Priscoearomyia bausenbergensis, Reimann & Rulik, 2024

Reimann, André & Rulik, Björn, 2024, The Lonchaeidae (Diptera) of the GBOL project, with the description of a new Priscoearomyia species, Contributions to Entomology 74 (2), pp. 165-179 : 165-179

Priscoearomyia bausenbergensis sp. nov.

Figs 2 A – E , 3 A – D , 5

Material examined.

Holotype: GERMANY • male ( ZFMK - TIS- 2575291, ZFMK - DIP- 00100412); Rhineland-Palatinate; Ahrweiler; Niederzissen; Bausenberg ; 50.4647 ° N, 7.22215 ° E; 321 m a. s. l.; Malaise trap; 17 June 2014; Rulik leg.; in ZFMK.

Paratypes: GERMANY • 1 female ( ZFMK - TIS- 2578106, ZFMK - DIP- 00100413); Hesse; Lorch am Rhein; castle Nollig ; 50.04912 ° N, 7.79777 ° E; 246 m a. s. l.; Malaise trap; 17 June 2015; Niehuis leg.; in ZFMK • 2 males ( MTD - Dip- 8223, MTD - Dip- 8660); Bavaria; Berching; Rappersdorf; Aspen ; 49.12318 ° N, 11.4916 ° E; 526 m a. s. l.; Malaise trap; 22 May 2020; Hable leg.; in MTD • 2 males ( MTD - Dip- 8222, MTD - Dip- 8659); Bavaria; Limbach; Stephaniter Weiher; Aspen ; 49.74018 ° N, 10.82520 ° E; 297 m a. s. l.; Malaise trap; 21 May 2020; Grasse and Schmidl leg.; in MTD • 2 males ( MTD - Dip- 8224, MTD - Dip- 8225); Bavaria; Freystadt; mixed forest S of Burggriesbach; Aspen ; 49.12375 ° N, 11.36218 ° E; 445 m a. s. l.; Malaise trap; 06 June 2021; Hable leg.; in MTD • 1 male ( MTD - Dip- 8226); Hesse; Oberzell ( Sinntal ); swampy area with beech and ash trees; 50.31837 ° N, 9.70374 ° E; 538 m a. s. l.; hand collecting; 31 May 2021; Kappert leg.; in MTD .

FRANCE • 1 male ( MTD - Dip- 8021); Centre-Val de Loire; Huisseau-sur-Cosson ; 47.57927 ° N, 1.47151 ° E; 86 m a. s. l.; Lindgren funnel trap; 19 May 2021; Sallé and Paupe leg.; in MTD • 1 male ( MTD - Dip- 8052); Centre-Val de Loire; Loury ; 48.03878 ° N, 2.18281 ° E; 136 m a. s. l.; Lindgren funnel trap; 19 May 2021; Sallé and Paupe leg.; in MTD .

Description.

Male: Head. Eye with sparse very short hairs. Frons and face completely greyish brown dusted. 9 to 10 frontal setulae in a row along the eye margins, 16 scattered interfrontal setulae. Orbital seta strong and long (0.35 mm), as long as outer vertical seta. Inner vertical seta slightly longer than outer vertical seta. Orbital plate dusted, with a shining central streak, bare apart from orbital seta. Ocellar seta strong, as long as orbital seta. Few scattered ocellar setulae, 0.25 times as long as ocellar seta. Lunula bare. Four anterior genal setulae in a single row. Postpedicel short, oval, not reaching mouth edge, 1.5 times as long as wide, distinct orange spot on the basal medial surface, which occupies approximately one third of the inner surface. Arista two times as long as postpedicel, short pubescent.

Thorax. Thoracic dorsum black, dusted greyish brown, covered in setulae one third length of orbital seta. Scutellum completely dusted greyish brown, no obvious contrast to thoracic dorsum, bare apart from the 4 marginal setae. Lateral sclerites completely dusted. Anepisternum with anterodorsal seta absent, three strong posterior setae in a dorsoventral row, approximately 12–16 scattered setulae on disc. Katepisternum with two strong posterior seta and one to two weaker anterior setae in an irregular row close to the dorsal margin, central part bare, approximately 4–7 setulae ventrally. One seta on proepimeron and one on proepisternum. Calypter yellow-white with light brown fringe. Wings yellowish in anterior half, turning slightly brownish towards wing tip, posterior half whitish yellow. Veins yellowish basally turning brownish towards wing tip. All legs entirely black.

Abdomen. Tergite 5 2.2 times the length of tergite 4, funnel-shaped in dorsal view, strongly narrowing in posterior half, with a closely spaced group of 6 stiff setulae on each side before the apex. A small triangular membraneous area on central anterior margin (Fig. 3 C ). In lateral view anteriorly bulged, abruptly narrowing in posterior half, beak-shaped (Fig. 3 D ).

