Acupalpa imitans (White) Shaun L., Winterton, 2011

Shaun L., Winterton, 2011, Revision of the stiletto fly genera Acupalpa Kroeber and Pipinnipons Winterton (Diptera, Therevidae, Agapophytinae) using cybertaxonomic methods, with a key to Australasian genera, ZooKeys 95, pp. 29-79 : 42-44

Acupalpa imitans (White) comb. n. Figs 3 C–D, F10

Phycus imitans White 1915: 28.

Agapophytus imitans ( White 1915: 28) - Mann 1929: 40; Irwin and Lyneborg 1989: 354 [catalogue].

Pipinnipons imitans ( White 1915: 28) - Winterton et al. 2001: 211.

Acupalpa imitans ( White 1915: 28), comb. n.

Type material.

Type female, AUSTRALIA: Tasmania: Wedge Bay, 3.i.1914, G.H. Hardy [lost].

Neotype male, AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Indooroopilly, Long Pocket [-27.418°, 152.837°], 22. viii– 7.ix.2007, S. L. Winterton, Malaise trap (MEI165187) (QM).

Other material examined.

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: female, Brisbane Forest Park, Scrub Road, crossing at Enoggera Creek, [-27.428°, 152.843°], 200m, 10-14.xi.1995, malaise trap, M.E. Irwin. (MEI140857) (QM); male, Tambourine, [-27.88, 153.13], 12.vi.1925 ( “Allotype” of Mann 1929) (MEI023602) (QM); female, Mount Tamborine, [-27.917°, 153.15°], 29.xi.1925, hand netted, H. Hacker (MEI108898) (QM).

Diagnosis.

Frons profile rounded above antenna; antenna dark yellow; pleuron black; wing dark banded; femora orange to yellow; tibia yellow; abdomen dark, segments 2-3 red-brown laterally, without silver velutum.

Redescription.

Body length= 6.3-7.0 mm. Head. Frons wider than ocellar tubercle (female) or narrower (male), profile rounded above antenna, pubescence as silver patches along eye margin, frontal vestiture glabrous, surface texture as irregular longitudinal striations or smooth; face as narrow strip below antennal base, vestiture glabrous; gena with pale setae; parafacial glabrous; mouthparts relatively short (approximately equal to head length); palpus brown-black, narrowly cylindrical; occiput glabrous, glossy black; antennal base flat, frons roughly level with eye in profile (or near so); antenna longer than head; scape dark yellow, length approximately equal to flagellum, scape with sparse black setae; flagellum dark yellow, base of flagellum with short dark setae. Thorax. Scutum black, overlain with grey pubescence, brown stripes of pubescence more expansive posteriorly; scutellum overlain with dense, matt-black pubescence; pleuron black, overlain with sparse silver-grey pubescence; wing markings banded infuscate; haltere knob white; coxae black; femora orange or yellow; tibia yellow, apices sometimes dark; tarsi yellow, fore-basitarsus white. Scutal chaetotaxy: np 4-5; sa, 1; pa, 1; dc, 2; sc, 1. Abdomen. Dark, segments 2-3 red-brown medially, orange laterally, silver velutum absent (female) or small triangular patches on tergites 2-3 (male); terminalia pale.

Comments.

The type of Phycus imitans was kept in the G.H. Hardy collection, which was moved from Brisbane to Katoomba, but is now apparently lost or destroyed by pests. While not stating whether he actually examined the type, Mann (1929) redescribed this species in Agapophytus based on an unjustified allotype designation and associated female from southeast Queensland. Winterton et al. (2001) transferred the species to Pipinnipons based on the description of White (1915) and the specimens referred to by Mann (1929). The two specimens examined by Mann (1929) as putative Acupalpa imitans were located in the QM collection and no further material has been collected from Tasmania. Based on the discovery of new material from southeast Queensland more closely matching the original description by White (1915) than any other material examined (including the allotype designated by Mann (1929)), a male specimen (MEI165187) is herein designated as a Neotype to stabilise the concept of the species. This problematic species has characteristics that indicate a closer relationship to species of Acupalpa (particularly palpi shape) and is herein transferred from Pipinnipons .