Phaeobalia remschakae Wagner, 2022

Wagner, Rüdiger, Plant, Adrian, Ivković, Marija & Gattolliat, Jean-Luc, 2022, New synonyms and new species of European aquatic dance flies (Diptera, Empididae), Zootaxa 5222 (5), pp. 427-442 : 438

Phaeobalia remschakae Wagner sp. nov.

( Fig. 9c–e )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♁ (slide mounted): red label: Phaeobalia remschakae, RW, 2021 , holotypus; small white label below red label: 24 July 2019, leg. Haseke & Remschak; large white label: A[ustria], N[ational] P[ark], Hohe Tauern, [Ĝnita 05] Rieseltraufe am Langtalweg N 46.97996°, E 12.76495° ( WGS 84 ), 2.248 m a.s.l. PARATYPE: ♁ (slide mounted): red label Phaeobalia remschakae paratypus RW 2021; white label: A[ustria], Vorarlberg, Quellbach bei Silbertal bei Schruns [=spring stream near Silbertal, near Schruns], 25.6.– 3.7.1982, leg. Zwick. The holotype will be lodged in the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna ( NHMW), the paratype remains in the collection of the senior author ( RW) .

Description. Male. Body brown, head with circular eyes, most setae broken; mouthparts brown. Antenna with short tubular scape as wide as long, pedicel as long as scape but about 1.5 times wider than long; further antennal segments broken. Body length 5.8 mm (slide mounted specimen).

Thorax broken, 6–7 pairs of dorsocentral setae recognizable on mesonotum. Legs with tarsomere 4 half as long as tarsomeres 3 or 5.

Wing with brownish membrane, pterostigma elongate. Sc thinner than R 1 with short crossvein to C. Brown area between base of R 1 and M 1+2 to crossvein r-m; further patch at crossvein m-cu and broad band across wing from pterostigma along short imperfect crossvein to M 1 /M 2 fork and to M 1+2 to M 4; further small patch on R 4 /R 5 fork. Wing length 5.2 mm.

Abdomen with sternites and tergites brown. Terminalia ( Fig. 9d, e ): with rhomboid hypandrium, corners round, phallus slightly bent forward, apical flagellum approximately 0.4 length of phallus. Epandrium triangular, higher than long, dorsal corner round; surstylus small, not outreaching epandrium edge. Clasping cercus with lateral lobe S-shaped, base to middle broad, increasingly thinner apically, inner surface at base and in middle covered with strong black setae. Inner lobe upright, almost straight, about half as wide as lateral lobe, with long setae along basal edge and on inner surface.

Female. Unknown

Etymology. The species named in honour of Christina Remschak, part of the scientific staff of the Austrian National Park ‘Gesäuse’. She works on the ecology and fauna of springs.

Remarks. The new species belongs to the Phaeobalia trinotata -group with almost equal sized lateral and inner lobes of the clasping cercus. A curved lateral lobe also occurs in Phaeobalia montana Vaillant from the Western Alps, but the shape of the curvature is dissimilar; furthermore, the inner lobe is curved in P. montana but straight in P. remschakae sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Phaeobalia species. a, P. pokornyi Mik, slide with lectotype; b, male terminalia, lateral view; c, P. remschakae Wagner sp. nov., slide with holotype; d, male terminalia, lateral view; e, epandrium with clasping cercus, inner view. (photos RW).