Empis (Enoplempis) macdonaldi, Sinclair & Brooks & Cumming, 2021

Sinclair, Bradley J., Brooks, Scott E. & Cumming, Jeffrey M., 2021, Revision of the Empis (Enoplempis) mira species group (Diptera: Empididae), Zootaxa 4927 (1), pp. 41-57 : 42-44

Empis (Enoplempis) macdonaldi sp. nov.

( Figs 10 , 12, 13 , 22, 23 , 32 , 36 , 42 )

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Type material. HOLOTYPE, Ƌ labelled: “ CA.Huntington L. [ca. 37°13ʹN 119°14ʹW]/Billy C. 2100m / Fresno Co. 7.VIII/ J. MacDonald 1984”; “ Empis / ( Enoplempis )/ Det. J.F. MacDonald ”; “ HOLOTYPE / Empis (Enoplempis) / macdonaldi Sinclair ,/ Brooks , Cumming ” ( CNC) . PARATYPES: USA. California: Same data as holotype except, 3.vii.1984 (1 ♀, CNC) ; Sequoia NP, Ash Mt. [36°29′15″N 118°50′09″W], 9.vi.1952, R. C. Bechtel (1 Ƌ, 1 ♀, UCDC) ; Tulare Co., Lodgepole [36°36′15″N 118°44′01″E], Sequoia Park, 26.vii.1984, J.F. MacDonald (1 Ƌ, 1 ♀, CNC) ; same data except, 21.vi.1984 (1 Ƌ, 2 ♀, CNC) ; same data except, 3.vii.1984 (1 Ƌ, CNC) ; same data except, 12.vii.1984 (1 ♀, CNC) ; same data except, 9.vi.1984 (1 Ƌ, 1 ♀, CNC) ; Tulare Co., Kaweah R. nr. Lodgepole [ca. 36°36ʹN 118°43ʹW], 14–21.vi.1984, D.J. Burdick (1 Ƌ, CNC) ; same data except, 19–26.vii.1984 (1 ♀, CNC) .

Additional material examined. USA. California: Fresno Co., Huntington Lake [ca. 37°13ʹN 119°14ʹW], 10.vii.1984, D.J. Burdick (1 ♀, CNC); Mariposa Co. , Wawona, Yosemite NP [37°32ʹN 119°39ʹW], 21.v.1938, R . M. Bohart (1 ♀, UCDC); Tulare Co., Three Rivers [36°26ʹN 118°54ʹW], 19.vii.1984, D.J. Burdick (1 ♀, CNC) .

Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from other species of the E. (En.) mira species group by the absence of spots beneath the dorsocentral setae and male mid femur with long posteroventral setae more than twice width of femur ( Fig. 10 ).

Description. Wing length 5.8–6.2 mm. Male. Head with dense greyish pruinescence on face, frons, occiput and postgena. Narrowly dichoptic, eye with ommatidia slightly enlarged ventrally. Frons divergent towards antennae; below ocellar triangle narrower than width of anterior ocellus, bearing short setulae along inner margin of eye. Face slightly divergent towards mouthparts; bare, with oral margin dark and shiny. Ocellar triangle with greyish pruinescence, with pair of parallel ocellar setae and pair of shorter posterior setulae. Occiput bearing row of strong postocular setae; most occipital setae black, long and stout. Pedicel and scape pale brown; postpedicel and stylus dark brown. Scape about 2× longer than pedicel; postpedicel slightly more than 3× longer than basal width or slightly more than 2× longer than stylus. Palpus yellow, with dark setulae. Proboscis largely yellow; apex of labrum reddish brown; labellum with dark setae.

Thorax yellow in ground-colour, largely clothed in whitish pruinescence; all major setae black. Scutum without vittae or spots. Pleura yellow, with thin whitish pruinescence. Proepisternum with several short, dark setae; prosternum bare. Antepronotum with row of stout dark setae. Postpronotum with 3–4 short, dark setae and 1 long seta. Scutum with short, fine biserial acr; dc uniserial, longer than acr, postsutural dc increasing in length posteriorly; 1 long posterior npl, with several shorter anterior and posterior setae; 1 presut spal; 1 psut spal; 1 pal. Scutellum with 2 pairs of sctl, apical pair stouter, twice length of lateral pair. Laterotergite with 2 long, dark setae and several shorter setae. Anterior and posterior spiracles pale.

Legs long, entirely yellow, except for dark ring at trochanter-femur junction and extreme apices of femora; apical tarsomeres slightly darker. Coxae with numerous dark lateral setae, longer and stouter along apical anterior margins. Hind trochanter unmodified. Femora with distinct white ventral pile. Fore femur with anteroventral and posteroventral row of fine setae. Fore tibia with pile of soft ventral setulae, with 2–3 anterodorsal and posterodorsal setae and several preapical setae. Fore tarsomere swollen, slightly broader than fore tibia; shorter than remaining tarsomeres combined; all tarsomeres with pile of soft ventral setulae. Mid femur with anteroventral row of setae of various lengths, some as long as femur width; posteroventral face with distinct row of well separated setae, more than twice as long as femur width ( Fig. 10 ). Mid tibia with stout, dark ventral setae, shorter than width of tibia, stouter distally; 3–4 anterodorsal, 3–4 posterodorsal and several preapical setae. Hindlegs asymmetrical, tibiae geniculate at base. Left hind femur with short, thick ventral setae beyond mid-length, extending onto short bilobed posteroventral lobe ( Figs 12, 13 ). Left hind tibia sinuous, with preapical posteroventral flange ( Fig. 12 ). Right hind femur with proximal three-quarters clothed in numerous short, black ventral setae; without short anteroventral digitiform lobe on apical third; shallowly attenuated opposite spiny tibial lobe; preapex with broad anteroventral knob with paint brush-like tuft of thickened setae ( Fig. 22 ); apical third with tuft of black posteroventral setae, longer than width of femur, separated from distal cluster of thickened black setae (shorter than femur width) by short, spine-like setae ( Fig. 23 ). Right hind tibia bent nearly at right angles, near mid-length, especially when viewed ventrally; distal to curve with large thumb-like anteroventral lobe with black spine-like apical projections; flattened preapical anteroventral flange folds up against paint brush-like setal tuft of femur ( Figs 22, 23 ). Tarsomeres 1–5 of all legs without rows of anteroventral and posteroventral spine-like setae.

