Styringomyia kimberley THEISCHINGER & BILLINGHAM, 2018

Theischinger, Günther, D, Zacariah & Martin, John, 2018, The genus Styringomyia LOEW in Australia (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Limoniidae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (2), pp. 1587-1633 : 1605

Styringomyia kimberley THEISCHINGER & BILLINGHAM nov.sp. ( Figs 63-65 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l. Holotype ♂: Australia, Western Australia, West Kimberley , 4 km SSW of Cape Bertholet, 19-iv-1977, at light, D.H. Colless ( ANIC) . Paratypes: Western Australia: 1♂, 3♀♀, same data as holotype ( ANIC) ; 5♂♂, 6♀♀, same locality and collector as holotype, 18-iv-1977 ; 1♂, West Kimberley , 5 km SSW of Cape Bertholet, 21-iv-1977, D.H. Colless (all ANIC) .

D e s c r i p t i o n

Male ( Figs 63, 64 )

Head. Largely yellowish white to dull whitish yellow with top, rostrum, palps and antennae yellowish brown to pale brownish grey and postocular section medium to dark brown.

Thorax. Nota largely brownish grey; anterior pronotum, paratergite, scutellum and mediotergite dull yellowish white; two markedly darker brownish grey stripes each side on presutural section of scutum; postsutural section of scutum broadly dull whitish yellow along midline and laterally. Pleura pale greyish brown. Sterna pale greyish yellow. Legs pale to dark greyish brown.

Wings. Slightly tinged with pale greyish yellow, no dark spots. Halters greyish white to pale yellowish grey.

Abdomen. Brownish yellow to very pale greyish brown, tergites markedly darker at lateral edges.

Hypopygium. Apical half of tergite 9/10 widely truncate, seemingly with or without tiny backward directed lobe each side. Apical half of sternite 9 rather wide, subtriangular, setose. Gonocoxites with basal half stout, apical half very slender, digitate, setose but without distinct apical spine. Gonostyli a somewhat convoluted complex of a more dorsal structure with several small spines and lobes including one that is backward directed, a rather large mesal plate, rounded anteriorly and with a small spine posteriorly, bearing short thin setae in between, and a small, bowed, obtusely pointed more interior rod. Aedeagus hardly detectable from ventral view.

Dimensions. Wing length 4.7-5.1 mm.

Female ( Fig. 65 )

Head, Thorax. Coloration similar to male but contrasts weaker.

Abdomen. Coloration similar to male but when containing eggs very dark, often almost black.

Terminalia. Cerci with large ventrobasal lobe and slender apex, reaching backward well beyond tips of obtusely pointed, slightly ventrally curved, deep hypogynial valves.

Dimensions. 3.7-3.9 mm.

D i s t r i b u t i o n. North-western; known only from the Kimberley ( Map 4 ).

E t y m o l o g y. Named after the type locality of this species. Kimberley is used as a noun in apposition to the generic name.

D i s c u s s i o n. Close relatives of Styringomyia kimberley nov.sp. are not known. In the male the lack of a distinct apical spine on the gonocoxites, and the particular gonostyli with very prominent ventral plates are unique at least amongst the Australian Styringomyia species.

Figures

Map 4: Distribution of the ungrouped Styringomyia species: S. rose, S. flagro, S. naso, S. danbulla, S. kimberley.

Figs 63-65: Styringomyia kimberley nov.sp., terminalia: (63, 64) male; (63) ventral; (64) dorsal; (65) female, lateral.