Chelipoda oblata Collin

Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, Zootaxa 1537 (1), pp. 1-88 : 47-48

29. Chelipoda oblata Collin

[ Figs. 49 , 146 ]

Chelipoda oblata Collin, 1928: 40–41 .

Type material. Collin (1928) described Chelipoda oblata from a single female from Ohakune, 15.xii.1922 – 15.i.1923, T. R. Harris [ NHM]. Ohakune is in New Zealand, North Island, RI. This female is here designated lectotype .

Additional material. 4♂, 11♀ from North Is. [TO, WO], South Is. [ NN] and Snares Is. SN, [ NZAC, NMWC] .

Description. Male: length 3mm (wet material).

Head: black, dusted grey; dorsoventrally flattened, 1.5X as long as deep; frons about 2X as long as distance between hind ocelli; eyes touching for a short distance below antennae ( Fig. 146 ); verticals and ocl black, strong; outer vertical (vt2) congruent with upper end of series of small fine upo; lpo diverging strongly from posterior eye margin, merging with patch of dense whitish yellow pile on lower occiput. Antenna brownish, basal segments paler (almost yellow); scape longer than wide, bearing a short dark seta dorsally; pedicel globular, longest setae hardly reaching beyond base of next segment; postpedicel 2–2.5X as long as wide, pointed ovate, short pilose; arista 2–3X as long, minutely pilose, lacking longer hairs. Mouthparts brown, palpi very small.

Thorax: ground colour dirty yellow with brown markings extending between pprnlb and base of wing and along katepisternum behind C 1. All setae black, dc2, unp, sa and sct strong, dc1 much weaker than dc2, dc3 and other setae very weak.

Legs: yellowish, femora and tibiae posteriorly and tarsi distally brownish. C 1 0.8X as long as thorax, not quadrate basally, a line of small fine hairs anteriorly but no strong basal bristle. F 1 ( Fig. 146 ) slightly longer than C 1, rather evenly inflated, widest 0.4 from base; av series of about 13 stout black spines longest 0.3 from base, gradually becoming smaller toward tip and base; pv spines smaller and finer than av series, distinct subapically but continued basally by only minute hairs. Legs otherwise similar to C. oblinita .

Wing: with simple venation, similar to C. oblinita ; veins yellowish brown, costal ciliation normal, halteres pale dusky.

Abdomen: brownish black above, paler below; tergites and sternites with sparse but longish hairs on disc and posterior margins; tergites 1–6 rather more strongly sclerotized laterally. Terminalia ( Fig. 49 ) very small, brownish, reflexed upwards; hypandrium separated from and partly overlapped by epandrium; epandrial lobes separated, narrowly oblong in lateral view, narrower in posterior view, several long yellowish setae apically; hypandrium with pair of strong setae apically and smaller setae below; subepandrial process large, strongly sclerotized, tightly spiraled (almost cork-screw-like) apically; cerci narrow, free, extending conspicuously well beyond tip of epandrial lobes and bearing long bristles; phallus rather broad, reflexed anteriorly near base and strongly posteriorly near tip.

Description. Female: similar to male but thorax generally darker with greater contrast between the pleural ground colour stripes and a brownish sublateral stripe on mesonotum (its inner margin roughly delimited by the line of dc). F 1 ( Fig. 146 ) similar to male but basal 4 av spines stronger than others of av series; 1 or 2 small pv spines basally, very close behind and almost merged with the av series; at3 with stronger outstanding dorsal bristles, at2 only 0.25–0.3X as long as at3 (as in male) but dorsoapical bristle stronger. Abdomen brown above and below, tergites and sternites more uniformly sclerotized with shorter hairs; terminal papillae narrow with longish pale hairs.

Comments. C. oblata is closely allied to C. oblinita with virtually only a single row of spines below F 1 (especially in the female) and from which it may be distinguished by having only short bristles on the second antennal segment and no strong basal bristle on C 1. C. oblata has a scattered distribution across central North Island, north-west South Island and the sub-Antarctic Snares Is. It has been collected in December, January and March. The thoracic markings of Snares Is specimens are less distinct and there are small differences in the chaetotaxy of F 1 compared with the mainland population but separate specific status is not warranted. A single female collected by SKP at Mason Bay, Stewart Island, SI, in the LUNZ collection clearly belongs to a closely related but different species. It is darker than C. oblata with a dark median line on the mesonotum and has 2 strong bristles on C 1 basally and a few stronger bristles behind the patch of pile on the lower occiput (recalling C. australpina sp. n.).

Figures

FIGURES 49–55. Male genitalia of Chelipoda spp. 49. C. oblata Collin, posterior view. 50. C. oblinita Collin, posterior view. 51–53. C. otiraensis (Miller). 51. posterior view. 52. anterior view. 53. apex of postgonite. 54. C. puhihiroa sp. n. apex of postgonite. 55. C. rangopango sp. n. posterior view,

FIGURES 140–146. Morphology of Chelipoda spp. 140. C. cornigera sp. n. ♂ habitus. 141. C. abdita Collin ♂ F, ven1 tral view. 142. C. mirabilis Collin ♂ C & front trochanter. 143. C. modica Collin ♂ habitus. 144. C. cycloseta sp. n. ♂ 1 head & thorax. 145. C. gracilis sp. n. ♂ front leg. 146. C. oblata Collin ♀, anterior view.