Manota comata, Hippa, Heikki & Kurina, Olavi, 2012

Hippa, Heikki & Kurina, Olavi, 2012, New species and new records of Afrotropical Manota Williston (Diptera, Mycetophilidae), with a key to the species, Zootaxa 3455, pp. 1-48 : 13-14

Manota comata sp. n.

Figs 7 A–C

Male. Colour. Head pale brown, vertex and dorsal part of occiput dark brown. Antenna brown. Mouthparts pale yellowish. Thorax brown, posteromedial part of scutum and scutellum rather darker brown, ventral part of preepisternum 2 paler brown. Legs pale yellowish, apical third of femur 3 infuscated, in some specimens traces of slight infuscation also at base of F3. Wing pale brown; haltere pale brown with dark brown knob. Abdomen brown, sternites paler than tergites. All setosity pale, yellowish or brownish, the thicker setae seeming darker than the finer setae and trichia. Head. Antennal flagellomere 4, Fig. 7 A. Palpomere 3 of maxillary palpus with apicomesial thumb-like extension, with 4 apically expanded curved sensilla; palpomere 4 with parasegment, palpomere 5 ca. 1.3–1.4 times longer than palpomere 4. Number of strong postocular setae 8–11. Thorax. Anepisternum setose, with 36–62 setae; anterior basalare non-setose; preepisternum 2 setose, with 15–25 setae; laterotergite non-setose; episternum 3 setose, with ca. 19–31 setae. Legs. Mid and hind tibial organs absent. Wing. R1 meeting C well on the basal half of the costal margin; the sclerotized part of M extending to the level of the tip of R1, wing length 1.4–1.5 mm ( Ghana), 1.6–1.8 mm ( Uganda). Hypopygium, Figs 7 B, C: Sternite 9 slightly less than half the length of gonocoxa, lateral margin sharply delimited, posterior margin transverse, anterior margin deeply incised, the setae similar to the ventral setae of gonocoxa. Ventral mesial margin of gonocoxa simple. Parastylar lobe from subtriangular to semicircular, varying in shape depending on the angle of view, with 2 setae at the anterior end, the setae arising from prominent basal bodies. Paraapodemal lobe distinct, exposed in ventral view. Dorsal mesial margin of gonocoxa simple, angularly convex. Dorsal posterior margin simple, forming together with the mesial margin an acute, apically rounded angle with an aggregation of setae. On the ventral side of the latter there is a finger-like curved lobe bearing two apical setae. Two juxtagonostylar setae present, both subequal rather unmodified acute-ended megasetae arising from a common basal body, which is much longer than the megasetae. Gonostylus about half the length of gonocoxa, oval in outline, with a narrow subapical mesial lobe bearing two strong setae at the apex; the ventral setae similar to those on gonocoxa, the lateral and apical setae rather long, the dorsal side of gonostylus non-setose. Aedeagus subtriangular, without distinct lateral shoulders, the apex curved ventrad. Hypoproct posteriorly extending to the basal part of gonostylus, the ventral setae forming a mesial longitudinal stripe of ca. 5 setae on each half. Cerci medially separate, simple, the setae very long, the longest ones longer than twice of the length of gonostylus.

Female unknown.

Discussion. Manota comata belongs to a group of four greatly similar Afrotropical species, also including M. pedicellata , M. petiolata and M. relicina , which may be difficult to distinguish if all the characters are not well visible. M. comata is distinguished from the others by having: 1) cercal setae extremely long, much longer that the length of the cercus itself (in the other species shorter than the cercus), 2) the cercal setae distributed from apex to well on the basal half of cercus (in other species delimited on the apical half) and 3) unlike the other species, part of the basalmost setae are on the ventral side of cercus. Of the 4 species, M. comata and M. pedicellata resemble one another most closely and in case of the cerci being damaged or poorly visible the identification may be rather difficult. Both species have an extremely long basal body of the juxtagonostylar megasetae, distinguishing them from the other two species. If the ventral rows of setae on the hypoproct are well visible, M. comata can be distinguished by having normal, not thick claw-like, setae anteriormost in these rows. Further, in M. comata , the subapical lobe on the gonostylus is larger but in many mounts the difference is difficult to observe because the lobe tends to turn dorsad and the gonostyli may appear very similar.

Etymology. The name is Latin, comata , hairy, referring to the very long setae of the cercus.

Types. Holotype. Male, GHANA, Central Region, Kakum nr. Entwi Hrom, Malaise trap 8–15.xi.1999, leg. T. Andersson (on slide, in MZLU). Paratypes. 2 males, same data as holotype (on slide, in MZLU).

Other material. 4 males, UGANDA, Kibale NP, Kanyawara Biol. St., 0 0o 33’54,2’’ N, 0 30o 21’31,3’’ E, 1513m, Malaise trap (No 4), 3–7.iii.2010, leg. O. Kurina & Co. (on slide, in IZBE); 3 males, same data except Malaise trap (No 3) 7–13.iii.2010 (on slide, in IZBE); 2 males, same data except Malaise trap (No 4) 11–18.iv.2010 (on slide, in IZBE); 2 males, same data except 27.vi–4.vii.2010 (on slide, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 18–24.vii.2010 (on slide, in IZBE); 2 males, same data except 17–24.x.2010 (on slides, in IZBE); 7 males, same data except 31.x–7.xi.2010 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 3 males, same data except 14–21.xi.2010 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 9 males, same data except 21–28.xi.2010 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 2 males, same data except 28.xi–5.xii.2010 (1 on slide, 1 in alcohol, both in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 5–12.xii.2010 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 19–26.xii.2010 (on slide, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 23.i–6.ii.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 6.ii–13.ii.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 20.ii–5.iii.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 5–13.iii.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 23 males, same data except 17.iv–1.v.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 7 males, same data except 12–19.vi.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE); 1 male, same data except 17–24.vii.2011 (in alcohol, in IZBE).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Manota comata sp. n. (holotype). A. Antennal flagellomere 4, lateral view. B. Hypopygium, ventral view. C. Hypopygium, dorsal view. Scale 0.1 mm. 1 = posterodorsal finger-like lobe of gonocoxa.