Wing clear with yellowish veins, mostly well sclerotized; CuA+CuP fading out prior to wing margin. Basal costal seta short, stouter and longer than surrounding costal setae. R 5 and M 1 parallel near wing margin; R 5 ending beyond wing tip; radial fork acute. Halter yellow.

Abdomen yellow with longest posteromarginal setae on tergite 2, decreasing in length posteriorly. Posteromarginal setae on segment 8 longer than length of sclerites. Pregenital segments unmodified; sclerites of segment 8 closely approximated anterolaterally. Terminalia ( Fig. 36 ) yellow with cercus darker. Cercus narrow, linear, posteri- or third narrower and tapered, with setae on inner face; clothed in dark setae, longer than width of cercus. Hypoproct without setae. Subepandrial sclerite with process arching obliquely from ventral margin of cercus; long, extending more than half distance to epandrial margin. Epandrial lamella subtriangular, posterior margin broadly rounded, without process; setae moderately long, some about width of lamella. Hypandrium short, truncate, apical margin sinuous, about 0.5× as long as epandrium; base with 2–4 lateral setae, shorter than length of hypandrium. Phallus deeply attenuated near base, middle section broad and tapered apically; apical third strongly roundly re-curved; apex with short ladle-like expansion; apex not emerging beyond epandrium; ejaculatory apodeme broad, flattened plate, not Y-shaped, two-thirds length of epandrium.

Female. Similar to male, except as follows: frons nearly subequal to width of anterior ocellus; mid femur with similar long posteroventral setae; hindlegs symmetrical; hind femur swollen, wider than mid femur, with strong anteroventral and posteroventral setae on apical half, anteroventral setae longer than tibia width ( Fig. 32 ); hind tibia geniculate at base; cercus long and slender, with short dark setae.

Etymology. This species is named in memory of John F. MacDonald, who collected most of the known specimens. John was a dedicated researcher and teacher who was a specialist on Hemerodromiinae.

Distribution. This species is confined to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in central California ( Fig. 42 ).

Figures

FIGURES 10–11. Male left midlegs of the E. (Enoplempis) mira species group, posterior view. 10. E. macdonaldi sp. nov. 11. E. winkleri sp. nov.

FIGURES 12–21. Male left hindlegs of the E. (Enoplempis) mira species group. 12. E. macdonaldi sp. nov., holotype, anterior view. 13. E. macdonaldi sp. nov., holotype, posterior view. 14. E. mira (Bigot), anterior view. 15. E. mira (Bigot), posterior view. 16. E. submira sp. nov., holotype, anterior view. 17. E. submira sp. nov., holotype, posterior view. 18. E. williamturneri sp. nov., anterior view. 19. E. williamturneri sp. nov., posterior view. 20. E. winkleri sp. nov., anterior view. 21. E. winkleri sp. nov., posterior view.

FIGURES 22–31. Male right hindlegs of the E. (Enoplempis) mira species group. 22. E. macdonaldi sp. nov., holotype, anterior view. 23. E. macdonaldi sp. nov., holotype, posterior view. 24. E. mira (Bigot), anterior view. 25. E. mira (Bigot), posterior view. 26. E. submira sp. nov., holotype, anterior view. 27. E. submira sp. nov., holotype, posterior view. 28. E. williamturneri sp. nov., anterior view. 29. E. williamturneri sp. nov., posterior view. 30. E. winkleri sp. nov., anterior view. 31. E. winkleri sp. nov., posterior view.

FIGURES 32–35. Female left hindlegs of the E. (Enoplempis) mira species group in anterior view. 32. E. macdonaldi sp. nov. 33. E. mira (Bigot). 34. E. williamturneri sp. nov. 35. E. winkleri sp. nov.

FIGURES 36–40. Male terminalia of the E. (Enoplempis) mira species group in left lateral view. 36. E. macdonaldi sp. nov. 37. E. mira (Bigot). 38. E. williamturneri sp. nov. 39. E. submira sp. nov. 40. E. winkleri sp. nov. Abbreviations: cerc – cercus; ej apod – ejaculatory apodeme; epand – epandrium; hypd – hypandrium; ph – phallus; sbepand proc – subepandrial process.

FIGURES 41–42. Known geographical distribution of the E. (Enoplempis) mira species group. 41. E. mira (Bigot) and E. winkleri sp. nov. 42. E. macdonaldi sp. nov., E. submira sp. nov. and E. williamturneri sp. nov.