Elaphropeza chanoides, Grootaert & Shamshev, 2015

Grootaert, Patrick & Shamshev, Igor, 2015, New species of fast-running flies (Diptera: Empidoidea, Hybotidae, Tachydromiinae) from mangroves in Singapore, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 63, pp. 583-609 : 592-595

Elaphropeza chanoides , new species

( Figs. 16–19 )

Material examined. Holotype male: Singapore: Semakau Island , 1 male, SMO3, 17 October 2013, mangrove, (reg. 30211, Ma7602, terminalia dissected; leg extracted, barcode reference AB42570253) . Paratype: Semakau Island , 1 male, SMO3, 3 January 2013, mangrove, (reg. 30354, Ma7635; terminalia dissected) .

Etymology. The epithet refers to its resemblances to E. chanae Grootaert & Shamshev, 2012 .

Diagnosis. Species of the E. ephippiata group; recognised by entirely yellow thorax, antenna with postpedicel about 4 times as long as wide, legs yellow with only tarsomere 5 brown, hind tibia with 1 anterodorsal bristle.

Description. Length: wing 1.5 mm.

Male: Occiput entirely black; with yellowish setation; inner verticals long inclinate, outer verticals hardly prominent. Anterior ocellars long proclinate, posterior ocellars minute. Frons shining, very narrow, above antennae about as broad as anterior ocellus. Antenna with scape and pedicel yellow, postpedicel and stylus brownish (postpedicel paler near base); pedicel with circlet of subequally short setulae; postpedicel long narrow, nearly 4 times longer than wide, rather long pubescent; stylus with rather long pubescence, short, nearly as long as postpedicel. Proboscis brownish yellow. Palpus yellow, small, rounded, bearing scattered setulae, subapical seta short.

Thorax entirely yellow, shining, with yellowish setation. Prothoracic episterna lacking long upturned seta just above fore coxa, with minute setula on upper part. Postpronotal seta hardly prominent. Mesonotum with 2 notopleurals of subequal lengths, 1 similar postsutural supra-alar, 1 similar postalar and 4 scutellars (apical pair very long, cruciate; lateral pair minute); acrostichals short, arranged in 2 broad rows, rather scattered, lacking on prescutellar depression; dorsocentrals arranged in 3 irregular rows on anterior half of scutum, uniserial posteriorly, as long as acrostichals, 1 prescutellar pair very long.

Legs long, slender, almost entirely yellow, only tarsomere 5 of all legs brownish. Coxae and trochanters with unmodified setation. Fore femur slightly thickened, with rows of hardly prominent minute anteroventral and longer spinule-like darkened posteroventral setulae, long seta near base, no subapical seta anteriorly. Fore tibia with black claw-like anteroventral subapical seta ( Fig. 16 ), otherwise lacking prominent bristles. Mid femur with row of minute anteroventral and row of longer posteroventral spinulelike setae, 1 long seta near base and 1 long subapical seta anteriorly. Mid tibia without ventral spinules but bearing 1 short black anteroventral subapical spine-like seta, otherwise lacking prominent setae. Hind femur with short anteroventrals and 3–4 erect dorsal setae near base. Hind tibia with 1–2 anterodorsal bristles on about middle (in one specimen 2 anterodorsals on right tibia and 1 anterodorsal on left tibia); apical projection small, rounded, brownish. Tarsi of all legs unmodified, with unmodified setation.

Wing normally developed, finely infuscate, covered with uniform microtrichia; veins mostly yellowish brown, basal section of M 1+2, crossveins bm-cu and r-m pale. Costal vein with moderately long, uniform setulae along anterior margin. Costal bristle long, brown. Costal index: 24/18/23. Vein R 2+3 evenly bowed. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 somewhat divergent near wing apex ( Fig. 16 ), both straight. Crossvein bm-cu perpendicular. Crossvein r-m near middle of cell bm. Squama yellow, with long, brownish yellow setae. Haltere yellow.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 pale yellow; tergites 2–3 brownish, subtriangular viewed laterally, divided medially, with scattered unmodified setae; tergite 4 dark brown, broadest, with scattered ordinary setae of different lengths; tergite 5 narrow, undivided, with squamiform setae; Sternites yellowish to brownish yellow. Gland-like structure present between tergites 4–5, plate-like.

Terminalia ( Figs. 17–19 ) rather large, left surstylus pale brownish, right epandrial lamella yellowish brown apically and yellow basally. Cerci brownish, narrowly fused; right cercus short, digitiform, with several short setae, lacking spines; left cercus long digitiform, with a complicated apical structure, as in Fig. 18 , with additional lobe produced internally, dorsally covered with two rows of rather long setae. Epandrium completely divided. Right surstylus not prominent. Right epandrial lamella ( Fig. 17 ) conical, with blunt apex, bearing 3 yellowish to brown subapical spines, with numerous moderately long setae longer along ventral margin. A single isolated long bristle near dorsal base. Left epandrial lamella fused to hypandrium, with 2 long seta apically (1 stronger). Left surstylus ( Fig. 19 ) large, but narrow, apically pointed, with scattered setulae on inner side and dorsal border and several strong setae near base dorsally. Hypandrium with 2 long setae apically. Phallus short. Two rod-shaped apodemes present.

Female: unknown.

Distribution. Singapore.

Remarks. Elaphropeza chanoides , new species is very similar to E. chanae Grootaert & Shamshev, 2012 . However there are some distinctive characters in the male genitalia as well as a different barcode. The pairwise distance between the two species is 12%. They cluster together in the neighbour joining tree but with a very low bootstrap (Grootaert, unpubl. data). The left surstylus is much more slender than in E. chanae and the right epandrial lamella bears only 3 yellowish to brownish subapical spines in E. chanoides , new species. In E. chanae there are 4 subapical bristles that are brown to black. The left cercus is more elongated in E. chanoides but with a similar complicated apical structure. In the holotype of E. chanoides there is only 1 long isolated bristle on the dorsal border of the right epandrial lamella, but in the paratype there are 2 bristles like in E. chanae .

We refer to the comments and the key under E. lowiodes , new species for identification of the species.

Figures

Fig. 16. Elaphropeza chanoides, new species, male habitus lateral. Genitalia removed and illustrated in Figs. 17–19.

Figs. 17–19. Elaphropeza chanoides, new species: 17, right epandrial lamella, lateral view with detail of subapical bristles; 18, epandrium with cerci, dorsal view; 19, left surstylus, lateral view. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.