Paragus caligneus, Ssymank & Mengual, 2014

Ssymank, Axel & Mengual, Ximo, 2014, Paragus caligneus sp. nov., a new Afrotropical species of flower fly (Diptera: Syrphidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (2), pp. 759-772 : 762-767

Paragus caligneus sp. nov.

( Figs 1–13 , 18–21 )

Type locality. Gabon, Ogooué-Ivindo, Ivindo National Park, Makokou, 518 m a.s.l., 00°30މ44ފN, 12°46މ12ފE.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, “ 00°30’44”N // 12°46’12”E // GABON: Ogooué-Ivindo // Ivindo NP, Makokou (518 m) // 16-19.IX.2012,Am Ivindo // nahe Station (Malaisetrap 4) // leg. Ralph Peters ” “ HOLOTYPE // Paragus caligneus Ssymank & Mengual [red label]” [ ZFMK] . PARATYPE: ♀, “Central African Republic // 95 km SW Sibut // 05°12’N, 18°25’E // J. Halada // 24.V.2009 ”, “ PARATYPE // Paragus caligneus Ssymank & Mengual [yellow label] [ CZUP].

Description. Male. Head ( Figs 1 í3, 6, 10í13). Eye with two vertical vittae of white pile among short dark pile. Eye contiguity ca. 1/3 of length of vertical triangle.A patch of enlarged ommatidia in front of vertical triangle on both sides of eye contiguity. Angle of eye approximation ca. 90°. Vertical triangle polished black with a small whitish pollinosity anterior to anterior ocellus, otherwise short black pilose. Occiput with whitish pile on ventral 1/2, darker above with only black pile on dorsal 1/3. Face yellow with short yellow pile (max. ca. 1/2 length of scape), without medial black vitta, but weak facial knob translucent yellow and therefore darker than sides of face. Peristome and gena black, clypeus subquadrate and brownish black. Antennae long, basoflagellomere ca. 2.5 times as long as wide, ventrally in the basal corner slightly brownish-red; arista brown, inserted at 1/3 of length of basoflagellomere, slightly surpassing tip of basoflagellomere ( Fig. 13 ); total length of arista slightly shorter than length of basoflagellomere; lunula yellow. Proboscis with large whitish labellum.

Thorax ( Figs 1, 3, 4, 5 ). Scutum polished black, no pollinose maculae present, coarsely granulate with very short black pile. Long yellow to orange pile laterally before the suture and stiff yellow slightly thickened pile on postalar callus. Pleuron black, long yellow pile on anepisternum, long white pile on dorsal part of katepisternum. Scutellum also polished black and coarsely granulate with short black pile, ca 1/10 of the scutellum-length. Scutellum subrectangular, ca. 3 times as wide as long, hind margin also granulate as dorsal surface.

Wing. Hyaline and almost completely bare of microtrichia, at most with a few scattered microtrichia.Alula oval, ca. 2.5 times longer than wide, with sparse microtrichia along border, central and basal part bare. Spurious vein not reaching distal cross vein. Pterostigma whitish.

Legs. Femora black with narrow sharply delimited yellow apex (knee). Pile on the backside and ventrally mostly yellow. Front and middle tibia apically ca. 2/3 black, proximal 1/3 yellow. Metatibia apically 3/4 black, thickened and laterally compressed, dorsally with dense long black pile, ventrally short black pile, apical ventral part with yellow-reddish pile. Basal three tarsomeres brownish-black dorsally, apical two tarsomeres dark yellow.

Abdomen ( Figs 3, 4, 7 ). First ¿ve terga fused laterally; terga 3–5 bluish black polished with very coarse granulation (granula). Terga 2 and 3 with two subquadrate large ivory maculae (greenish in fresh material), well separated from each other and from the side margin. Granulation in the ivory maculae with black dots. Tergum 4 completely bluish black with narrow almost indiscernible lateral depression. Granula on the surface of terga and on lateral margin with short apical black pile. Sternum 1 brownish, sterna 2–3 white, sternum 4 brown with distal margin bearing a bifurcate medial extension with long pile ( Fig. 21 ). Sterna with long white pile.

Male genitalia ( Figs 18–20 ). Epandrium in the narrower middle part is only half as long as cercus in dorsal view; surstylus large, almost as high as epandrium, straight with a short apical tooth or hook bent inwards.

