Pygommatius Scarbrough & Marascia, New Status

Scarbrough, A. G. & Hill, H., 2005, Pygommatius Scarbrough & Marascia, a valid ommatiine genus (Diptera: Asilidae) with new combinations and new species from the Philippines, Zootaxa 1055, pp. 1-22 : 3-4

Pygommatius Scarbrough & Marascia, New Status

Pygommatius Scarbrough and Marascia 2003: 46 (as subgenus of Ommatius ). Type species: Ommatius neglectus Bromley, 1936 .

Lengths. Body 7.0– 13.7 mm; wing 4.0– 11.3 mm.

Diagnosis: Pygommatius is distinctive by the following characters. Uniformly thick, pencil­like bristles of the face [absent in albatus (Martin) and epicalus (Oldroyd) ]; absence of an anepimeral bristle; usually stout, erect bristles on one to four sternites [absent in lulua (Scarbrough and Marascia) , wavy setae in comosus (Scarbrough and Marascia) , imaginus (Scarbrough and Marascia) , renudus (Scarbrough and Marascia) ]; the three digitate branches of the epandrium; reduced, often minute, gonostylus ( Figs. 2, 5 , 12–13 , 21–22 , 30–31 ); and a pair of prominent dorsal and ventral apodemes ( Figs. 7 , 16 , 25 , 34 ) originating from the posterior margin of the aedeagal sheath easily separate the genus from Ommatius . The second and third branches of the epandrium are prominent whereas the first one is quite short, extending only to the base of the ventral lamella; these combined features are absent in Ommatius . The short, inflated aedeagal sheath and elongated ejaculatory apodeme are distinctive ( Figs. 7 , 16 , 25 , 34 ). Additionally, the hypandrium ( Figs. 1, 3, 4 , 12, 14 , 21, 23 , 30, 33 ) is usually slightly to strongly inflated, bearing a transverse or broader cluster of long bristles, that are straight, curved, or wavy, except within the Afrotropical comosus species group. The bristles are often flat and wide, fused basally, sometimes bearing short seta­like bracts dorsally ( Figs. 4 , 12 , 21 ), or are unusually thick apically (see daknistus , Fig. 119, Oldroyd 1972).

Body: Usually slender, sometimes short. Head: Lower face of male with contrastingly thick, pencil­like bristles, tapering only slightly from base to apex, often extend to or near apex of proboscis; setae sparse. Flagellum short, slightly longer than scape or pedicel. Palpus and proboscis black, narrow base usually pale. Occipital bristles thin, strongly proclinate. Thorax: Mesonotum black, sometimes subshiny, postalar callus often pale; tomentum usually thin. Scutellum with two marginal scutellar bristles; preapical groove absent. Pleuron entirely to mostly dark, or anepisternum and katapisternum mostly and meron partly blackish, otherwise pale; anepimeral bristle absent, sometimes long, thin setae present. Wing: Hyaline; apical 1/3 to 1/2 and posterior 2/3 narrowly dense microtrichose; rarely entirely dense microtrichose. Cell R4 short, base narrow, beyond apex of cell d, sides gradually wider to wing margin. Cell m1 narrow basally, vein M1 moderately to strongly arched basally. Leg: Femora usually with setae or weak bristles ventrally, bristles when present often unusually long and wide spaced; fore and middle femur sometimes with row of stout bristles ventrally.

Abdomen: Abdominal sternites 3–5 of male usually, sometimes 2 and 6, with stout, erect bristles.

Male terminalia ( Figs. 1–7 , 12–16 , 21–25 , 30–34 ): Cercus long, three to five times as long as wide. Epandrium digitate, with three branches, each separated by deep lobe or sinus; dorsal branch short, usually extending to or just beyond base of proctiger; median and ventral branches much longer and prominent. Gonostylus reduced, often minute. Aedeagus usually narrow apically, slightly to strongly sigmoid, aedeagal sheath slightly to strongly inflated dorsally, sometimes forming diagnostic features; pair of dorsal and ventral aedeagal apodemes present; ejaculatory apodeme long, three or four times as long as aedeagus+sheath. Hypandrium slightly or strongly produced, usually with a transverse stripe or broader cluster of bristles, the latter straight, curved or wavy; bristles often flat apically, fused or/and with short bracts.

Female terminalia ( Figs. 8–11 , 17–20 , 26–29 , 35–38 ): Sternite 8 simple, apical margin slightly to strongly pointed medially, often slightly emarginated or lobed. Genital fork Yshaped, consisting of two thin lateral sclerities and connected medially by sclerotized, sometimes membranous, basal sclerite. Spermatheca obpyriform, slightly to strongly sigmoid, slightly sclerotized, without apparent surface characters; apical spermathecal duct thin, membranous, inserted anteapically, 1/3 to as long as spermatheca; common duct very short.

Remarks. Pygommatius includes black to yellow species similar in shape and size to Ommatius but differs by the characters in the diagnosis above. Additionally, it differs from Metommatius by the double row of setae below the style, wholly tomentose mesonotum, presence of scutellar bristles, sparse bristles below the hind femur, absence of anepimeral bristles, and characters of the terminalia.

Distribution. Sub­Saharan Africa, Madagascar, India, Malaysia, western China, Indonesia, Philippines.

Specimens examined. All Philippine and Afrotropical types, syntypes of Ommatius calvus de Meijere, and Philippine species (see species list below).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 11. Pygommatius apoticius Scarbrough, terminalia. Male, 1 – 3. Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views; 4. Hypandrial bristle with bracts; 5. Epandrium with three branches, dorsal view; 6. Gonostylus, lateral view; 7. Aedeagus, lateral view. Female, 8 – 9. Dorsal and ventral views; 10. Spermatheca; 11. Genital fork. Abbrevations: Ae = aedeagus; AS = aedeagal sheath; Ce = cercus; E p = epandrium; Ej = ejaculatory apodeme; DB = dorsal branch of epandrium; MB = middle branch of epandrium; VB = ventral branch of epandrium; DA = dorsal and VA = ventral apodemes of aedeagal sheath; Gc = gonocoxite; Gs = gonostylus; Hp = hypandrium; T = moundlike tubercle; St 8 = sternite 8; T 8 = tergite 8; T 9 = tergite 9.

FIGURES 12 – 20. Pygommatius iriga Scarbrough, terminalia. Male, 12 – 14. Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views; 15. Gonostylus, lateral view; 16. Aedeagus, lateral view. Female, 17 – 18. Dorsal and ventral views; 19. Spermatheca; 20. Genital fork.

FIGURES 21 – 29. Pygommatius misamis Scarbrough, terminalia. Male, 21 – 23. Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views; 24. Gonostylus, lateral view; 25. Aedeagus lateral view. Female, 26 – 27. Dorsal and ventral views; 28. Spermatheca; 29. Genital fork.

FIGURES 30 – 38. Pygommatius montanus Scarbrough, terminalia. Male, 30 – 32. Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views; 33. Gonostylus, lateral view; 34. Aedeagus lateral view. Female, 35 – 36. Dorsal and ventral views; 37. Spermatheca; 38. Genital fork.