Iteaphila falki, Sinclair & Shamshev, 2021

Sinclair, Bradley J. & Shamshev, Igor V., 2021, World revision of Iteaphila with unbranched radial vein (Diptera: Empidoidea: Iteaphilidae), Zootaxa 4968 (1), pp. 1-89 : 26-28

Iteaphila falki sp. nov.

( Figs 30 , 33 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:527426F8-8A8A-4458-A6E8-8C20A072095E

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, labelled: “ 31.5.2013 / Loch an/ Eilein [57°08′49″N 3°49′27″W]/ Cairngorms [ Scotland]/ S.J. Falk ”; “ HOLOTYPE / Iteaphila / falki/ Sinclair & Shamshev[red label]” ( BMNH).

Recognition. This species is distinguished by a shiny region on the anepisternum and katepisternum and features of the male terminalia.

Description. Wing length 2.9 mm. Male. Head dark brown in ground-colour, with pale brown to black setation, occiput thinly to densely greyish pollinose. Eyes holoptic, with upper ommatidia enlarged. Frons represented by small triangular space just above antennae, bare, greyish pollinose. Ocellar triangle prominent, with 2 pairs of long hair-like setae. Postvertical setae longer than short postocular setae, thin; occiput covered with numerous similar setae in lower part. Antenna dark brown; scape short, slightly shorter than globular pedicel, both with short setae; postpedicel rather narrow, more than 3 times longer than basal width, base somewhat expanded and smoothly tapered; stylus tubular, with length shorter than width, sensillum-tipped, segments can not be differentiated, apical sensillum subequal to length of stylus. Proboscis elongate, projected obliquely; labium longer than head height; palpus projected parallel to labrum, slender, somewhat shorter than labrum.

Thorax dark brown in ground-colour with posterior part of postpronotal lobe and postalar tubercle dark, with brown to black setation; scutum viewed dorsally entirely velvety brown, slightly matt, without vittae; viewed anteriorly densely brown pruinose, without vittae; anepisternum and katepisternum with shiny spot, otherwise mesopleuron uniformly greyish brown pollinose. Proepisternum with a few hair-like setae. Postpronotal lobe with 1 long thin and several shorter setae. Mesonotal setae distinct, thin; acr short, biserial, lacking on prescutellar depression, distance between rows shorter than length of acr; dc uniserial (with some additional setulae in anterior part), offset from row anteriorly, slightly longer than acr, 2–3 distinct prescutellar dc; 1 ph, 1 long presut spal (with additional setulae), 3–4 npl (with a few additional shorter setae), several psut spal setulae, 1 pal, at least 4 pairs of sctl (broken).

Legs, including coxae, almost entirely brownish; knees of fore and mid legs brownish yellow, tarsi somewhat darker. Coxae and trochanters with unmodified hair-like setae. Fore femur with row of short anteroventral hairlike setae and somewhat longer setae on posteroventral, dorsal and posterior faces. Fore tibia with row of slightly prominent thin posterodorsal setae. Mid femur with moderately long posteroventral bristly setae along entire length, bearing some moderately long setae on dorsal and posterior faces. Hind femur with long anteroventral and dorsal setae along whole length. Tibiae without prominent posterodorsal setae. Tarsomere 1 of mid and hindlegs with pair of rows of stiff ventral setae; tarsomere 5 somewhat flattened on all legs; pulvilli broad, shorter than tarsal claw.

Wing distinctly brownish infuscate with clouding about base of veins; basal costal seta absent; pterostigma distinct brownish, elliptical, overlapping apex of R 1; anal lobe very prominent, acute. Sc complete; R 2+3 slightly bowed posterior to pterostigma; R 4+5 unbranched; cell dm not broad, longer than basal cells, produced apically; base of M 2 (crossvein) nearly one-fifth length of dm-m, M branches widely separated; dm-m crossvein straight. Apex of cell cua recurved, CuA+CuP long, ending short of wing margin. Halter brown.

Abdomen brown, subshiny, finely brownish grey pollinose, covered with long brownish setae. Terminalia ( Fig. 30 ) concolorous with abdomen, small. Hypandrium with several long setae, rounded, upcurved apically with narrow truncate apex; gonocoxal apodeme short and broad; inner apodeme expanded and flattened, shorter than ejaculatory apodeme; postgonite short, arched, produced into pair of slender apical lobes. Phallic guide extended slightly beyond epandrium, parallel with phallus and strongly recurved subapically; curved apical section paired with inner skeleton pattern and pair of spine-like projections; apex tapered. Epandrium not inflated laterally; dorsal bridge very narrow; produced distally into slender horizontally projecting surstylus; apex of surstylus with teeth-like projections medially. Phallus broad, arched beyond epandrium, recurved subapically; apical section broad, truncate; ejaculatory apodeme plate-like, rounded, subequal in length with gonocoxal apodeme. Cercus long, digitiform, slightly shorter than length of epandrium; apex rounded, extended free from epandrium; hypoproct produced into pair of short, slender processes, slightly projecting beyond epandrium.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Palaearctic: Scotland. This species is known only from the type locality in Scotland ( Fig. 33 ).

Etymology. This species is named in honour of the collector, Steven Falk.

Remarks. This species represents the first record of Iteaphila with unbranched R 4+5 from the British Isles. The single specimen was caught near a small lake in Pinus scoticus forest in NE Scotland, which is well known for boreo-alpine relicts (A. Plant pers. comm. 2016).

The male terminalia are very similar to I. ribesii in the shape of the phallus and inner skeleton-pattern of the phallic guide, but I. falki possesses a pair of spine-like projections on the phallic guide, which confirms the assignment of these species to the I. macquarti species group.

Figures

FIGURES 29–32. Male terminalia of Iteaphila with unbranched R 4+5, lateral view. 29, I. bartaki sp. nov.; 30, I. falki sp. nov.; 31, I. kyrgyzstanensis sp. nov.; 32, I. ribesii (Becker). Scale bar = 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: cerc—cercus; ej apod—ejaculatory apodeme; goncx apod—gonocoxal apodeme; hypd—hypandrium; hyprct proc—hypoproct process; i apod—inner apodeme; ph—phallus; ph gd—phallic guide; sur—surstylus.

FIGURES 33–35. Distribution of Iteaphila with unbranched R 4+5. 33, I. falki sp. nov., I. caelebs (Becker); 34, I. ribesii (Becker), I. zontaki (Nowicki); 35, I. bartaki sp. nov.