Piliterga africana, Papp, László, 2017

Papp, László, 2017, Twenty New Species Of Fifteen Genera Of The Afrotropical Sphaeroceridae (Diptera), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 63 (4), pp. 377-427 : 416-418

Piliterga africana sp. n.

(Figs 144–151)

Holotype ( HNHM): male, Nigeria [BauchiState]: Yankari (onlabelincorrectlyYangui) Reserve, Wikki – Aug. 15, 1978, leg. A. Demeter, No. 22 [buffalo dung from previous night].

Paratypes ( HNHM): 9 males, 22 females: samedataasholotype ; 1 female: ibid., Aug. 3, 1978, leg. A. Demeter, No. 2 [severaldaysoldelephantdung] ; 1 female: ibid., Aug. 14, No. 16 [fresh buffalo dung] ; 1 male: ibid., Aug. 14, No. 17 [buffalo dung from the previous night] ; 1 male 1 female: ibid., Aug. 14, No. 18 [hippo dung from previous night] . 3 males (1 withgen. prep.) 1 female: TANZANIA: Morogororegion, MikumiNationalPark, Mikumi Tented Camp – Netting over excrement of elephant, Feb 1, 1987, leg. S. Mahunka – T . Pócs – A. Zicsi, No. 8. (The specimens in the HNHM are defected and wrinkled since they were pinned from alcohol, where they were preserved for a decade.)

Paratypes ( BMSA): 1 male (gen. prep.) 1 female: Malaisetraps , Ficusforest – RSA: KZN, Ndumo Game R ., Shokwe area at: 26° 52.125’S, 32° 13.731’E, 30.xi.–4.xii.2009, A. H. Kirk- Spriggs – [blue] EntomologyDept. NationalMuseum, P.O. Box 266, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa – BMSA (D) 16589 / 16107.

Size (inmm): bodylength 1.38 (holotype), 1.31–1.42 (paratypes); winglength 1.23 (holotype), 1.21–1.56 (paratypes); wingwidth 0.59 (holotype), 0.57–0.63 (paratypes).

Deascription. Male. Bodycolourlightbrown, anteriorhalfoffrons, humeralcallus, pleura (partly) andlegs, reddishyellow. Head, thoraxandlegs (including 5 setaeonmid tibia) asin P. thaii . Facialplateconcaveinprofile, mouthedgeupturned. Anteriorhalfof frons reddish yellow. Longitudinal diameter of eye 0.23–0.24 mm, gena below eye, 0.10 mm. Parafacialiaindistinctwidthwithconspicuous (0.04 mmlong) hairs. Four (rightside) orfive (leftside) ratherlonginterfrontals. Headsetaestrong (includingouterandinner occipitals), postocellarseta 0.05 mmorevenlonger. Vibrissa 0.15 mm, firstperistomalseta 0.06–0.07 mm. Genalsetastrong, 0.10–0.11 mmlong. Scapeweak, broaderthanlong, with a 0.05 mmlongmedialseta. Pedicelconical, withlongsetae, dorsalsetaof 0.08 mm. First flagellomere wider than long (length 0.09 mm; width 0.11 mm), much longer than pedicel, with a conical (but not sharp) dorsal apex. Arista 0.54 mm long. A second, reduced postpronotalsetadiscernible. Thoracicsetae, including 2ndnotopleural (orlateralpresutural) strong. Asecondanteriordorsocentralpairalsodeveloped. Prescutellaracrostichal setaverylong, 0.15 mm. Anteriorkatepisternalsetashort (0.05 mm), posterior kepst long, 0.18–0.20 mm. Wing clear, veins light brown. Sub-basal seta on C 0.12 mm. Second costal section (paratype) 0.30 mm, thirdsection 0.42 mm, costalratio 0.72. Rtermin 4+5 atesatwing apex. RM-MM section of M 1+2 0.14 mm, M-M crossvein 0.09 (0.08) mm. Discal cell edgy, but Mmo 3+4 stlynotcontinueddistallyorvisibleasacolourlessfoldof 0.12–0.15 mm. Analvein angled. Alula very narrow but apex narrowly rounded. Mid tibia with antero-dorsals at 4/15, at 2/3, postero-dorsals at 2/6, 4/5, a more dorsal at 5/6. No mid ventral seta. Both ventro-apical and anterior apical setae strong. Abdomen. Longest setae on second abdominal tergite (Fig. 144) 2/3 as long as T 1+2 combined (4/5 as long as in P. thaii , cf. PAPP 2008 a: fig. 31). Tergites 2 to 4 not so reduced. Sternite 5 (Fig. 145) long, elongated into a caudal stripe with ca. 8 long setae, continued into a transverse short setose caudal process (Fig. 146, cf. PAPP 2008 a: fig. 36), with apex more caudal than that of tergite 5. Caudal edge of sternite Figs 144–151. Piliterga africana sp. n., male abdomen and genitalia. 144 = male tergite 1 and 2, dorsal view, 145 = sternite 5, ventral view, 146 = caudal part of sternite 5 in higher magnification, 147 = epandrial complex with right surstylus, medial (inner) view, 148 = surstylus, in broadest view, 149 = postgonite, lateral view, 150 = distiphallus, lateral view, 151 = distiphallus, ventral view. Scale bar: 0.2 mm for Figs 144–145, 0.1 mm for Figs 146–151 5 withshortblackpegsin 2 rows. Sternite 6 portionofsynsterniteextendinganteriorly, notcaudally; sternite 6 andsternite 7 portionswithtwostrongsetaeeach, sternite 6 setae longer. Sternite 7 and 8 portions strongly fused, free part of sternite 7 medially curved with anincurvedsclerite. Ventro-posterioredgeofepandrium (Fig. 147) squareorwithashort projection. Caudalandventraledgesofepandriumwithdark, thicksclerotisation, discernibleininner (medial) view (Fig. 147). Surstylus (Figs 147–148) 3-lobed. Lobesofsurstylus movableinrelationtoits “body”, sorelativepositionsnotentirelyfixed; setoseventrallobe stronglymedio-clinate. Postgonite (Fig. 149) broad-based, apical 3/7; anteriorlycurved, with 2 small blunt apices; anterior edge of postgonite with 2 pairs of strong dorsally directedsetae. Postgoniteincavityofsurstylus. Phallapodemelongerandwithoutdorsal ridgemedially. Distiphalluswithapaireddarkdorsalprocess, recurvedoneinsagittal plane (Figs 150–151), withapairofapicalventrallobeswithshorthairs.

Etymology. ThespecificepithetofthisnewspeciesreferstoitstypelocalityinAfrica.

Comments. The genus Piliterga was described based on a single Oriental species, P. thaii L. Papp, 2008 . Theoriginaldescription ( PAPP 2008 a: 63) already mentioned that “[in] the collection of the HNHM there is another species of thegenusfromtheAfrotropicalregion ( Tanzania, Nigeria) ... describedelsewhere”, which is the species described here. The thin recurved dorsal process ofdistiphallusseemstobeastrongsynapomorphyofthegenus. Angleofanal vein in Piliterga africana sp. n. not as strongly as in species of Coproica . In P. thaii , differently from P. africana sp. n., the sternite 7 portion of the synsternite has only, but longer than those of sternite 6 portion. Also, in P. africana sp. n. theventralcaudaledgeofepandriumisroundedandthesurstylusis 3-lobed, differently from that of P. thaii .