Leptopezella masneri, Sinclair, Bradley J. & Cumming, Jeffrey M., 2007

Sinclair, Bradley J. & Cumming, Jeffrey M., 2007, Leptopezella, a new Southern Hemisphere genus of Ocydromiinae (Diptera: Empidoidea: Hybotidae), Zootaxa 1629, pp. 27-37 : 31-33

Leptopezella masneri , sp. nov.

( Figs. 9–10 )

Holotype male labelled: “ BOLIVIA: LaPaz/ Chulumani, Apa-Apa/ 16°22'S. 67°30'W / 1–4.V.1997 1800m / L.Masner s.s. B-09”; “ HOLOTYPE / Leptopezella / masneri / Sinclair & Cumming” [red label]” ( CNC).

Paratypes: Same data as holotype (4 ɗ, 17 Ψ, CNC).

Recognition. This species is distinguished by the following features: head, thorax and abdomen mostly shiny, male genitalia small, not expanded laterally beyond abdomen, left surstylus long and strongly arched, and hypoproct with long hook-like projection, arching to left side.

Description. Wing length 2.3–2.5 mm.

Male. Scape and pedicel paler than postpedicel, postpedicel dark. Frons and ocellar triangle shiny. Occiput mostly shiny, thinly clothed in grey tomentum near middle; postocular bristles shorter than ocellar bristles. Mouthparts mostly dark, including palpus, except labellum yellowish from several oblique views.

Scutum dark and shiny; apex of postpronotal lobe yellow laterally; lower notopleuron, postalar ridge and proximal half of scutellum with thin grey tomentum. Acrostichals biserial, subequal in length with dc, extending half length of scutum; 1 pprn with several short setulae; 1 npl with many setulae; 1 long pal; dc uniserial; 2 pairs sctl, apical pair approximately three times longer than lateral.

Fore and midlegs paler than hindleg, gradually darker on distal tarsomeres. Fore tibia expanded about gland; dark setae surrounding gland. Hindleg gradually becoming darker distally, apex of tibia concolorous with tarsomeres. Hind tarsomeres dark; tarsomere 1 with spine-like ventral setae not in distinct pairs, 4–5 setae more stout than surrounding broad setae, shorter than width of tarsomere and not distinctly observed in lateral view; tarsomeres 2–3 with several stout, dark ventral setae.

Abdomen mostly shiny, lacking distinctive tomentum. Terminalia very small, half the size of Australian species. Hypandrium short and truncate distally, apex straight. Left epandrial lamella lacking spine-like projection and apical spine-like seta ( Fig. 10 ). Left surstylus long and slender, longer than length of epandrium, strongly arched and gradually tapered towards rounded apex; right surstylus approximately two-thirds length of left, strongly arched on apical third ( Fig. 9 ). Hypoproct with long hook-like projection, arching to left side. Sclerotized rods dorsal to ejaculatory apodeme absent. Distiphallus bare, lacking spinose projections.

Female. Similar to male, except setulae surrounding tibial gland pale.

Distribution. This species is known from only from the type locality in western Bolivia. The type series was swept from a protected, highly diverse, primary cloud forest.

Etymology. Named after Dr. Lubomir Masner (CNC) who collected the entire type series of this species.

Remarks. This species differs greatly from all the Australian species in terms of the small size of the male terminalia and specific genitalic features (see Discussion).

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 12. Male terminalia. 9. Leptopezella masneri, sp. nov., dorsal view with phallus removed. 10. L. masneri, sp. nov., left lateral view. 11. L. perata, sp. nov., dorsal view with phallus removed. 12. L. perata, sp. nov., left lateral view. Abbreviations: distph – distiphallus; epand – epandrium; hyprct – hypoproct; ph – phallus; sur – surstylus. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.