Female ( Figs 4–7 , 11, 12 ). Similar to male except for normal sexual dimorphism and: Face yellow with a narrow medial black vitta about 1/5 width of face, reaching up to the base of the antennae ( Fig. 12 ). Frons ca. 1/6 to 1/7 head width at level of posterior ocelli, polished black without pollinose maculae, subparallel margins in upper half of frons ( Fig. 11 ) and then broadening towards antennal sockets in lower half. Whitish maculae on abdomen smaller than in male and more rounded ( Fig. 7 ). Metatibia of normal shape (not compressed or enlarged as in the male), but with the same fringe of long dark pile dorsally. Occiput with white pile reaching further up than in male, but in dorsal part with some black flattened pile among the whitish ones. Arista slightly shorter than in male, not surpassing the tip of the basoflagellomere.

Length. Body: 5.8 mm (holotype), 6.7 mm (paratype); wing 4.9 mm (holotype), 5.0 mm (paratype).

Differential diagnosis. Paragus caligneus sp. nov. can be clearly recognized from all other known Afrotropical species by the large, whitish to green abdominal maculae with black dots. It can be easily distinguished from P. borbonicus , the only other known species of Afroparagus , by a series of morphological characters summarized in the diagnostic Table 2. The most evident differences are: the coloration of tergum 3, the coloration of the legs (femora largely black with narrow yellow apex in P. caligneus , while P. borbonicus has femora with much broader yellow apical parts; protibia 2/3 brown apically, while P. borbonicus has completely yellow protibia); the dense, long brown-black pile dorsally on the metatibia (white pile in P. borbonicus ); and very short pile in general on scutum, scutellum and face in comparison with P. borbonicus . The holotype male of Paragus caligneus has a bifurcate extension in the middle of the posterior margin of sternum 4, and male genitalia of both species are completely different (see STUCKENBERG 1954a: Figs 41–43). The female of P. caligneus does not have pollinose maculae on the frons, while P. borbonicus females have white pollinose maculae at the eye margin. Females of both species have a medial black facial vitta connected to a usually black oral margin. Males of P. borbonicus have the face completely yellow, but the holotype male of the new species has yellow face and black gena.

Etymology. The speci¿c epithet is derived from the Latin caligo, meaning dark, gloomy ( BROWN 1956: 148). Species epithet to be treated as an adjective.

Biology. Larvae unknown, presumably zoophagous, probably on aphids as most other larvae of known species of the genus Paragus . Holotype collected in a Malaise trap alongside the Ivindo river; no other information available.

Distribution. Known only from Gabon (holotypeJ) and Central African Republic (paratype ♀).

Key to subgenera of Paragus (modi¿ed and simpli¿ed from VUJIû et al. 2008)

1. Eye with vertical alternate vittae (bands) of pile reflecting light differently. ................. 2

– Eye uniformly pilose. ........................................ Pandasyopthalmus Stuckenberg, 1954

2. Scutellum with conspicuous teeth (minimum about double length of diameter) on posterior margin; in dorsolateral view eyes with two dark and three more distinct, white, dorso-ventral vittae of pile. ........................ Serratoparagus Vujiü & Radenkoviü, 2008

– Scutellum without conspicuous teeth on posterior margin (either smooth or granulate with granula of about same length or height as diameter); in dorsolateral view eyes with two white dorso-ventral vittae of pile among dark pile. ................................................ 3

3 Tergites 1–5 completely fused, at least laterally. Male genitalia: epandrium in narrower part 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the cercus ( Fig. 19 ). Afrotropical species. ............................ .......................................................................... Afroparagus Vujiü & Radenkoviü, 2008

– Only tergites 1–2 completely fused. Male genitalia: epandrium in narrower part twice as long as cercus. Mainly Holarctic species. ................................. Paragus Latreille, 1804

Figures

Figs 1–9. Paragus caligneus sp. nov. 1–3 – holotype male; 1 – lateral view; 2 – frontal view; 3 – dorsal view. 4–7 – paratype female; 4 – dorsal view; 5 – lateral view; 6 – frontal view; 7 – posterior view. 8 – holotype male, labels. 9 – paratype female, label.

Figs 10–17. 10–13 – Paragus caligneus sp. nov.; 10 – male head, dorsal view; 11 – female head, dorsal view; 12 – female head, frontal view; 13 – male antenna, lateral view. 14–17 – Paragus borbonicus Macquart, 1842; 14 – male head, dorsal view; 15 – female head, dorsal view; 16 – female head, frontal view; 17 – male antenna, lateral view.

Figs 18–22. 18–20 – Paragus caligneus sp. nov., male genitalia. 18 – ventral view; 19 – dorsal view; 20 – lateral view. Fig. 21. Paragus caligneus sp. nov., posterior margin of sternum 4. 22 – Paragus borbonicus Macquart, 1842, surstylus in dorsal view.