Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907, 1912

SHAMSHEV, IGOR V. & GROOTAERT, PATRICK, 2007, Revision of the genus Elaphropeza Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from the Oriental Region, with a special attention to the fauna of Singapore, Zootaxa 1488 (1), pp. 1-164 : 114-116

Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907

( Figs. 188–190 )

Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907: 488 (male).

Elaphropeza calcarifera: Bezzi, 1912: 489 (female).

Re-description. Male. Body length 1.5 mm, wing length 1.8 mm. Occiput black, subshining, finely greyish pollinose, with yellow to brownish yellow setation. Anterior ocellars long, proclinate; posterior ocellars minute. Inner verticals long, outer ones hardly prominent. Antenna with scape and pedicel yellow, postpedicel brown (sometimes paler at extreme base). Pedicel with circlet of subequally short setulae. Postpedicel 3.0 times longer than wide. Style normally pubescent, brown, almost 1.5 times longer than postpedicel and about as long as scape, pedicel and postpedicel combined. Proboscis brownish yellow. Palpus yellow, small, rounded.

Thorax almost entirely yellow, shining, with yellow to brownish yellow bristles; scutellum and metanotum brown. Prothoracic episterna lacking long upturned bristle just above fore coxa and short bristle in upper part. Postpronotal bristle not prominent. Mesonotum with 2 notopleural, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 postalar and 4 scutellar (inner ones very long, cruciate; outer ones very short) bristles. Acrostichal and dorsocentral bristles multiserial, uniform (except for 1 pair of long prescutellars), the former lacking on prescutellar depression, the latter extending to base of scutellum.

Legs almost entirely yellow, with yellow to brownish yellow setation; tarsomere 5 of all legs brown. Coxae and trochanters with unmodified setation. Fore femur somewhat thickened, with rows of short antero- and posteroventral bristles (2 bristles near base longer). Fore tibia lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Mid femur with 2 rows of spinule-like, short, ventral bristles, 1 long thin bristle near base and 1 anterior subapical bristle. Mid tibia lacking ventral spinules and prominent bristles (except subapicals). Hind femur with 1 row of short anteroventrals and 3–4 erect dorsal bristles near base. Hind tibia bearing 1 anterodorsal bristle in about middle; apical projection prominent, elongate, pointed, clothed in dense brownish setulae. Tarsi of all legs unmodified.

Wing normally developed, hyaline, covered with uniform microtrichia; veins yellowish to brownish yellow. Costal vein with moderately long setulae along anterior margin. Basal costal bristle long, yellow. Costal index: 38/23/28/18. Vein Rs somewhat longer than crossvein bm-cu. Veins R4+5 and M1+2 divergent near wing apex, both straight. Vein CuA1 reaching wing margin. Vein A1 present as fold. Crossvein bm-cu transverse. Crossvein r-m somewhat before middle of cell bm. Halter yellow.

Abdomen. Tergites 1–3 and 6–7 yellowish (tergites 6–7 sometimes brownish yellow); with unmodified setation. Tergite 4 broadest, brown, with unmodified yellowish setae. Tergite 5 (usually hidden by tergite 4) very narrow, brown, with few squamiform setae.

Terminalia ( Figs. 188–190 ) moderately large, brown. Cerci fused forming single, short, digitiform lobe, with long and shorter bristles, lacking spines. Epandrium completely divided. Right epandrial lamella subrectangular, elongate, covered with numerous bristles of different lengths, lacking spines. Right surstylus not prominent. Left epandrial lamella small, fused to hypandrium, with 3 long bristles apically. Left surstylus with upper lobe long, subrectangular, with 4 long bristles, lacking spines. Hypandrium with 1 long and 1 short bristles. Phallus short. Two rod-shaped apodemes.

Female. Segment 8 brown, shining. Cercus brownish. Otherwise as in male.

Material examined. 7 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Anping , Formosa, H. Sauter, VI.1912, Bezzi det. ; 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀, same labels and data except V.1912; 1 ♂, Tainan, Formosa, H. Sauter, II.09, Bezzi det. ; 1 ♂, same labels and data except III.09; 1 ♀, same labels and data except X.08. ( DEI) .

Neotype designation. Bezzi (1907) described this species from material taken by Hans Sauter in 1907 from Taiwan (Formosa, Takao). Bezzi did not indicate the number of specimens he examined and only in his last paper on Empididae from the Orient did he note that the type material was housed in the Hungarian Museum, Budapest. The type of E. calcarifera was destroyed in 1956 (Papp and Földvári, pers. comm.). The material deposited in the DEI does not include any syntypes and actually is a mixture of specimens noted by Bezzi in his later papers (1912, 1914).

The male specimen of this species deposited in DEI (in good condition, labelled: “ Anping / Formosa / H. Sauter, VI.1912; Bezzi det.”) is herewith designated as Neotype of Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907 and it was labelled accordingly by the authors in 2006 to fix and stabilize the current concept of the name.

Distribution. Taiwan.

Remarks. The relationships of E. calcarifera are unclear beyond inclusion within the monophyletic lineage of the E. ephippiata species group sharing completely fused cerci (see “Discussion” for details).

Figures

FIGURES 188–190. Elaphropeza calcarifera (Melander) 188. epandrium with cerci. 189. right epandrial lamella and cerci. 190. left surstylus.