Phrudoneura collessi Bickel

Bickel, Daniel J., 2013, Phrudoneura (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from Australia and Melanesia, Zootaxa 3680 (1) : -

Phrudoneura collessi Bickel , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 b, 2, 4b)

Type material. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: HOLOTYPE: 3, Millstream, 7.IV.1971, at light, D.H. Colless; PARATYPES: 3, Millstream, 25.X.1970; 3, Ƥ, Crossing Pool, Millstream, 21.X.1970, at light, D.H. Colless; 2 3, Millstream-Chichester NP, McKenzie Spring, 21°20' 18"S, 117°12'38"E, Malaise trap over spring, rocky ravine, 299 m, 7–12.V.2003, Lambkin, Yeates & Recsei (all ANIC).

Additional material. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: 3 3, Ƥ, Brunswick Heads, VIII.1963, Haverstein ( ANIC). Queensland: 3, Bundaberg, 25.V.1972, Frauca; 2 3, Baldwin Swamp Faunal Res., nr. Bundaberg, 10.X.1972, Frauca; 3, Ingham, 9.VIII.1969, Harley; 3, Big Mitchell Ck, Mareeba-Molloy Rd, 4.V.1967, Colless; Ƥ, 7–14 miles W of Herberton, via Watsonville, 1.V.1967, Colless (all ANIC); 2 3, 5 miles W of Ravenshoe, 6.XII.1962, Ross & Cavagnaro ( CAS); Ƥ, Gatton, 9–16.IX.1981, yellow pan trap, in potato crop ( QDPI); Ƥ, Woodgate NP, Hoppy Larks Ck & Burrum River, 3.XII.1992, yellow pans nr mangroves, Bickel ( AMS); Western Australia: 3, Ƥ, Karijini Natl Park: Weano Gorge Rd: 22°21'16"S 118°15'11"E, Lambkin & Weir, Malaise over running creek above Hancock Gorge, 699 m, 15–20.V.2003 ( ANIC 2130).

Description. Male: length: 2.1 mm; wing: 2.3 mm x 0.9 mm.

Head: head almost circular in anterior view, but slightly wider than high; dorsal postcranium flat, and slightly concave dorsally; vertex and frons dark brown and covered with grey pruinosity; postorbitals mostly pale yellow, but dorsalmost three postorbitals black; pair converging postvertical setae, positioned mediad of postorbital row; pair strong vertical and pair strong diverging ocellar setae present; male eyes distinctly separated by face and clypeus; eye facets more or less uniform; face-clypeus brown and covered with grey pruinosity, and with distal margin of clypeus yellowish; palp yellow with short black setae and distinct apical seta; proboscis brownish; antenna mostly brown, but variously with yellowish coloration on mediodistal margin of scape, and medioventral surface of pedicel and first flagellomere; scape dorsally bare; first flagellomere enlarged subtriangular, and covered in microtrichia; arista arising dorsobasally on first flagellomere, with short hairs, and about as long as head height.

Thorax: dorsum and pleura mostly dark brown and covered with grey pruinosity; metepimeron yellow ventrally (above CIII), becoming brown dorsally; posterior slope of mesonotum not depressed; ac biseriate, with 8– 9 regular pairs; 5 dc present, slightly decreasing in size anteriorly; field of short setae present anterior slope of thorax; 1 pa, 2 sa (with anterior sa much shorter than posterior sa), 2 sr, 2 npl, 1 hm, 1 pm present; median scutellar seta strong, lateral present as weak pale seta, about one-fifth size of median; proepisternum with short black seta dorsally (usually not visible since covered by head, and with stronger black ventral seta above join with CI.

