Leia katae, Kurina, 2021

Kurina, Olavi, 2021, A contribution towards checklist of fungus gnats (Diptera, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Bolitophilidae, Keroplatidae, Mycetophilidae) in Georgia, Transcaucasia, ZooKeys 1026, pp. 69-142 : 69

Leia katae sp. nov. Figs 3C, D , 5A-D , 6A-C

Type material.

Holotype. Male , Georgia, Shida-Kartli, W of Surami, 42°01.57'N, 43°29.88'E, 940 m a.s.l., 18.v.2013, sweeping, leg. O. Kurina [see Table 1 : SK-1] (mounted from alcohol, IZBE). Paratype. Male, GEORGIA, Samegrelo-Zemo-Svanethi, near Ushguli, path to glacier, 42°56.62'N, 43°03.23'E, 2220 m a.s.l., 15-17.vi.2019, Malaise trap, leg. X. Mengual [see Table 1 : SZS-4] (in alcohol, ZFMK)

Diagnosis.

Leia katae sp. nov. can be distinguished by the combination of characters as follows: thorax bicolored (scutum yellow, with brown longitudinal stripes; katepisternum with lower half brown), wing tinged yellowish, with faint preapical brownish band, male terminalia with bipartite gonostylus (lateral prong shorter, convolute and apically hooked; medial prong longer, tapering with preapical small tooth at ventral margin).

Description.

Male. Body length 6.7-6.9 mm (n = 2). Coloration. Head with vertex brown, frons yellow, face, clypeus and mouthparts including palpus pale yellow. Scape and pedicel pale yellow. First two flagellomeres yellowish, flagellomeres 3-14 brown. Thorax bicoloured: scutum yellow with three brown longitudinal stripes, which are posteriorly completely fused, lateral stripes begin at a distance of one third from anterior margin, medial stripe shortly split anteriorly, lateral parts of scutum yellow; antepronotum, proepisternum and anepisternum yellow, posterior margin of anepimeron light brown, katepisternum with lower half brown and upper half yellow, laterotergite brown with posterior half yellowish, mediotergite brown, scutellum basally yellowish, apically brown. Thoracic setae all yellow. Wing with yellowish tinge and preapical very faint transverse brownish band reaching to M2, all veins yellowish including radial veins somewhat darker. Halter with stem and knob pale yellow. All coxae and femora yellow, except hind femur apically with narrow brown band, all tibiae, tarsi yellow but seem darker because of dense brown setae. Tibial setae brown, spurs yellowish. Abdomen with all tergites brown and sternites yellow. Abdominal vestiture yellow. Terminalia brown with gonocoxite medially and gonostylus anteriorly yellow. Head. Ocelli in a linear arrangement. Medial Mycetophila ocellus about twice smaller than laterals, which are separated from eye margins by less than their own diameter. Frontal furrow complete. Clypeus obovoid. Fourth flagellar segment about as long as wide, apical flagellar segment 2.5 times as long as wide basally. Flagellar segments with dense yellowish short setae. Thorax. Scutum densely covered with setae, with marginal and prescutellar setae stronger. Antepronotum with 6-7 strong and a number of weaker setae. Proepisternum with one very strong seta at anterior margin about 10 weaker setae. Anepisternum, katepisternum and anepimeron non-setose. Laterotergite with long fine setae on posterior half. Mediotergite non-setose. Scutellum with a row of marginal setae including two pairs remarkably stronger. Wing. Length 5.3-5.7 mm, length to width 2.3-2.8. All veins setose, except Sc, sc-r, Rs and extreme base of M1. Sc ending on C at level of furcation of posterior fork. R 4+5 3.3 times as long as R 1. r-m 1.47 times as long as m-stem. M1 and M2 apically convergent, apical third of both veins faint. M4 interrupted at base. Rs located distally of the anterior fork. Legs. Ratio of femur to tibia for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.16; 0.95; 0.86. Ratio of tibia to basitarsus for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.00; 1.66; 2.00. Fore tibia with a spur 2.95 times of tibial maximum width. Mid tibia with anterior spur 3.33 times and posterior spur 3.96 times of tibial maximum width. Hind tibia with anterior spur 3.33 times and posterior spur 4.58 times of tibial maximum width. Terminalia (Figs 5A-D , 6A-C ). Gonocoxite with setae on apical fifth only. Ventromedial process of gonocoxite elongated ovoid with a row of long setae apically and an aggregation of shorter setae on apical fourth. Ventroposterior margin of gonocoxite drawn into a wide membraneous non-setose medial lobe and a digitate more protruding lobe with one prominent and 2-3 weaker apical setae. Tergite 9 membraneous, somewhat tapering, apically evenly rounded with apicocentral patch of short setae. Gonostylus bipartite: lateral prong shorter, convolute and apically hooked; medial prong longer, tapering with preapical small tooth at ventral margin. Aedeagus with sclerotized, cup-shaped apical portion, ejaculatory apodeme bilobed. Paramere about 1.6 times as long as aedeagus, bowed in lateral view, apically tapering, with ventral flange drawn out into a triangular membranous process in the middle; anteriorly, parameres fused into a complex membranous structure with anterior concavity and well protruding lateral corners. Hypoproct with protruding apicolateral corners and medial part that bears a group of stout setae.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology.

The species is named after my daughter Katariina (born 3 November 2000), an enthusiastic student of biology at the University of Tartu ( Estonia). She participated in a trip to Georgia in 2017 that yielded several specimens of this study and she always insists we call her Kata .

Remarks.

There are 166 Leia Meigen species known worldwide including 33 in the Palaearctic region ( Polevoi and Salmela 2016). Leia katae sp. nov. differs from all known Palaearctic and Nearctic species by its peculiar structure of the gonostylus that is bipartite: medial prong long and slender with a preapical tooth, and lateral prong apically hooked, about 2/3 of the medial prong.

Figures

Figure 3. Habitus photos of new species A Sciophila georgei sp. nov., paratype B Anatella metae sp. nov., paratype C Leia katae sp. nov., holotype, terminalia detached. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 5. Leia katae sp. nov., male terminalia A dorsal view B lateral view C ventral view D gonocoxite and gonostylus, ventral view. Abbreviations: aed = aedeagus, cer = cercus, ejap = ejaculatory apodeme, gc = gonocoxite, gc vmp = ventromedial process of gonocoxite, gc vpp = ventroposterior process of gonocoxite, gst lp = lateral prong of gonostylus, gst mp = medial prong of gonostylus, hyp = hypoproct, par = paramere, tg 9 = tergite IX. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.

Figure 6. Leia katae sp. nov., male terminalia A aedeagal complex, ventral view B aedeagal complex, lateral view C hypoproct ventral view. Abbreviations: aed = aedeagus, ejap = ejaculatory apodeme, par = paramere. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.