrally between C 1 and C 2. Mesonotum thickly dusted with longitudinal stripes varying with perspective; a broad central line rather brownish seen from behind but broader and blacker viewed from in front when often appearing as two blackish subdorsal stripes separated by a narrow brownish central stripe; usually a black lateral stripe extending from just outside presutural dc to just above base of wing and below that a thick grey-dusted stripe from pprnlb to base of wing, Scutellum uniformly grey-dusted. Pleura heavily dusted with 2 silver-grey stripes, one following the yellow ground colour stripe between just above C 1 and prothoracic spiracle (as in many Chelipoda with marked pleural striping patterns, the line of this stripe is conspicuously continued laterally along the abdomen following the intercalary integument membrane between the tergites and sternites), the other stripe commences just posterior of prothoracic spiracle and extends below base of wing, across anatergite to fade above root of haltere, frequently with a vertical extension down posterior margin of anepisternum linking with the lower stripe and creating an ‘eye’ of relatively less dusted area on centre of anepisternum. Katatergite and sides of prothoracic episternum, more thinly dusted with dark ground colour clearly showing through. All setae black; 2 presutural and 2 postsutural dc; dc1 0.5X length of dc2, dc3 subequal to dc2, dc5 well developed and subequal to dc3, dc4 usually absent. At most only one or two acr at extreme front of scutum. Notopleurals strong, lnp subequal to unp; ph and pa well developed of similar length to pprn; sa strong, longer than dc2, sct long, convergent and crossed apically. Prothoracic collar with 2 very short but strong setae on either side. Laterotergite with about 5 conspicuous setae.

Legs: yellow with apical tarsal segments darker; often front of C 1, sometimes F 1 posteriorly, F 2 and F 3 apically darkened. All legs rather shorter and more robust than in C. consignata . C 1 5.0–5.5X as long as broad, slightly shorter than F 1, with short hairs and some longer yellowish fine bristles apically ( Fig. 121 ). C 2 and C 3 with only short yellow bristles on outer face, C 3 with posteroapical bristles and anteroapical ‘fan’ pale yellow. F 1 ( Fig. 128 ) about 5X as long as wide, distinctly inflated, widest 0.3–0.4 from base where 2.5X as wide as at base; femoral formula 3(3–4)/13(11–17)/8(7–10)/4(3–5) the double row of denticles commencing 0.3 from base; in front of these the row of 3 av spines with 2 set close together proximally at 0.3–0.4 from base (the first of which is almost in line with the series of anterior denticles) and the third separated, at about 0.6 from base; posterior series of denticles becoming more spine-like distally, tending to merge with series of pv spines; several linear series of sparse fine brownish hairs posteriorly, longer dorsally but virtually absent anteriorly; ventral bristle 0.2 from base usually well developed, usually black but with tendency to be paler; a few fine brownish apical bristles from which a single more erect dorsoapical is differentiated. Trochanters with yellow bristles.

F 2 and F 3 similar to C. consignata , F 2 with anterodistal and posterodistal pubescence rather longer than proximally and no pv bristle 0.8 from base (occasionally present when very weak). Tibiae similar to C. consignata ; T 1 about 0.7X as long as F 1, ventral row of 15–20 erect hairs usually more numerous but often only 3 perpendicular hairs dorsally; at2 very short <0.2X length of at1 and <0.5X length of at3; at1 with a ventral series of about 15 minute brownish denticles.

Wing: Similar to C. consignata but slightly broader; cell dm only 4X as long as wide and third vein (CuA 1) from cell dm slightly less than 0.5X length of first vein (M 1).

Abdomen: blackish brown, thinly dusted and subshining. Tergites 1 to 5 with fine black bristles on posterior margin and laterally on disc, stronger on posterior margin of segment 5; tergites 6 and 7 with hairs much weaker, more or less confined to lateral margins; tergite 8 very narrow and strongly sclerotized. Sternites weakly haired. Epandrium narrow with a fan of long bristles on posterior margin and two strong bristles near apex. Hypandrium ( Figs. 51, 52 ) with a few distinct but small setae posterolaterally but lacking large strong setae. Cercus overlapping epandrium apically with a fan of long fine setae on anterior inside margin and two stout setae apically. Postgonite ( Fig. 53 ) bilobed terminally, apical lobe shorter than proximal lobe and both bearing long straight apical setae

Description. Female: very similar to male; femoral formula 3(3–3)/14(11–16)/8(6–11)/4(3–5); T 1 slightly shorter and at2 slightly longer; abdomen with hairs somewhat finer and tergite 5 without strong bristles on posterior margin

Comments. C. otiraensis is similar to C. consignata but the pleura have only one well defined yellow stripe and the postpedicel is shorter. As noted by Collin (1928), Miller’s original figures are consonant with him having illustrated two species. Most records are from central North Island and apparently refer to lowland forest sites but it has been recorded at 900 m in the Tararua Ranges [WN]. The habitat at the species’ only known South Island locality is not known. Capture dates were between October and February inclusive.

Figures

FIGURES 49–55. Male genitalia of Chelipoda spp. 49. C. oblata Collin, posterior view. 50. C. oblinita Collin, posterior view. 51–53. C. otiraensis (Miller). 51. posterior view. 52. anterior view. 53. apex of postgonite. 54. C. puhihiroa sp. n. apex of postgonite. 55. C. rangopango sp. n. posterior view,

FIGURES 91–103. Antennae of Chelipoda spp. 91–92. C. abdita Collin. 91. ♀. 92. ♂. 93. C. abjecta Collin ♂. 94. C. modica Collin ♂. 95. C. consignata Collin ♂. 96. C. delecta Collin ♂. 97–98. C. cornigera sp. n. 97. ♀. 98. ♂. 99. C. delecta ♂ (basal segments omitted). 100. C. digressa Collin ♂. 101–102. C. longicornis Collin. 101. ♂. 102. ♀. 103. C. otiraensis (Miller) ♂.

FIGURES 117–123. Legs of Chelipoda spp. 117–119. C. abdita Collin. 117. ♀ right mid leg, posterior view. 118. ♀ right posterior leg, posterior view. 119. ♂ front leg, posterior view. 120. C. inconspicua Collin ♀ front leg, posterior view. 121. C. otiraensis (Miller) ♂ front leg, anterior view. 122. C. tangerina sp. n. ♂ front leg, posterior view. 123. C. secreta Collin ♂ front leg, posterior view.

FIGURES 124–129. Front femora of Chelipoda spp. 124. C. abjecta Collin ♀, pv view. 125. C. aritarita sp. n. ♂, av view. 126. C. consignata Collin ♂, pv view. 127–129. schematic ventral views (anterior face to right). 127. C. consignata Collin, ♀. 128. C. otiraensis (Miller), ♂. 129. C. venatrix sp. n. ♂.

FIGURES 6–11. Male genitalia of Chelipoda consignata Collin. 6. anterior view. 7. posterior view. 8. lateral view. 9. phallus. 10. apex of postgonite (North Is. example). 11. apex of postgonite (South Is. example).

FIGURES 12–15. Male genitalia of Chelipoda spp. 12–14. C. abjecta Collin. 12. anterior view. 13. lateral view. 14. posterior view. 15. C. australpina sp. n., lateral view.

FIGURES 16–22. Male genitalia of Chelipoda spp. 16. C. digressa Collin, posterior view. 17. C. dominatrix sp. n. lateral view. 18. C. brevipennis sp. n. cercus. 19. C. ferocitrix sp. n cercus. 20. C. dominatrix sp. n. cercus. 21. C. ferocitrix sp. n. anterior view. 22. C. atrocitas sp. n. lateral view.