Legs: CII brown laterally but yellow on anterior surface; CI and CIII and reminder of legs mostly yellow, but FIII with dark brown apical “knee”, and distal tarsomeres infuscated; vestiture black; CI with short anterior setae and 3 longer distal setae; CII with short anterior setae and with two setae along distolateral ridge, with basal seta at 1/3 and stronger seta near ½; CIII with strong lateral seta near 1/3, and trochanter III with short lateral seta; I: 2.7/ 2.4/ 1.3; 0.6; 0.5; 0.4; 0.4; FI with short av and pv seta at 5/6, and with short subapical posterior seta; TI with ad-pd setal pair at 1/3, with ad seta stronger than pd seta, and with short ad setal serration from 1/3 to apex; II: 3.5/ 3.8/ 1.7; 1.0; 0.9; 0.5; 0.4; FII with strong anterior subapical seta, and with shorter av and pv seta at 7/8; TII with short ad-pd setal pair at 1/5, very strong ad-pd setal pairs at ¼ and ½, ventral seta at 3/8, and with subapical corona of long pd, dorsal ad av, and pv seta; tarsomeres IIt1-4 each with ring of short apical setae; III: 3.5; 4.6; 1.0/ 1.5/ 1.0/ 0.7/ 0.4; FIII with strong anterior subapical seta, and with shorter av seta at 5/6; TIII with 4 strong ad-pd setal pairs at 1/5, 2/5, 2/3, and subapically, and with strong ventral seta at ½ and shorter ventral at ¾, and with long apical av and pv setae; IIIt1 with some short ventral hairs (MSSC); IIIt2 distinctly longer than IIIt1.

Wing: membrane hyaline; R2+3 ends in anterior margin at 5/6; R4+5 ends just anterior to apex; R4+5 and M diverging slightly from base; M ends in membrane halfway between dm-cu crossvein and wing apex (MSSC); anal angle weak; CuAx ratio near 0.6; lower calypter yellow with fan of brown setae; halter yellow.

Abdomen: terga 1 and 2 mostly yellowish, sometimes with dorsal infuscation; terga 2–5 mostly dark brown with yellow posterior margin; sterna 1–5 yellow; tergum 6 narrow, hoodlike; segment 7 with longer tergum and shorter sternum; sternum 8 ovate with distinctive inverted V-shaped internal carina at base, and covering left basal hypopygial foramen; hypopygium ( Fig. 1 b) mostly dark brown with pale yellow cercus; epandrium subcircular; hypandrium forming short hood over elongate curved phallus; ventral distal margin of epandrium with 3 pedunculate setae (= epandrial lobe setae) on raised ledge; surstylus short, bearing various setae and modified pinnate seta; subepandrial sclerite subrectangular, with row of dorsal setae; cercus subtriangular and highly setose.

Female. Similar to male except as noted: face and clypeus more widely separated; vein M reaching wing margin just behind apex, and without flexion or bosse alaire; oviscapt divided into two hemitergites, each with crest of four spine-like setae.

Remarks. Phrudoneura collessi has a rather unusual distribution, which is across northern Australia, but apparently south of the monsoonal belt ( Fig. 2 ). It it is found in the Cairns district rainforests where it is possibly sympatric with P. abbreviata , then down along the Queensland coast to northernmost New South Wales, and with a strange disjunction in two locations along the Fortescue River drainage in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This latter region, especially the Millstream type locality, appears to be a refugium and supports a richer and more unusual fauna than might be expected in such an arid region (this will be discussed further in a paper, in prep., on the Pilbara Dolichopodidae ).

Phrudoneura collessi is probably the sister taxon of the more tropical P. abbreviata , as both share distinct yellow postorbital setae and similar hypopygia.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phrudoneura abbreviata Meuffels & Grootaert; a. hypopygium, left lateral. P. collessi sp. nov.; b. male postabdomen, left lateral. Scale line = 0.1 mm. Legend: cer = cercus; els = epandrial lobe setae; hyp, hypandrium; pha = phallus; sub = subepandrial plate; sur = surstylus.

FIGURE 2. Distribution map for Phrudoneura abbreviata, P. collessi and P. popondetta.