Heteromeringia montana, Lonsdale, 2009

Lonsdale, Owen, 2009, The Heteromeringia (Diptera: Clusiidae: Clusiodinae) of Australia, Records of the Australian Museum 61 (3), pp. 229-262 : 251-253

Heteromeringia montana n.sp.

Figs 58–61

Type material. HOLOTYPE: Queensland: Kuranda , 6.x.2002, A. Freidberg (1♂, AMS) . PARATYPE: Queensland: 12.43S 143.18E, 11km EnE of Mt. Tozer , 11–16.vii.1986, Malaise trap, D.H. Colless (1♂, ANIC) .

Additional material examined [“ species A” of D.K. McAlpine (1960)]: New South Wales: Bronte, near Sydney, 31.iii.1958 (1♂, AMS), Otford, Illawarra District , 26.i.1959 (1♀, AMS) .

Description

Male. Body length 2.1 (NSW male), 3.0 (female), 3.5 mm (QLD males). Anepisternal disc present. First flagellomere orbicular. Bristles black. Arista closely pubescent. Vibrissa relatively long and curved. Ocellar bristle thin and longer than tubercle. Two dorsocentral bristles with small bristle in front of anterior dorsocentral. Gena relatively high and bent medially. Face and buccal cavity pilose and meeting at an angle. Frons dark brown medially, fading to orange anteriorly, and with lateral margins yellowish; back of head dark brown above foramen; occiput dark brown (excluding venter); face brownish centrally; first flagellomere brown on ventral ¾ of anterior margin and on ventral half of inner face; remainder of head yellow; gena pilose on dorsal 1 ⁄ 3; anterior half of frons tomentose. Thorax dark brown. Legs yellow with mid and fore coxae dark brown dorsally, fore tibia brownish (darker apically), fore tarsi brown (and laterally compressed), fore femur with inner-distal spot and mid and hind femora with light, sparse mottling on posterior surface (sometimes forming complete band). Abdomen dark brown. M 1+2 ratio 5.5–6.0. Wing with anterodistal infuscation. Halter white with colour of base and stalk indiscernible. NSW male differs in that distal 1 ⁄ 3 of femur brown, back of head and occiput entirely brown, inner-distal face of first flagellomere lightly infuscated, and face yellow.

Female. As described for type males except as follows: fore tibia evenly brown; fore femur with light outer-distal spot; mid femur and coxa entirely yellow; frons shiny and brown on posterior 2 ⁄ 3; first flagellomere infuscated on distal half of inner face dorsally.

Male terminalia ( Figs 58–61 ). Epandrium wider than long or high. Cerci widest medially and emarginate. Surstylus very dark and well sclerotized; elongate triangular in outline with apex rounded and curved inwards; anterior margin bare; tubercle-like bristles on inner-distal margin. Hypandrium+pregonite divided longitudinally by thin suture (dorsal section with several posterior setulae and ventral section recessed and bifid with several posterodistal setulae and two stout anterior bristles). Phallapodeme as high as hypandrium+pregonite and clavate (seen laterally). One rib of distiphallus ending medially; second rib with complex distal branching.

Female terminalia. Not dissected.

Etymology. The specific name is Latin for “mountain”, and refers to the collection locality of the ANIC type specimen.

Comments. While the identity of the two specimens designated “species A” by D.K. McAlpine (1960) is still uncertain, they appear to be most closely allied to the above males examined from Queensland, and are here tentatively included in Heteromeringia montana . The male (not dissected) is similar to the types in that the fore tibia is entirely brown, the fore tarsi are ovate in cross section, the mid and hind femora are entirely yellow, the vibrissa is relatively long and the surstylus is more tapered apically. This male, however, is relatively small (2.1 mm), the gena is similar to that seen in H. laticornis , the first flagellomere is dorsally (not ventrally) infuscated, and the frons and fore femur are darker. The female is much more similar in appearance to the type specimens (particularly with regards to the colour of the head and legs), but because of the difficulty of associating Australian Heteromeringia females with males, this slightly dissimilar specimen is not included in the type series.

The genitalia are most similar to those of Heteromeringia macropa , but the surstylus is longer and more gradually tapered with additional tubercle-like bristles, the hypandrium differs in shape and chaetotaxy, and the phallus differs in the number and shape of medial processes. The surstylus is also similar to that of H. helina , but the internal genitalia are quite different. Externally, the type specimens can be mistaken for H. patula , but the anepisternum is shiny (not tomentose), the fore tibia is entirely brown, the frons and first flagellomere are darker and the scutum is not pale in the posterolateral corner.

Figures

Figures 58–61.Male terminalia, Heteromeringiamontana n.sp.; (58) external, leftlateral;(59) external, posterior; (60) hypandrial complex, anterior; (61) hypandrial complex (distal portion of distiphallus removed), left lateral. Scale bar = 0.25 mm.