Tachydromia nowendociensis, Grootaert, 2011

Grootaert, Patrick, 2011, The Genus Tachydromia Meigen (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Australia, Records of the Australian Museum 63 (1), pp. 103-112 : 109-111

Tachydromia nowendociensis n.sp.

Fig. 5

Type material HOLOTYPE ♂, Australia, New South Wales, 10 km SE Nowendoc , 850 m, on tree trunk, 25.03.1985, D.J. Bickel; AMS K258775 . PARATYPES: New South Wales, 1♂, Wang Wauk SF nr. Wootton, 7.04.1987, D. McAlpine, B. Day, R . de Keyzer; AMS K258792 .

Diagnosis. Recognized by the fore femur being brownish on about apical half; mid and hind femora entirely brown.

Description. Male length: body 1.8 mm, wing 1.7 mm. Head black in ground-colour. Eyes with posterior margin produced far beyond ocellar tubercle and almost touching on vertex; vertex narrower than frons in front of ocellar tubercle. Occiput including vertex almost entirely densely greyish pollinose, with shining patch below neck; 2 inclinate, short, black postvertical setae, some scattered short pale and black setae around neck and near mouth-opening and row of pale minute postoculars. Ocellar tubercle pollinose, with 2 moderately long lateroclinate setae. Frons greyish pollinose, slightly widened toward ocellar tubercle, above antennae slightly wider than anterior ocellus. Antenna with scape, pedicel and postpedicel dusky yellow, stylus brownish. Postpedicel drop-like, short, nearly 1.5 times as long as wide; stylus apical, very long, nearly 3.0 times as long as pedicel and postpedicel combined. Palpus unmodified, slender, rounded apically, shorter than proboscis, brownish; lacking silvery setae, with some scattered black setulae and bearing very long (nearly 1.5 times as long as palpus) black subapical seta. Thorax black in ground-colour, entirely finely greyish pollinose. Postpronotal lobe large, lacking conspicuous setae, with some minute setulae. Mesonotum with 1 black moderately long notopleural, 1 minute hair-like postalar and 2 cruciate scutellars (nearly as long as notopleural seta); some minute setulae present behind postpronotal lobe; mesosternum and metasternum bare between posterior four coxae. Acrostichals minute, arranged in 2 regular rows, ending before prescutellar depression. Dorsocentrals uniserial, mostly minute, prescutellar pair somewhat longer. Legs long, slender, with brown and yellow pattern; coxae and trochanters entirely yellow, fore femur brownish on about apical half (broader dorsally), mid and hind femora entirely brown, fore knees yellowish, fore tibia (except dorsal face) and mid tibia brownish, hind tibia brown on apical 1/3 and brownish yellow on basal 1/3, fore and mid tarsomeres 1–3 yellowish, tarsomeres 4–5 brownish yellow, hind basitarsus yellow (except brownish yellow apex), tarsomeres 2–5 brownish. Coxae with yellowish unmodified setae, finely pollinose. Fore femur thickened, pale pubescent ventrally, with dark anteroventral and posteroventral setulae becoming longer and paler basally. Fore tibia spindle-shaped. Mid femur slender, with hardly prominent swelling near base, bearing rows of short anteroventral and posteroventral spinelike setae basally (the latter somewhat stronger basally). Mid tibia with hardly prominent apical projection and ventral spinule-like setulae. Hind leg unmodified, lacking prominent setae. Wing normally developed, rounded at apex, with unmodified venation; two broad brownish bands connected on cells r 1 and r 2+3 leaving narrow basal (except extreme base), apical and median hyaline spaces. One short costal bristle present. Vein R 2+3 straight. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel toward wing-apex. Crossveins r-m and bm-cu almost contiguous. Calypter dusky yellow with concolorous fringe. Halter with yellow stem and pale knob. Abdomen brown in ground-colour, finely greyish pollinose, covered with scattered black setae longer on pregenital segment. Terminalia ( Fig. 5 ) moderately large, rather elongate oval, blackish brown. Right cercus elongate subtriangular, with unmodified short setae. Left cercus nearly as long as right cercus, subrectangular, narrow; with several unmodified setae of different lengths. Right epandrial lamella subtriangular (viewed laterally), lacking ventral subapical process, with several unmodified setae of different lengths. Right surstylus differentiated from epandrium, bent inward, rather subtriangular, bearing several spinule-like setulae apically and on inner side. Left surstylus undifferentiated from epandrium; left epandrial lamella subtriangular, with hardly prominent dorsal projection on about middle, bearing several long subapical marginal setae. Hypandrium with 3 very short setae. Phallus short.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type locality of the new species, Nowendoc.

Distribution. Tachydromia nowendociensis n.sp. is currently known from two localities in New South Wales. The new species was taken from tree trunks (850 m) at the end of March and in the beginning of April.

Figures

Fig. 5. Tachydromia nowendociensis: (a) right surstylus, dorsal; (b) terminalia, dorsal; (c) left epandrial lamella, lateral.