Lycoriella pearyi, Menzel & Vilkamaa, 2021

Menzel, Frank & Vilkamaa, Pekka, 2021, New species and records of Lycoriella Frey (Diptera, Sciaridae) from the Holarctic region, Zootaxa 5072 (6), pp. 501-530 : 518-519

Lycoriella pearyi sp. n.

Figs 8B , 9D

Material studied. Holotype male. N. GREENLAND, Nedre Midsommer Sö , 82.0980°N, 35.9498°W, 14.VII.1966, Canadian Peary Land Expedition (in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1822).

Description. Male. Head. Face and antenna concolorous brown, maxillary palpus pale brown. Eye bridge 2 facets wide. Face with about 20 setae. Clypeus with 2 setae. Maxillary palpus with 2 segments (2 nd and 3 rd segments partly fused); 1 st segment with 4 setae, with large dorsal pit with sensilla; surface of antennal flagellomeres smooth, body of 4 th antennal flagellomere 2.3x as long as wide, neck shorter than wide, longest setae longer than width of flagellomere. Thorax. Brown; setae pale. Anterior pronotum with 4 setae. Proepisternum with 7 setae. Scutellum with 2 long and some short and fine setae. Wing (in poor condition in the specimen studied). Hyaline. Length 1.9 mm. Width/length and anal lobe not detectable in the specimen studied. Veins distinct, except for stM. c/w 0.65. Halter yellow. Legs. Brown; setae pale. Fore tibial organ forming large patch of setae in demarcated depression. Fore tibial spur shorter than apical width of tibia. Abdomen. Pale brown; setae pale and moderately sized. Hypopygium ( Fig. 8B ). Pale brown, like abdomen. Intergonocoxal area moderately long, with wide setose lobe. Gonocoxa wide, longer than gonostylus, with sparse setosity, shortest in apical fourth. Gonostylus ( Fig. 9D ) long and narrow, apically narrowed, weakly impressed; with short setosity, densely setose apically, with strong apical tooth, 9–10 megasetae medially, megasetae straight, shorter than apical tooth; with well-differentiated whip-lash seta on basal third of gonostylus. Tegmen longer than wide, roundish apically, straight laterally, weakly sclerotized, with small area of tiny aedeagal teeth. Aedeagal apodeme long and strong.

BIN. Unknown.

Discussion. In having the maxillary palpus 2-segmented, Lycoriella pearyi sp. n. resembles L. felix ( Schmitz, 1919) described from the Netherlands, L. deserticola Mohrig & Mamaev, 1983 , described from Uzbekistan, and L. stylata Mohrig & Mamaev, 1985 , described from the European part of Russia, all of which may have the palpus either three- or two-segmented. Lycoriella pearyi is similar to L. felix , and differs from L. deserticola and L. stylata in having a distinct intergonocoxal lobe and five megasetae on the apical half of its gonostylus, whereas the other species have at most a row of setae on the intergonocoxal area and two or three subapical gonostylar megasetae. Lycoriella pearyi differs from L. felix in having the eye bridge continuous, with two to three rows of facets, a normal, not a very narrow wing, and an undivided intergonocoxal lobe, whereas L. felix has the eye bridge broken medially, with a discontinuous single row of facets, a strongly reduced wing and distinctly two intergonocoxal lobes. The hypopygium of Lycoriella pearyi is very similar to that of L. nivicola sp. n. but the latter can be distinguished by its two-segmented palpus, narrower gonostylus which is more evenly narrowed towards apex, in having the gonostylar megasetae relatively longer, and in being smaller (wing length 1.9 versus 2.1–2.5 mm).

Etymology. The species is named after the polar explorer Robert Edwin Peary (1856–1920), one of the pioneers in the study of Greenland.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Hypopygium, ventral. A. Lycoriella nivicola sp. n. (paratype from Greenland). B. L. pearyi sp. n. (holotype). Scale 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 9. Gonostylus, ventral. A. Lycoriella longa sp. n. (paratype). B. L. nivicola sp. n. (holotype). C. L. parva (Holmgren, 1869) (from Canada, Kuujjuarapik). D. L. pearyi sp. n. (holotype). Scale 0.1 mm.