Apotropina griseovitta (Malloch, 1936)

Ang, Yuchen, Lumbers, James & Riccardi, Paula R., 2023, A conspectus of Australian Apotropina (Diptera, Chloropidae) with the description of two new species, ZooKeys 1187, pp. 261-299 : 261

Apotropina griseovitta (Malloch, 1936)

Fig. 14A-C

Lasiopleura griseovitta Malloch, 1936: 25, 1940: 25.

Type locality and distribution.

Australia: Queensland (Mt Molloy).

Examined material.

Holotype ♂ Label transcription: "Australian Museum, K 359227; Mt. Molloy , QUEENSLAND, F.H. Taylor; HOLOTYPE, Lasiopleura " griseohirta " [note: likely a misspelling] Mall.; Lasiopleura griseovitta Type, det. JRMALLOCH; SPHTM Coll."; 16°40'27"S, 145°19'50"E. Deposited in the AMRI.

Taxonomic notes.

Malloch (1936) described this species based on a single male specimen, which has a predominantly tawny thorax, darker abdomen, yellowish legs, and the scutum has a broad central pruinose stripe along the dorsocentrals. Unfortunately, the male holotype specimen is currently damaged: head missing, pruinosity pattern on scutum likely abraded (Fig. 14A, B ). Malloch (1940) subsequently determined a female specimen from the type locality without providing his reasoning for assigning it to this species, and noted that the female has two narrow pruinose stripes on the scutum (as opposed to a single broad stripe in the male). We were unable to examine the female specimen for this study. Based on Malloch’s (1936. 1940) descriptions, there are no autapomorphies to easily diagnose this species, and the set of characters used to delimit this species contains multiple interpretations (e.g., the basal pilosity on the arista is either twice as long [♂] or just as long as the basal width of arista [♂ & ♀], arista either pale-yellow [♂] or brownish [♀] and the aforementioned sexually dimorphic difference in scutal pruinosity pattern). Malloch (1940) acknowledges this multiplicity in the diagnosis of this species and makes three possible interpretations in his key; this is reflected in ours as well. In our opinion, the species limits for A. griseovitta are poorly defined and need to be further investigated with more character systems (e.g., genitalia, molecular data). Chaetotaxy as observed: 2 postpronotal setae; 1+1 notopleural setae; postalar and intrapostalar setae present; scutellum with 1 dorsocentral setula; katepisternal seta missing/indistinct. Original description and subsequent taxonomic notes in Suppl. material 1.

Figures

Figure 14. Apotropina griseovitta (Malloch) holotype ♂ (missing head; K 359227) A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C specimen labels.