Miltogramma mikolajczyki Szpila and Pape, 2024

Szpila, Krzysztof, Walczak, Kinga, Grzywacz, Andrzej, Akbarzadeh, Agnieszka Soszyńska Kamran, Bystrowski, Cezary & Pape, Thomas, 2024, Underexplored diversity in Palaearctic Miltogramma Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 201, pp. 1-21 : 6-9

Miltogramma mikolajczyki Szpila and Pape , sp. nov.

( Figs 1B , 3B , 5A–J )

Zoobank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2DEAB490-045C-4323-A9F8-6C11F9A6A86C .

Type material. Holotype: 1M, Uzbekistan, Machitly , 26 June 2019, 39.6813 67.2653, leg. KEiB Expedition . Paratypes: 2M, Iran, North Khorasan, Chehar Bid, 19 June 2016, 37.8106 56.9002, leg. KEiB Iran Expedition III; 1M , Iran, North Khorasan, Desht II, 25 June 2016, 37.3110 56.0033, leg. KEiB Iran Expedition III (barcoded, KEIB _DIP_01215); 1M , Iran, Mazandaran, Rineh , 27 June 2016, 35.8904 52.1765, leg. KEiB Iran Expedition III; 1M , Iran, Kerman, Gohargaz , 13 May 2017, 30.4375 57.2103, leg. KEiB Iran Expedition IV; 1M , Uzbekistan, Urgut , 27 June 2019, 39.3802 67.2091, leg. KEiB Expedition .

Male. Body length 5–7 mm (N = 6). Head. Parafacial plate yellowish, broad on whole length, at level of antennal base 0.17 of the eye height. Frons broad, slightly widening backwards, 0.35 head width at the ocellar triangle and 0.30 head width at the base of antenna. Fronto-orbital plate yellowish with posteriormost part slightly darker. Frontal viưa dark yellow, broad, 2.2× as broad as fronto-orbital plate at vertex, only slightly narrowed anteriorly, width at lunule 0.7 width at anterior ocellus. Scape, pedicel, and proximal part of the first flagellomere yellow, arista brownish-black. Ocellar triangle with a pair of laterally directed setae larger than additional ocellar setulae, and two pairs of postocellar setae. Inner vertical seta strong, almost straight, outer vertical seta curved and 0.8× as long as inner vertical seta; 12–13 pairs of strong frontal setae, anterior pairs of setae crossed over frontal viưa. Frontal viưa and vertex bare, usually also without paravertical setae. Three to four proclinate orbital setae, one reclinate orbital seta. Fronto-orbital plate with several strong setulae distributed around orbital setae, in some cases distinction between orbital setae and setulae impossible. Parafacial plate with sparse, whitish-yellow setulae (well visible only against dark background). Lunule bare. Scape and pedicel with short setulae. Gena with whitish-yellow setulae and postgena with black setulae. Postcranium with black setulae. Antenna inserted distinctly above level of middle of eye. Antenna long, first flagellomere 2.3× as long as pedicel and 1.6× as long as distance between tip of first flagellomere and lower margin of facial plate, tip reaching to about 0.2 of parafacial plate. Arista micropubescent, aristomeres 1 and 2 shorter than their greatest diameter, aristomere 3 widened in basal 0.7. Facial plate with low but distinct keel below antennal insertion. Vibrissa weakly developed, but distinctly larger than surrounding setae, situated distinctly above lower margin of facial plate; one to two supravibrissal setae. Subvibrissal setae sparse, long, black. Height of gena 0.3× length of first flagellomere and 0.1× eye height. Proboscis long, labellum 0.4× as long as prementum, palpus yellow.

Thorax. Black ground colour; covered with dense, yellow-grey microtrichosity.

Legs. Foreleg tarsomeres 1–5 with length proportions 1–0.4– 0.3–0.2–0.4. Fore tarsus with claws shorter than tarsomere 5. Tarsomere 5 with several erected setae on the entire anterior surface, with addition of single elongated posterodorsal seta. Mid-tibia with one strong and one weak anterodorsal setae. Legs otherwise without particular modifications.

Wing. Tegula light brown, basicosta yellow, veins yellow; costal spine not developed; base of vein R 4 * 5 with one to two setulae dorsally and ventrally; distal part of vein M bent at right angle, M cell r 4 * 5 open.