Male terminalia. Epandrium (ep) short, belt like, three times as high as long (Figs 2 A , 3 A ), with a terminal fringe of setulae on each side, gradually increasing in length from ventral to dorsal. Ventral lobes (ve) not sclerotized, only present as a membranous strip not exceeding the width of the epandrium, covered in small setulae. Fused cerci (ce) not sclerotized, hardly visible, with a row of setae. Surstyli (su) extending ventromedially from the shell of the epandrium as two lightly sclerotized processes covered in very short thick-based setulae (Fig. 3 B ). No prensisetae visible. Hypoproct (hy) a cap-shaped plate, ventral margin with two broad triangular apical lobes, almost touching in midline, leaving a narrow oval incision (Figs 2 B , 3 B ), both lobes with a fringe of hairs increasing in length towards the middle. Phallus Z-shaped with a massive basiphallus (bp) attached to a cross shaped plate with a heavy sclerotized rod extending from this plate anteriorly. Distiphallus (dp) long and straight, less sclerotized (Fig. 2 C ). Parameres (pa) belt like, not well sclerotized, strongly curved before ending close to base of phallus, not fused in midline (Fig. 2 C, D ). Hypandrial apodeme (ha) strongly sclerotized.

Measurements: Body length 3.74 mm. Wing length 3.60 mm.

Female: Head. As in male. Postpedicel oval, reaching mouth edge, 1.6 times as long as wide. Distinct orange spot at the basal inner surface. Arista 1.75 times as long as postpedicel, short pubescent.

Thorax. Thoracic dorsum sub-shining black, completely dusted greyish brown, anteriorly covered in setulae one third length of orbital seta, posterior to the suture some setulae reaching almost half the length of orbital seta. Scutellum completely dusted greyish brown, dusting stronger than on thoracic dorsum, with 4 marginal setae (only bases visible in paratype). Lateral sclerites completely dusted. Anepisternum with no anterodorsal seta and three strong posterior setae in a dorsoventral row. With a few scattered setulae on disc. Katepisternum with two strong posterior setae and two weaker (half the length of the posterior) in an irregular row close to the dorsal margin, central part bare, 7 setulae ventrally. One seta on proepimeron and one on proepisternum. Calypter yellow-white with light brown fringe. Wings yellowish in anterior half, turning slightly brownish towards wing tip, posterior half yellowish white. Veins yellowish basally turning brownish towards wing tip. Only hind legs present in female paratype, entirely black.

Abdomen. Tergites completely brownish dusted. Sternites completely dusted. Aculeus black with yellow tip. Apical segment as in Fig. 2 E . In dorsal view slightly constricted in the middle. In side view a long ventro-apical seta with three very small setulae anterior to these on each side and a tiny setula close to the tip. Dorsal surface with a pair of long setae at postion 0.6 of the total length measured from the base of the segment. Apical dorsal setae missing in paratype female specimen.

Measurements: Body length 3.26 mm. Wing length 3.43 mm.

Etymology.

This species is named after the collecting site of the male holotype.

Biology.

Unknown.

Distribution.

Only known from Europe ( Germany, France).

Differential diagnosis.

With the plate-like hypoproct and epandrium without well sclerotized ventral lobes, this species belongs to a group with P. greciana (McAlpine, 1983) and P. hermoensis MacGowan & Freidberg, 2008 . It differs from both mentioned species by the shape of the phallus, which is more or less U-shaped in P. greciana and P. hermoensis (see MacGowan 2014 a, figs 22–31), but Z-shaped in P. bausenbergensis . Furthermore, the shape of the hypoproct is quite different. In P. greciana the hypoproct is a dome-shaped plate with two very short apical lobes. In P. hermoensis these lobes are broader and longer and have numerous finger-like processes on the outer margin ( MacGowan 2014 a). In P. bausenbergensis the apical lobes are very broad with smooth outer margins and enclosing a narrow oval incision. The extremely narrowed and elongated tip of the abdomen separates the new species from all other known species of Priscoearomyia , except P. greciana , which shows this character to a lesser extent. The small triangular membraneous area on the anterior margin of tergite 5 is not present in P. greciana and clearly seperates P. bausenbergensis from the latter species. The large distinct orange spot at the base of postpedicel separates the described species from all others, except P. withersi MacGowan, 2014 , which can have a small spot present. The new species can be included in the key to the Priscoearomyia species by MacGowan (2014 a) as follows:

Figures

Figure 2. Drawings of male (A – D) and female (E) genitalia of Priscoearomyia bausenbergensis sp. nov.: A. Lateral view of epandrium; B. Posterior view of epandrium and associated structures; C. Lateral view of phallus and parameres; D. Ventral view of phallus and parameres; E. Lateral (above) and dorsal (below) view of female ovipositor.

Figure 3. Abdomen and genital capsule of male holotype of Priscoearomyia bausenbergensis sp. nov.: A. Lateral view of male genital; B. Apicoventral view of male genital; C. Dorsal view of tip of abdomen; D. Lateral view of tip of abdomen.

Figure 5. Neighbor joining tree of Priscoearomyia species. Data taken from the German Barcode of Life project (GBOL) and identification verified by morphology; cluster of P. withersi collapsed, with the number of sequences indicated in brackets thereafter.