Thinophilus peninsularis Parent, 1935

Grootaert, Patrick, 2018, Revision of the genus Thinophilus Wahlberg (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from Singapore and adjacent regions: A long term study with a prudent reconciliation of a genetic to a classic morphological approach, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 66, pp. 413-473 : 450-453

Thinophilus peninsularis Parent, 1935

(Fig. 39)

Thinophilus peninsularis Parent, 1935: 211 (fig. 32: wing). Type locality: Malaysia: Port Dickson , Telok Kemang .

Type material: The holotype male was not seen by the author but figured by Duncan Sivell ( NHM, London). The specimen was in fairly good condition, though only the basal half of a single wing was present .

RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2018

Fig. 39. Thinophilus peninsularis Parent, 1935 . A, Habitus male holotype; B, Frontal view head; C, Original labels. (Photo: Duncan Sivell).

MALAYSIA: Malay Peninsula, Negeri Sembilan, Telok Kemang near Port Dickson , 29 November 1926. H.M. Pendlebury .

Note: Pantai Teluk Kemang is the largest and most popular beach of Port Dickson.

Diagnosis. A small species (body 2mm) belonging to the simplex-group. Yellow antenna, with a dorso-apical black arista. Fore coxa with basal ¾ black, apex yellowish; posterior four coxae black.

Male. (Fig. 39) Head. Frons metallic purplish blue; frons metallic green in ground-colour (Fig. 39B). Ocellar bristles long, vertical bristles a little shorter. According to Parent (l.c.) the whiskers (favoris: lower postocular bristles) are yellowish. Palpus yellow with a few black bristly hairs. Proboscis brownish black.

Antenna yellow with rounded third segment. Arista black.

Thorax with a brownish purple ground-colour. 5 dc but the anterior most dc very small. 2 short black propleural bristles. Legs yellow but fore coxa with basal ¾ black, apex yellowish; posterior four coxae black. Only apical tarsomere black according to Parent (1935), faintly visible on Fig. 39 in this paper.

Fore leg. Coxa with a few (1 to 2) longer bristles among the anterior bristles and a row of long apicals. Femur with a row of short ventral bristles and a row of longer posteroventrals. A strong preapical pv. Tibia with a dorsal bristle on basal quarter; ventrally lacking distinct bristles. Tarsus longer than tibia. Tarsomere 1 as long as following tarsomeres together.

Mid leg. Femur with a preapical. Tibia with two ad and 2 pd. Tarsus as long as tibia. Tarsomere 1 as long as following tarsomeres together.

Hind leg. Femur with a preapical. Tibia with two ad and 2pd. Tarsus a little shorter than tibia. Tarsomere 1 shorter than following tarsomeres together.

Wing lacking spots with a dusky wing membrane and black veins.

Fig. 40. Thinophilus puniamoorthyae sp. nov. holotype male habitus (Photo: Kai Qing Chin). Specimen with NGS barcode and illustrated male terminalia.

Abdomen with a brownish purple ground-colour. Terminalia small, cerci narrow, almost filiform according to Parent.

Female. Resembling male.

Remarks. The above description is based on the French description of Parent (1935) and the images made of the holotype.

The male terminalia of Thinophilus peninsularis Parent were intentionally not dissected since I do not master the technique to extract and handle ancient DNA. In the near future this might be possible. Therefore, I rely only on the morphology to distinguish this species from related species in the simplex -group.

Thinophilus peninsularis lacks the row of long ventral bristles on the fore tibia and so is not identical to T. variabilis Samoh et al., 2017 and T. minor sp. nov. T. peninsularis should be compared with Thinophilus minutus Samoh et al., 2017 that is quite unique among the Thinophilus by having only a few distinct bristles on the legs. Only mid and hind femora have distinctly longer ventral bristles. It is sympatric with T. peninsularis Parent, 1935 , which also exhibits few distinct characters on the legs. It has however a dorsal bristle on the basal quarter of the fore tibia, lacking in T. minutus . Furthermore, it has the fore coxa darkened on basal two thirds and the apical tarsomere darkened as well. Fore coxa and even the apical tarsomere of all legs are yellow in T. minutus . Finally, in T. peninsularis the first tarsomere of the fore leg is as long as the following tarsomeres together while in T. minutus the first tarsomere is half as long as the following four tarsomeres together. A similarity is that in both species the wing is brownish tinged. In T. minutus the Tp and M are brownish seamed.

Thinophilus peninsularis should also be compared with T. dongae Grootaert et al., 2015 known from southern China. The latter species has also yellow fore coxae, no ventral bristles on fore femur, no ventral spinules or bristles on fore tibia. It has however the apical tarsomere of all legs black and mid and hind femora without ventral bristles.

Distribution. Peninsular Malaysia.