Teuchophorus obscurus, Meuffels & Grootaert, 2004

Meuffels, Henk & Grootaert, Patrick, 2004, The genus Teuchophorus in South-East Asia and New Guinea, description of new species, species-groups and their phylogeny (Insecta, Diptera, Dolichopodidae), Journal of Natural History 38 (2), pp. 143-258 : 173-175

Species 14: Teuchophorus obscurus sp. nov. (male and female) (figures 74–79)

Etymology. Lat. obscurus , ‘dark’.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized species with dark-coloured legs, without stigma. Looks like T. obliquus sp. nov. (present in the same sample!): mid femur with the same row of pv; eyes nearly touching, and antenna dark, shaped as in that species. Differs from it by its darker colouring, a distinct serration on fore tibia, and its very small hypopygium.

Material examined. Type material: Thailand: Trang province, Sai Rung waterfalls, secondary rain forest, 27 October 1997,    male and      16 males, three females (sample No. 97129, leg. P. Grootaert) .

Male

Body length 1.35–1.65 mm (average 1.52 mm); wing length 1.25–1.4 mm (average 1.3 mm).

Head. Frons and face with blackish green ground colour, moderately shining. Eyes nearly touching each other. Palpi small, blackish, each with a small, black apical bristlet. Rostrum brownish yellow. Occiput greenish black. Chaetotaxy as usual; two small postocellars. Postoculars uniseriate, black. Antenna (figure 74): black, third segment dark brown. Marginal bristles of second segment relatively long, especially so the upper ones. Third segment triangular, with rounded basal angles and an acute apex, slightly longer than deep. Arista less than 2.5 times as long as antenna, very shortly pubescent; basal aristal segment a little more than half as long as third antennal segment.

Thorax. Thorax and scutellum very dark metallic green, moderately shining; pleurae partly dark brown. Chaetotaxy as usual; acr uniseriate, rather long. Scutellum with a minute, thin hairlet at each side. Propleura with two minute hairlets.

Legs. Coxae brown with yellowish tips; fore coxa may be brownish yellow. Trochanters yellow. Legs brown to dark brown; fore legs yellowish brown in some specimens.

Fore leg (figure 75). Coxa anteriorly on apical two-thirds with black bristly hairs. Femur ventrally with a row of very thin hairs, longest on basal half (slightly more than half as long as depth of femur); anteroventrally near tip of femur three small hair-like bristles. Tibia shorter than femur (about 6:7), with a dorsal serration. First tarsal segment without spinules at ventral base. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.32:0.1: 0.04: 0.03:0.03:0.05.

Mid leg. Coxa near tip with short hairs. Femur (figure 76) posteroventrally on whole length with a row of close-set bristle-like hairs, on apical half regularly growing longer towards tip of femur, being there slightly longer than diameter of femur; a small preapical av. Tibia (figure 76) about as long as femur; two ad, one pd; ventrally a row of very short bristly hairs, longest on apical half of tibia (about half as long as diameter of tibia). Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.4:0.16:0.1: 0.08:0.06: 0.07.

Hind leg. Coxa with a very thin and weak exterior bristle. Femur (figure 77) ventrally with a partly doubled row of short bristly hairs, the longest of which are hardly longer than depth of femur. Tibia (figure 77) about as long as femur; four weak dorsal bristles; anteroventrally a row of hair-like bristles, longer than diameter of tibia; posteroventrally on basal half a row of shorter, thinner hairs. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.48: 0.1:0.11:0.08: 0.06:0.08.

Wing. Wing (figure 78) brownish tinged. No stigma; costa not thickened. r4+5 and m1+2 distinctly diverging. Halters with yellow stalk; knob brownish yellow, partly infuscated. Squamae brownish yellow, with dark brown border, and brownish cilia.

Abdomen. Terga dark brown with greenish gloss; sterna brown. Hairs and hindmarginal bristles on terga short, black. Hypopygium (figure 79) relatively very small, brown.

Female

Body length 1.7–1.8 mm; wing length 1.45–1.5 mm.

Face about half as wide as depth of third antennal segment. Femora and tibiae ventrally without longer hairs or bristles. Fore tibia with a serration. Mid and hind tibia each with one av. Oviscapt with eight small black acanthae.