Empis (Coptophlebia) brazzavillensis, Esa, 2001

Esa, C. Daugeron, 2001, Cladistics and taxonomy of the Afrotropical Empis (Coptophlebia) chrysocera-group (Diptera, Empididae), Journal of Natural History 35, pp. 583-616 : 588-590

Empis (Coptophlebia) brazzavillensis sp. n.

(®gures 4±9)

Type material

HOLOTYPE:, Congo, environ de Brazzaville, 1907, E. Roubaud & A. Weiss ; PARATYPE: 1 m, same data ( MNHN) .

Description

Male: length of wing 4.7 mm.

Head with occiput brown to dusted greyish. Ocellar triangle with pair of short bristles. Face dusted greyish in upper part, shining black in lower part. Scape and pedicel brown, ®rst ¯agellomere yellowish to brown at base and at tip, second and third ¯agellomeres dark brown. Proboscis long (twice the head height), labium blackish, strongly sclerotized, with distinct annulations, labella slender, bare, palpus brownish. Eyes holoptic, upper ommatidia enlarged.

Thorax dark brown. Antepronotu m with short lateral bristles. Postpronota l lobes with one strong, long basal bristle. Proepisternum bare. Prosternum with a few short lateral bristles. Scutum with a more or less distinct dusted grey stripe between acrostichals and dorsocentrals, and lyre-shaped markings on dorsocentrals. Acrostichals apparently uniserial, very ®ne, short. Dorsocentrals apparently uniserial, ®ne, short although more distinct than acrostichals, not visible in the prescutellar depression. The holotype with distinct insertion of one postsutural supraalar. Three strong, long notopleurals. One strong, long postalar. Scutellum with two strong, long apical bristles, the holotype with, between them, one ®ner, shorter one. Laterotergite with fan of black bristles. Anterior and posterior spiracles brown.

Legs brown. Fore femur with short dorsal bristles, ®ner, longer ventrals. Fore tibia with one row of strong, long dorsals. First tarsomere of fore tarsus with a few strong, short ventrals. Mid femur pennate ventrally on apical half, with one row of dorsal distinct bristles. Mid tibia pennate dorsally except at basal tip, with a few pennate ventral bristles at base. First tarsomere of mid tarsus with numerous strong, rather long bristles. Hind femur pennate antero- and posteroventrally at apical tip, with one row of ®ne, rather long ventral bristles. Hind tibia pennate dorsally except at basal tip. First tarsomere of hind tarsus with numerous distinct, rather long dorsal and ventral bristles. Each tarsomere of all tarsi with distinct bristles at apical tip.

Wing dark brown. Sc abbreviated. R 41 5 branched at right-angle. Discal cell truncate. M1, M2 abbreviated. A1 complete. Anal lobe well developed, anal angle acute. Halter with yellowish base and stem, dark brown knob.

Abdomen (®gures 4±6) dusted brownish. First three segments with rather strong, long, brownish lateral bristles. Tergite 6 with rounded medioposterior expansion (®gure 6). Tergite 7 indistinctly divided in three parts (®gure 5). Tergite 8 divided in three sclerites, a central one expanded anteroventrally, and two lateral wing-shaped ones (®gures 4, 5). Sternite 8 developed posteriorly with rounded shape (®gure 4).

Hypopygium (®gures 7, 8) with cercus made up of almost bare anterior lobe, rounded dorsally, and posterior pointed lobe with numerous distinct bristles (®gure 7). Epandrial lamellae connected anteriorly, with posterodorsal rounded expansion bearing a few distinct bristles at tip (®gure 8). Phallus short.

Female similar to male except for the following characters: pedicel lighter, ¯agellum entirely yellowish. Proboscis a little shorter. Eyes dichoptic, ommatidia all of equal size. Frons shining blackish in upper part. Dorsocentrals with one strong, long prescutellar bristle. Fore femur short pennate dorsally on basal half, with two or three ventral pennate bristles at base. Fore tibia pennate dorsally except at basal tip, with ®ne bristles at apical one-quarter. Mid femur pennate dorsally (only for short distance apically) and posteroventrally. Mid tibia pennate dorsally except at basal tip, posteroventrally at basal third. Hind femur pennate dorsally except at apical tip, with ®ne, short pennate ventral bristles. Hind tibia pennate dorsally except at basal tip, ventrally especially at basal third. First tarsomere of all tarsi pennate dorsally. Abdomen brown to yellowish, almost bare. Tergite 7 with circular-shaped anterior margin (®gure 9). Cercus longer than broad, with ®ne, very short bristly hairs.

Discussion

E. brazzavillensis belongs to the E. (C.) lyra -complex. It resembles E. lyra in the male legs ornamentation, the yellowish antennae and the presence, although less distinct, of lyre-shaped markings on the scutum. Both species can be distinguished by the general colour of the body, extensively brownish for the ®rst, brown to dusted grey for the second, the shape of the male genital sclerite, especially the epandrial lamella, and the female legs ornamentation: fore tibia almost bare ventrally for the ®rst, with pennate bristles for the second.

Distribution Central Africa: Congo.

Etymology The name of the species is derived from the type-locality.