Abdomen.Brown, covered with dense, yellow microtrichosity. Tergites 3 and 4 with unclear, narrow brown band across posterior margin. This band is interrupted centrally. Tergite 5 with two symmetric, unclear, brown spots on posterior margin.

Terminalia ( Fig. 5H–J ). Cuticule brownish-black, with dense microtrichosity. Cercus (c) brownish-black, as long as gonostylus (gst), slightly curved (lateral view) and gradually tapering into a pointed tip (lateral and posterior view). Cercus with scaưered setae and short setulae in basal half, almost bare in distal half. Gonostylus yellow, straight, as long as cercus, with broad basal part, rounded apically and with setulae along whole length. Pregonite (prg) very broad, slightly curved anteriorly with pointed tip; postgonite (pog) almost straight with rounded tip and strong anterior seta. Basiphallus, ventral plate (vp) and dorsal plate (dp) strongly sclerotized; dorsal plate shallowly bifid apically (posterior view); ventral plate distinctly shorter than dorsal plate. Membranous part of phallus with numerous denticles, acrophallus (ac) short widened at tip.

Female. Unknown.

Biology. Specimens were collected around noon perching on stones along dry stream beds and on gravel roads.

Barcoding. Barcoded specimen (male) was grouped as sister to three species of Miltogramma subgenus Dichiracantha Enderlein ( Table 2 ; Fig. 4 ).

Etymology. Species is named in honour of recently deceased eminent Polish dipterist, Dr Waldemar Mikołajczyk, honorary member of Polish Entomological Society.

Remarks. Identifying specimens of M. mikolajczyki sp. nov. using the keys provided by Rohdendorf (1930, 1935), Verves (1994), and Povolný and Verves (1997) leads to species belonging to their subgenus Pseudomiltogramma Rohdendorf (frons not very broad, numerous large setulae on the fronto-orbital plates, abdomen without distinct spot/band paưern). The fore tarsus chaetotaxy with numerous long, erect setae anteriorly on tarsomere 5, is not known from any other species of Pseudomiltogramma .

Figures

Figure 1. Male fore tarsus of Miltogramma spp. A, M.vervesi sp. nov., right tarsus, tarsomeres 2–5, anterior view. B, M.mikolajczyki sp. nov., right tarsus, tarsomeres 4 and 5, dorsal view.C, M.manouchehrii sp. nov., less tarsus, tarsomeres 4 and 5, dorsal view.D, M.soszynskii sp.nov., right tarsus, tarsomeres 1–5, anterior lateral view.E, M. rognesi sp. nov., right tarsus, tarsomeres 1–5, anterior lateral view.

Figure 3. Male fore tarsus of Miltogramma spp.A, M.vervesi sp. nov., right tarsus, anterior lateral view. B, M.mikolajczyki sp. nov., right tarsus, dorsal view. C, M. soszynskii sp. nov., right tarsus, anterior lateral view. D, M.thompsoni sp. nov., right tarsus, anterior lateral view. E, M.rognesi sp.nov., right tarsus, anterior lateral view.F, M.vera, right tarsus, anterior lateral view. G, M. manouchehrii sp. nov., right tarsus, dorsal view. Scale bars:0.2 mm.

Figure 4. Neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on COI gene sequences of Miltogramma species.Numbers at branch nodes represent bootstrap support values as a percentage of 1000 replicates. The scale bar, measured in 0.2 substitutions per nucleotide position, indicates the genetic distance between the species. The asterisk (*) in Miltogramma efflatouni indicates a specimen that was misidentified as Miltogramma nuda in Kuưy et al. (2010).

Figure 5. Miltogramma mikolajczyki sp.nov.(male paratype:Iran, North Khorasan, Chehar Bid, 19 June 2016, 37.8106 56.9002, leg. KEiB Expedition III, NHMD; male genital apparatus:Iran, Kerman, Gohargaz, 13 May 2017, 30.4375 57.2103, leg.KEiB Iran Expedition IV, NHMD). A, habitus, lateral view.B, habitus, dorsal view. C, head, lateral view.D, head, frontal view.E, head, dorsal view.F, right fore tarsus, dorsal view. G, wing, dorsal view.H, epandrial complex, dorsal view.I, epandrial complex, lateral, view.J, phallus, pre- and postgonites, ejaculatory sclerite, hypandrium.