Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) hirsuta Theischinger & Billingham, 2019

Theischinger, Günther, Billingham, Zacariah D., Martin, John & Growns, Ivor, 2019, The genus Rhabdomastix Skuse in Australia (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Limoniidae), Zootaxa 4661 (1), pp. 65-100 : 79-81

Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) hirsuta Theischinger & Billingham , sp. nov.

( Figs. 25–28 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂: Australia, New South Wales, Sydney, F.H. Taylor ( AM); specimen dry, pinned, terminalia preserved (glycerol) in microvial on the pin.

Description. Male ( Figs. 25–28 ). Head. Largely, including scape and pedicel, brownish grey. Palpus and antennal flagellum brown. Antenna at least 2 mm long and with verticils difficult to detect amongst very long rich pubescence.

Thorax. Nota medium brown, pleura pale to dark yellowish brown. Legs with coxa and trochanter brownish yellow, remainder pale to medium greyish brown. Halters pale greyish brown.

Wing. Veins R 4 and R 5 apically diverging; vein R 3 slightly oblique; vein A 2 ends well before level origin of Rs; cross-vein m-m longer than 0.5 of cross-vein r-m. Membrane hyaline, slightly suffused with yellowish grey, distinctly darkened in pterostigma area. Halter pale greyish brown.

Abdomen. Brownish yellow to pale greyish brown.

Terminalia. Gonocoxite approximately three times as long as wide. Outer gonostylus slim, less than half as long as gonocoxite, with posteromedial apical tooth followed by a tiny notch, not much longer than width of gonocoxite, only slightly longer and about twice as wide as inner gonostylus that is posteromedially produced into a short conical tip. Interbase pointed, very slightly and evenly arched and subapically moderately expanded. Vesica narrowing gradually into narrow truncate aedeagus that appears longer than vesica; apodeme of vesica rather long and stout, rod-like.

Dimensions. Wing length 4.0 mm.

Female unknown.

Distribution. South-eastern: New South Wales ( Map 1 ).

Etymology. Hirsutus (=Latin for hairy) referring to the long, strong pubescence of the antennae.

Discussion. The male of R. (R.) hirsuta stands out from all consubgeneric species known from Australia by rather long antennae (at least 2 mm) with long rich pubescence that makes it difficult to detect verticils, by outer gonostyli with small apical, mesally directed spine and not much longer than the rather plump inner gonostyli, and by very slightly arched, subapically moderately widened interbases.

Figures

MAP 1. Distribution of the Australian species of Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) ostensackeni group. R. borroloola sp. nov. R. dobrotworskyi sp. nov. R. dooragana sp. nov. R. hirsuta sp. nov. R. minima R. nivalis sp. nov. R. ostensackeni R. ponticulus sp. nov.

FIGURES 25–28. Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) hirsuta sp. nov., male. 25: wing; 26: habitus, frontal; 27: antennae; 28: terminalia, dorsal. Scale bar = 0.2 mm.