Chelipoda mediolinea, Published, 2007

Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, Zootaxa 1537 (1), pp. 1-88 : 18

7. Chelipoda mediolinea sp. n.

[ Fig. 39 , 75 ]

Type material. Holotype ♂: New Zealand, North Is. , ND? Mangakahia Ck, in bush, 12/x/1967, JSD [ NZAC] . Paratypes: North Is : 4♂, 1♀, AK, Huia , xi/1969, 6/x/1969, 4/ix/1969, BMM [ NZAC] ; 1♀, CL, Little Barrier Is , Thumb Tk, 11/xi/1985, ARP [ NZAC] ; 1♀, CL, Little Barrier Is , Awaroa St, 12/xi/1985, ARP [ NMWC] , 1♀, CL, Little Barrier Is. , swept in forest on summit track, 500–650m, 11/xi/1985, ARP [ NZAC] ; 2♀, WO, Mt Karioi , Malaise by Wainui Str, 27/iv–4/v/1985 and 11–25/xi/1985, HAO [ NMWC] ; 1♀, WO, Mt Karioi , Whale Bay Tk, 450–600m, 10/v/1986, ARP [ NMWC] ; 1♀, TO Pureora Forest , 29/xii/1986, ARP [ NMWC] ; 1♂, WO, Pirongia , 22/ix/1985, ARP NZAC : South Is ; 1♀, WD , Franz Joseph , adj Canavans Knob, 140m 17/i–3/ii/1982, ABM [ NMWC] .

Etymology: the specific epithet refers to the median stripe on the thoracic dorsum.

Description. Male: length 1.5mm (dry specimens).

Head: blackish brown dusted greyish; face yellowish dusted silver; eyes distinctly separated on face; larger bristles black but lpo pale; ocl strong, diverging, as strong as verticals which are arranged as an inner (vt1) parallel pair and an outer (vt2) diverging pair; line of upo congruent with vt1, lpo very weak, hair-like, 1– 2 serial. Palpi small, pale yellow with 1 or 2 apical setae. Antennae with basal segments yellow, postpedicel blackish, very short, barely 1.5X as long as wide with apical arista 3X as long.

Thorax: ground colour orange-yellow, a narrow dark median stripe on mesonotum, scutellum and metanotum; pst darkened at sides; evenly dusted greyish without obvious dusting stripes and not markedly obscuring ground colour. Chaetotaxy black, similar to C. modica and C. tainuia but pprn, ph and lnp almost as strong as dc2; pst at sides above base of C 1 with 4–5 black point-like markings (probably representing modified setae).

Legs: yellow, ‘knees’ and apical tarsal segments hardly darker; C 1 0.8X as long as thorax, about 4.5X as long as wide, a line of black point-like markings (similar to those on pst) outside on basal 0.3 but otherwise with only minute pile and pale hairs. F 1 quite evenly inflated, 3.3X as long as wide, widest 0.4 from base, a dorsal ciliation of dark hairs distinct; femoral formula 5(5–6)/17.5(16–18)/9.5(9–11)/5(5–6), av and pv spines brownish black, double rows of denticles black, the line of pv denticles and spines closely approximated and tending to merge distally, becoming more spine-like; no distinct basal bristles; at2 0.7X at3; pt1 slightly longer than pt2 + pt3 + pt4.

Abdomen: brownish yellow, paler ventrally, rather weakly haired. Hypopygium yellowish; hypandrium large, rather keel-shaped; epandrium divided, lobes rather small with cercus fused to apex, a row of about 5 distinct black rigid setae distally on posterior margin ( Fig. 39 ). Phallus gently curved, almost linear apically, projecting conspicuously between ends of epandrial lobes.

Wing: veins brownish yellow, membrane tinged yellowish; anal cell closed and rounded with short extension of vein A 1 beyond end of cell. Halteres yellow.

Description. Female: length 2.0– 2.5mm (wet specimens).

Very similar to male but abdomen more sparsely haired. Femoral formula 5(5–6)/18(17–21)/9(8–10)/5(4– 6). Pregenital sternite apically rounded ( Fig. 75 ), terminal papillae rather short with fine hairs.

Comments. C. mediolinea is a small yellow species with a narrow dark dorsal line on thorax. Adults are active between September and May inclusive and most specimens are from the northern part of the North Island. However, a single female from Westland in the South Island agrees well with other females of the species indicating that C. mediolinea has a disjunct distribution.

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.

FIGURES 71–75. Female pregenital sternite of 71. C. atrocitas sp. n. 72. C. macrostigma sp. n. 73. C. tainuia sp. n. 74. C. modica Collin. 75. C. mediolinea sp. n. 76. head of ♂ C. aritarita sp. n. 77. C. ultraferox sp. n. ♂ scutum, lateral view. 78. C. consignata Collin, ♂ head. 79–80. thoracic profile. 79. C. rangopango sp. n. 80. C. cornigera sp. n. 81. C. gracilis sp. n. ♂ head & front of scutum, dorsal view. Abbreviations: see text.