Usia carmelitensis Becker, 1906

Gibbs, David, 2011, 2960, Zootaxa 2960, pp. 1-77 : 26-29

Usia carmelitensis Becker, 1906

( Figs. 15, Plate III)

Usia carmelitensis Becker, 1906: 226 .

Usia ignorata: Theodor 1983: 60 , Figs. 157–161, misidentification.

Type material examined. LECTOTYPE female here designated: [ Israel,] Haifa, [Mount Carmel] IV 45485, Typus , Zool. Mus. Berlin. [♀ in ZMHB] PARALECTOTYPES: [ Israel,] Haifa, [Mount Carmel] IV 45485, Typus , Zool. Mus. Berlin. [5♀ in ZMHB] .

Other material examined. Israel, Southern Palestine, O. Theodor, Ashkolom, 19 March [19]55 [8♂ 3♀ in TAU]; Dunes Akko , Coastal Plain , Palestine , 8 April [19]54 O. Theodor [2♂ 5♀ in TAU]; Palestine. O. Theodor, Ramle , 18 April [19]55 [♀ in TAU]; Rehoboth bei, Jaffa 17 March [19]33, J. Aharoni coll./ Usia ignorata Beck., Lindner det. [♂ in TAU]; Hederah , Coastal Plain , Palestine , 5 April [19]53, O. Theodor [20♂ 14♀ in TAU]; Zeelim , 12 March 1974, D. Furth [♀]; Tel Aviv Dunes , 8 April 1981, A. Freidberg [4♂ 7♀ in TAU]; Nizzanim Beach , stable coastal dunrs 43m. el., 15 April 1995, M.E. Irwin, N31º44.21' E34º36.89' [2♀ in TAU]; Holon, 5 March 1996, A. Freidberg [2♂ in TAU]; Nizzanim, 23 March 1995, A. Freidberg [3♂ 5♀ in TAU]; 13 April 2008 [♀ in TAU]; Nizzanim, 23 March 1995, I. Yarom [♂ in TAU]; Kerem Shalom, 24 March 2000, A. Freidberg [♂ 4♀ in TAU]; Bitronot Ruhama, Nahal Hazav, N31º31.883' E34º42.275', 5 April 2005, L. Friedman [3♀ in TAU]; Western Negev , Karem Shalom, meadow N31º12' E34º17', 24 March 2000, leg. M.J. Ebejer [1♂ 1♀ in PCME]; Tel Aviv Country Club beach 14 March 1995 ♀; Herzliyya 13 March 1995, leg. B. Merz [♂ in MHNG] .

Etymology. Named for Mount Carmel, the type locality.

Diagnosis. Usually a very small species, almost entirely black, so far only known from Israel. Hind femur with short, adpressed hairs, marginal hairs of scutellum as long as scutellum medially. Male with large, globular genitalia, gonocoxite medially with a pair of convergent processes tipped with setae, these often visible in pinned specimens. Female apical sternite strongly and evenly domed. From allopatric U. dahli , only be details of genitalia (Plate III).

Redescription. Measurements. Body length. 1.5–3.5mm Wing length. 1.9–3.2mm.

Male. Head. Frons relatively broad, at narrowest point as wide or wider than length third antennal segment, rather matt but without discrete grey dust spots, some thin dusting at front of frons laterally. Mouth margin exceedingly narrow, practically absent, broader and browner level with antennae. Ocellar triangle obtuse, lateral ocelli separated from the eye by their diameter or a little less. Longest hairs on ocellar tubercle about as long as width across vertex. Occiput covered with grey dust, including area behind vertex which is slightly more shining, and black hairs, shorter above, long below. Antennae black, relatively short, third segment obovate, about twice as long as scape and pedicel combined, a few short setae just before apical sulcus, sensilla often whitish or transparent. Proboscis black, naked, about as long as mesonotum. Palps very small, black with small apical setae. Thorax. Entirely black, mesonotum shining and mostly smooth or shallowly wrinkled, posterior part of mesonotum a little more densely wrinkled, lightly grey dusted on pronotum and postpronotal lobe. Vestiture as long as that on vertex, acrostichals biserial and separated from dorsocentrals by bare paramedian lines, laterally Vestiture evenly distributed. Scutellum shining, but surface matt with thin dusting, disc sparsely haired, longer marginal hairs as long as scutellum is long. Pleurae black, predominantly shining, propleuron dusted, scattered hairs on dorsal part of anepisternum. Wing. Clear to vaguely tinged brownish, veins brown. Anal lobe convex, as wide as anal cell. Haltere. Whitish knob, stem infuscated. Legs. Black, shining but with rough texture to cuticle, with very short, adpressed black hairs, more dense on tibia. Abdomen. Black, short with very broad tergites, rough surface sculpture, covered with relatively short black hairs, becoming longer laterally, sternites difficult to see. Genitalia. Almost as large as abdomen, but smaller than in some similar species. Epandrium long with blunt to acute apicolateral projections, often enclosing tip of gonocoxites, usually set at right angles below tip of abdomen obscuring the sternites. Gonocoxite short, with a pair of convergent processes tipped with setae medially, these often visible in pinned specimens. Epiphallic complex similar to that of U. dahli but with tip of aedeagus closely approximated to the blunt process below it.

Female. Differs from the male only in wider frons, almost as wide as antennae is long, anterolateral grey spots more clearly marked. Mouth margin slightly wider, but still hardly evident. Abdomen a little shorter-haired, tapering to a rounded point, not nearly so compact thus tergites longer relative to width. Apical sternite relatively large (even larger than in U. dahli ), basal two thirds strongly domed, transversely ridged, long scattered black hairs laterally, apical processes more conspicuous than in U. dahli .

Discussion. Part of a sibling pair with U. dahli of Tunisia which has very similar genitalia. Also more distantly related to U. biconvexa with which it is sympatric and the two can be found together.

All six of the specimens in the type series are females, which was unexpected as Becker describes both males and females. All of the specimens listed by Becker (1906) are from the same locality and from his own collection so should all be in the ZMHB. Although Becker does not say how many specimens he had, there is no reason to believe any are lost other than a single female specimen loaned to Theodor in 1976 that was never returned (J. Ziegler, pers. comm. 2010). However, Becker (1906) does say that the male genitalia are very small, which is PLATE III. Usia carmelitensis Becker, 1906 ; a epiphallic complex ventral, b epiphallic complex lateral, c gonocoxite ventral, d gonocoxite lateral, e epandrium dorsal, f epandrium lateral, g female genitalia ventral, h female sternite 8 ventral. certainly not the case. It seems likely that Becker mistook the large domed apical sternite of female U. carmelitensis for the male genitalia in some specimens where this was prominent. Paramonov (1950) came to the same conclusion. Dissection of one of the type series confirmed the conspecificity with non-type females that could be confidently associated with males.

Distribution. Israel. One of the commonest Micrusia found in Israel, known from many sites by numerous specimens so it will almost certainly be found in adjacent countries. Also reported from Syria ( Engel 1932; Evenhuis & Greathead 1999), however, this would appear to derive from Becker (1906) who only had the type series available to him so must have presumed either that Mount Carmel was in Syria, or was using the term Syrien to include the whole eastern Mediterranean area at a time before the boundaries of Palestine were clearly defined.