Styringomyia baroalba 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 : 1590-1591

Styringomyia baroalba THEISCHINGER & BILLINGHAM nov.sp. ( Figs 13-16 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l. Holotype ♂: Australia, Northern Territory, Baroalba Creek Springs, 19 km NE by E of Mt Cahill, 29-x-1972 ( ANIC) . Paratypes: 6♂♂, 2♀♀, 1 sn, same data as holotype ( ANIC) ; 1♂, same locality as holotype, 13-vi-1973, D.H. Colless ( ANIC) .

D e s c r i p t i o n

Male ( Figs 13, 14 )

Head. Including rostrum, palps, scape and pedicel mostly greyish yellow to greyish brown; antennal flagellum somewhat paler.

Thorax. Nota brownish yellow to dark greyish brown, scutum notably paler broadly along midline. Pleura and sterna yellowish brown to reddish brown and dark brown. Legs: coxae and trochanters brownish yellow; femora with two rather broad ill-defined and incomplete greyish brown rings, one slightly past (profemur), about at (mesofemur) or slightly before (metafemur) midlength, and one more or less subapical; tibiae dull yellow with rather narrow ill-defined greyish brown incomplete ring and pale greyish brown apex; tarsi dull yellow, only last segment and claws brown.

Wings. Slightly infumed with greyish yellow; spotted grey at the cross-veins. Halters dull to brownish yellow.

Abdomen. Dull to pale brownish yellow.

Hypogium. Tergite 9/10 trapezoidal, apically tongue-shaped. Apical half of sternite 9 narrowly trapezoidal ending in two digitate lobes with apical seta and separated by Ushaped notch. Gonocoxites approximately conical with wide, rather obtuse mesal lobe in third quarter and thick apical spine about half as long as gonocoxite. Gonostyli complex, including a wide, winged, gutter–shaped element, two, possibly three, comb-shaped elements and a slim thumb-shaped mesal element that is not particularly modified. Aedeagus apically apparently bilobed, the lobes and the notch between them subtriangular.

Dimensions. Wing length 3.1-4.2 mm.

Female ( Figs 15, 16 )

Head. From much as in in male to dark greyish and brownish black.

Thorax. Nota and pleura from much as in in male to dark greyish and brownish black. Coxae and trochanters brownish yellow to greyish black; what is detectable of the dark rings on femora and tibiae slightly broader.

Abdomen. Much as in in male.

Terminalia. The cerci including apical spine reach backward well beyond the tips of the hypogynial valves.

Dimensions. Wing length 3.3-3.7 mm.

Variability. Very mature individuals can have head, thorax including coxae and trochanters very dark, nearly black, appearing even pruinescent.

D i s t r i b u t i o n. Northern; known only from Northern Territory ( Map 1 ).

E t y m o l o g y. Named after the type locality, Baroalba Creek Springs. Baroalba is used as a noun in apposition to the generic name.

D i s c u s s i o n.Themalesof Styringomyia baroalba nov.sp., S. bancrofti , S. collessi nov.sp., and S. remex nov.sp. share a bifid apex of sternite 9, a mesal expansion and subconical gonocoxites with a rather thick apical spine and complex gonostyli. Only in S. baroalba the prominent element of the gonostyli is produced mesally and laterally (double-winged) versus produced only mesally in S. bancrofti , S. collessi nov.sp. and S. remex nov.sp. In S. baroalba , S. collessi and S. remex long distinct setae are absent along the posterior margin of the prominent element of the gonostyli versus present in S. bancrofti .

Figures

Map 1: Distribution of the species of the Styringomyia bancrofti group: S. bancrofti, S. baroalba, S. collessi, S. remex, S. edwardsorum.

Figs 13-16: Styringomyia baroalba nov.sp., terminalia: (13, 14) male: (13) ventral; (14) dorsal; (15. 16) female: (15) ventral; (16) lateral.