Elaphropeza formosae Bezzi, 1907, 1960

SHAMSHEV, IGOR V. & GROOTAERT, PATRICK, 2007, Revision of the genus Elaphropeza Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from the Oriental Region, with a special attention to the fauna of Singapore, Zootaxa 1488 (1), pp. 1-164 : 135-137

Elaphropeza formosae Bezzi, 1907

Elaphropeza formosae Bezzi, 1907: 566 (female).

Elaphropeza formosae: Bezzi, 1912: 487 (male).

Elaphropeza formosae: Quate, 1960: 63 , misidentification.

Re-description. Male. Body length 1.8 mm, wing length 2.0 mm. Occiput black, largely subshining (with narrow shining patch in upper part near eye), finely greyish pollinose, with yellow to brownish yellow setation. Anterior ocellars moderately long, proclinate; posterior ocellars minute. Inner verticals moderately long, outer ones very short. Antenna with postpedicel brown, scape and pedicel somewhat paler, brownish yellow (probably scape and pedicel somewhat varying in colour because Bezzi indicates "articulis basalibus luteis" (1907: 566)). Pedicel with circlet of subequally short setulae. Postpedicel 3.0 times longer than wide. Style normally pubescent, brown, 2.0–2.5 times longer than postpedicel and about 1.5 times as long as scape, pedicel and postpedicel combined. Proboscis brownish yellow. Palpus yellow, small, rounded.

Thorax wholly yellow, shining, with yellow to brownish yellow bristles. Prothoracic episterna lacking long upturned bristle just above fore coxa and short bristle in upper part. Postpronotal bristle minute. Mesonotum with 2 notopleural, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 postalar and 4 scutellar (inner ones very long, cruciate; outer ones very short) bristles. Acrostichal bristles 2–3-serial, lacking on prescutellar depression; dorsocentrals 1-serial toward scutellum, with additional setulae in anterior part of scutum, complete, 1 pair of prescutellars longest.

Legs almost entirely yellow, with yellow to brownish yellow setation; tarsomere 5 of all legs brown. Coxae and trochanters with unmodified setation. Fore and hind femora and tibiae somewhat thickened. Fore femur with rows of short antero- and posteroventral bristles (2 bristles near base longer). Fore tibia lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Mid femur slender, with 2 rows of spinule-like, short, ventral bristles (becoming shorter in apical part of femur), 1 long thin bristle near base and 1 anterior subapical bristle. Mid tibia with black ventral spinules, lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Hind femur with short anteroventrals and 3–4 erect dorsal bristles near base. Hind tibia bearing 2 anterodorsal bristles in middle part; apical projection prominent, small, rounded, clothed in dense brownish setulae. Tarsi of all legs unmodified.

Wing normally developed, finely uniformly infuscate, covered with uniform microtrichia; veins yellowish to brownish yellow. Costal vein with moderately long setulae along anterior margin. Basal costal bristle long, brownish. Costal index: 52/20/49/14. Vein Rs somewhat longer than crossvein bm-cu. Vein R2+3 evenly curved. Veins R4+5 and M1+2 parallel near wing apex, the former slightly bowed, the latter straight. Vein CuA1 reaching wing margin. Vein A1 distinct. Crossvein bm-cu somewhat oblique. Crossvein r-m before middle of cell bm. Halter yellow.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 yellowish. Tergites 2 and 3 with brownish yellow spaces laterally; with unmodified setation. Tergites 4 and 5 brown, both with numerous squamiform setae; tergite 4 broadest, tergite 5 of normal width. Tergites 6 and 7 concolorous with tergites 2 and 3; tergite 7 with moderately long posteromarginal bristles.

Terminalia small, yellow, lacking spines; right surstylus narrow, subrectangular.

Female. Abdominal segment 8 and cercus brownish yellow. Otherwise as in male.

Material examined. Male, Anping, Formosa, H. Sauter, VI.1912 ; Elaphropeza Formosae Bezzi , male and female. Female, Tainan, Formosa, V . 12, H. Sauter; Bezzi det. ( DEI) .

Neotype designation. Bezzi (1907: 566, female only) described this species from material (without indication of number of specimens studied) taken by H. Sauter from Takao. Later, he (1912) examined numerous specimens, including males, of E. formosae from Takao, Tainan and Polisha. Bezzi (1914) noted two specimens of E. formosae that he found in the DEI Collection (see above). The type of E. formosae was deposited in the Hungarian Museum (Budapest) and it was destroyed in 1956 (Papp and Földvári, pers. comm.).

The male specimen of this species deposited in the DEI (in good condition, labelled: “Anping / Formosa / H. Sauter, VI.1912 [printed]; additional label: Elaphropeza / Formosae Bezzi [hand-written]”) is herewith designated as Neotype of Elaphropeza formosae Bezzi, 1907 and it was labelled accordingly by the authors in 2006 to fix and stabilize the current concept of the name.

Distribution. Taiwan.

Remarks. Quate (1960) recorded E. formosae from Micronesia. His record was based on Melander's identification and he re-described this species and illustrated some structures. However, a comparison of Quate's description with the specimens of E. formosae that we have examined, reveals some differences between them. Quate indicates (l.c.: 64) that the metanotum, hypo- and metapleuron are brown, while they are yellow (as in Bezzi's original description) in E. formosae . Also, in E. formosae the third costal section (between veins R2+3 and R4+5) is nearly twice as long as the second section (between veins R1 and R2+3) (they are subequal according to Quate). Finally, E. formosae has a longer wing (2.0 mm vs. 1.5–1.7 mm) and a somewhat different male terminalia (at least as it could be seen in situ). So, we believe that Quate's (1960) record of E. formosae from Micronesia is a misidentification and actually he re-described and illustrated a different species (see below).

The relationships of E. formosae are unclear beyond inclusion within the E. ephippiata species group.