Brachineura Rondani, 1840

Jiao, Kelong, Wang, Hao, Wang, Yuanhong & Bu, Wenjun, 2018, Notes on the genus Brachineura Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), with description of three new species from China, Zoological Systematics 43 (1), pp. 103-108 : 104

Genus Brachineura Rondani, 1840

Brachineura Rondani, 1840: 16 ; Gagné & Jaschhof, 2014: 126.

Type species: Brachineura fuscogrisea Rondani.

Diagnosis. The genus Brachineura is characterized in the tribe Brachineurini ( Gagné & Jaschhof, 2014; Jiao et al., 2016) by the unique combination of scutum completely covered with scales, vein R 5 bent a little forward in the middle and joining vein C distinctly anterior to wing apex, vein Cu unforked, gonostylus without basal lobes, gonocoxite without distal lobes and having mediobasal lobe reduced to only one to several setae. It is distinguishable from Rhizomyia Kieffer , the second largest genus of the tribe Brachineurini , by vein R 5 joining vein C distinctly anterior to wing apex and vein Cu unforked, while the latter genus has R 5 joining vein C at wing apex and Cu forked. And Brachineura is also close to Epimyia Felt and Nodalistyla Fedotova & Sidorenko in Brachineurini by the similar wing vein and mediobasal lobe of gonocoxite, but differs by gonocoxite without distal lobes and gonostylus without basal lobes, while Epimyia has gonocoxite inwardly with a stout distal lobe and Nodalistyla has gonostylus with basal lobe distinctly protruding outwardly.

Generic redescription. Adult. Palpus with 3 segments, last two segments longer than first one ( Fig. 2 ). Antenna with 10 flagellomeres, each with an extremely shorter neck and only one basal node ( Fig. 1 ) in both sexes. Scutum completely covered with scales. Wing ( Fig. 3 ) hyaline, densely covered with narrow scales and setose except membrane; vein R 1 joining vein C at basal 2/5; vein R 5 bent a little forward in the middle, joining vein C distinctly anterior to wing apex; vein Cu unforked. Tarsal claw ( Fig. 4 ) usually toothed on all legs, sometimes untoothed. Male seventh and eighth tergites both reduced to one strongly sclerotized and linear band.

Male genitalia. Gonocoxite with mediobasal lobe undeveloped, and reduced to only one to several setae and without distal lobe; gonostylus shaped and arched variously between congeners; cerci separated to form two broad lobes; hypoproct usually deeply emarginated forming two slender lobes; aedeagus sub-cylindrical or sub-conical, usually with modifications.

Female genitalia. Ovipositor short and not protrusible; cerci separated with two short lobes; hypoproct broad, usually forming two lobes; ninth sternite divided longitudinally.

Remarks. Fedotova (2014) gave the latest but simple description of the genus Brachineura . In the present paper, the diagnosis is revised to give an accurate and adequate redescription by adding detailed characters for head, thorax and abdomen with the main five diagnostic characters as follows: scutum completely covered with scales, vein R 5 bent a little forward in the middle and joining vein C distinctly anterior to wing apex, vein Cu unforked, gonostylus without basal lobes, gonocoxite without distal lobes and having mediobasal lobe reduced to only one to several setae. With the description of the three new species from China in the present paper, the cosmopolitan genus Brachineura includes 33 species now.

Key to males of all known Brachineura species in China.

1. Gonostylus with the basal half swollen to be globular; gonostylus approximately as long as the half length of gonocoxite ( Figs 5–6 )

......................................................................................................................................................... B. sphaerica Jiao & Bu , sp. nov.

Gonostylus with the basal half not swollen distinctly; gonostylus distinctly longer than the half length of gonocoxite ( Figs 7 , 10 ).....

............................................................................................................................................................................................................2 2. Aedeagus distinctly longer than gonocoxite, but distinctly shorter than 1.5 times the length of gonocoxite; hypoproct emarginated forming two slender lobes ( Figs 7–8 )............................................................................................. B. physiphora Jiao & Bu , sp. nov.

Aedeagus prolonged, approximately two times as long as the length of gonocoxite; hypoproct emarginated forming two triangular lobes in the dorsal view ( Figs 10–11 )........................................................................................... B. prodolichata Jiao & Bu , sp. nov.

Figures

Figures 1–6. Brachineura sphaerica Jiao & Bu, sp. nov., male. 1. The 3rd flagellomere, dorsal view. 2. Palpus, lateral view. 3. Wing, dorsal view. 4. Fore acropod, lateral view. 5. Genitalia, dorsal view, one gonopod removed. 6. Genitalia, ventral view, one gonopod removed. Scale bars: 1–2, 4–6=20μm; 3=100μm.

Figures 7–9. Brachineura physiphora Jiao & Bu, sp. nov., male. 7. Genitalia, ventral view, one gonopod, cerci and hypoproct removed. 8. Genitalia, dorsal view, one gonopod removed. 9. Cerci and hypoproct, dorsal view. Scale bars=20μm.

Figures 10–11. Brachineura prodolichata Jiao & Bu, sp. nov., male. 10. Genitalia, ventral view, one gonopod, cerci and hypoproct removed. 11. Genitalia, dorsal view, one gonopod removed. Scale bars=20μm.