Psilota calva Young, 2020

Young, Andrew D., Skevington, Jeffrey H. & Steenis, Wouter Van, 2020, Revision of the Psilota Meigen, 1822 flower flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) of Australia, Zootaxa 4737 (1), pp. 1-127 : 41

Psilota calva Young sp. nov.

(Species plate: Fig. 15 ; Genitalia: Fig. 42 A–B; Map: Fig. 54B )

Diagnosis: Face shining, with pollinosity restricted to two lateral triangles below antenna. Pleuron shining, free of pollinosity. Pile on anepimeron black, pile on remainder of pleuron white. Hind leg simple. Wing colourless. Halter pale yellow. Tergite 2 unmarked. Tergite 2 to 4 with posterior margin faintly metallic blue. Body length: 7.8 mm.

Description: MALE: Head: Head black, face shining blueish-black, with pollinosity only in two lateral triangles below antennae. Face white pilose, frons with mixed black and white pile, vertex black pilose. Scape and pedicel orange, postpedicel dark brown with ventral half orange, oval, approximately twice as long as wide. Eye white pilose. Thorax: Thorax black. Legs mostly black, with extreme apices of fore- and mid femora orange, basal half of fore and mid tibia orange. Hind leg entirely black. Hind femur unmodified, with only a few weak, black setulae apicoventrally. Pleuron shining, free of pollinosity. Pile on anepimeron black, pile on remainder of pleuron white. Pile on scutum mostly white, with black pile mixed in on posterior half. Scutellum with mixed black and white pile. Wing colourless. Wing extensively bare, with only scattered microtrichia in the apical one-third of cells r 4+5, dm, and cua. Cell m 4 mostly microtrichose. Calypter white. Abdomen: Abdomen mostly black. Tergites 2 to 4 with the posterior rim faintly metallic blue. Tergites shining, free of pollinosity. Tergites 2 to 4 mostly white pilose, with only posterior margin black. Sternites black. All sternites pale pilose. Genitalia: Epandrium very compact, about 1.5 times as tall as long. Cercus triangular, somewhat elongate. Outer lobe of surstylus inserted at top of inner lobe, thick and curved smoothly downwards over its entire length. Inner lobe of surstylus short, swollen at base, very sharply ventrally constricted at midlength, approximately 3.5 times as long as wide (at base), and rounded at apex. Inner lobe of surstylus also with a narrow medial projection on the dorsal half of the inner surface running the length of the surstylus. Tip of the inner lobe of surstylus curved medially on the dorsal surface, forming a second medial projection. Phallapodeme smooth on ventral surface. Postgonite elongate, extending well beyond the tip of the phallus.

FEMALE: Unknown.

Etymology: The specific epithet ‘ calva ’ derives from the Latin calvus, meaning “bald, or bare”. This is in reference to the non-pollinose, shining face of Psilota calva sp. nov.

Specimens examined: AUSTRALIA: HOLOTYPE: Northern Territory: Brock’s Creek , Burnside, N. Aust., 23.IV.1929, -13.466557 131.415973, coll. T.G. Campbell, USNM _ENT_00249849 (1♂ USNM). This is fine in the USNM (does not have to go to Australia as Wouter suggests).

Discussion: Nothing is known about the biology of this species.

Figures

FIGURE 15. P. calva sp. nov., A) male dorsal habitus, B) male anterolateral face, C) male lateral habitus. Scale bar =1 mm.

FIGURE 42. Lateral and dorsal male genitalia of A, B) P. calva sp. nov.; C, D) P. coerulea Macquart; E, F) P. darwini sp. nov., and G, H) P. femoralis Schiner. Scale bar =1 mm.

FIGURE 54. Known range of A) P. brunnipennis sp. nov.; B) P. calva sp. nov.