Platypalpus rifensis Zouhair & Grootaert, 2024

Zouhair, Laila, Grootaert, Patrick & Kettani, Kawtar, 2024, Twelve new species of Platypalpus Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Morocco, with additional new records, European Journal of Taxonomy 951 (1), pp. 1-53 : 18-20

Platypalpus rifensis Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1D78112C-239D-4EA6-AD68-5D21E3CC8A49

Figs 9–10

Diagnosis

Very small brown species (2 mm long) of the longicornis group, with two pairs of verticals, very small postpedicel and yellow proboscis. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe subshining, pleura subshining, leaving a polished spot on katepisternum. Legs yellow with hind four coxae paler brown, fore tibia with ventral and dorsal brown stripes, first fore tarsal segment dark brown at base, last three tarsal segments of mid and hind legs brownish (darker in hind than mid legs). Mid tibia without apical spur. Wing hyaline with vein bm shorter than br and veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel before meeting wing margin.

Etymology

This species is named after the Rif region of the North of Morocco, where the holotype was collected.

Material examined

Holotype

MOROCCO – Rif • ♂; Cascade Chrafate ; 22 Mar. 2019; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB.

Description

Male

LENGTH. Body: 2.3 mm; wing: 2.0 mm.

HEAD. Black in ground colour, occiput densely greyish pollinose, with minute pale setae, two pairs of verticals. Gena densely greyish pollinose, broader, with long pale setae. Ocellar tubercle shining. Frons dusted, slightly broader than pedicel, somewhat broader toward ocellar tubercle. Face densely yellowish dusted, narrower than pedicel. Clypeus yellowish dusted, longer. Antennae brown, with both basal segments brownish yellow, postpedicel very small, somewhat onion-shaped, as long as deep (stylus broken). Proboscis yellow, short, half as long as head is high. Palpus yellow, somewhat large, with scattered pale setulae and two moderately long yellow subapical setae.

THORAX. Brown. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe subshining, pleura subshining, leaving a polished spot on katepisternum. Postpronotal lobe with 1 long yellow seta. Mesoscutum with 2 short yellow notopleurals, 1 long yellow postalar, 2 long yellow prescutellars, 4 scutellars, acrostichals quadriserial, dorsocentrals uniserial.

LEGS. Yellow, except for hind four coxae paler brown, fore tibia with ventral and dorsal brown stripes, first fore tarsal segment dark brown at base, last three tarsal segments of mid and hind legs brownish (darker in hind than in mid legs). CoXae and trochanters with ordinary yellowish setae of different lengths. Fore femur moderately thickened, with pale anteroventral and posteroventral setae. Fore tibia swollen in apical half, uniformly clothed with moderately long brown setulae. Mid femur thicker than fore femur, with double row of black ventral spinules and row of long yellow posteroventral setae. Mid tibia slender, without apical spur. Hind femur slender, long, clothed with ordinary pale setulae. Hind tibia slender, covered with ordinary pale setulae. Fore metatarsus covered with long brown setae, the longest at base slightly longer than metatarsus is wide (about 1.3×).

WINGS. Hyaline,with paler brownish veins. Costa with two long yellow setae. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 prallel before meeting wing margin. Crossveins m-cu and r-m slightly separated, bm slightly shorter than br. Vein Cu 2 straight. Vein Cu almost reaching wing border. Anal vein indistinct. Squama yellowish with long pale setae. Haltere whitish.

ABDOMEN. With tergites and sternites brown, shining, covered with long pale setulae. Male terminalia ( Fig. 9 ) with cerci equally long, digitiform, and apex of right cercus somewhat pointed ( Fig. 9B ). Left epandrial lamella rectangular; left margin with some longer setae, hardly half as long as left lamella is wide, in apical half only ( Fig. 9C ). Right surstylus short ( Fig. 9A ).

Female

Unknown.

Remarks

The key in Grootaert and Chvála (1992) leads to Platypalpus cilitarsis Frey, 1943 (couplet 216). The latter is very close to the species described above, sharing many characters according to the description of P. cilitarsis in Chvála (1989): two pairs of verticals, basal segments dirty yellow (brownish yellow in the new species), postpedicel very small and somewhat onion-shaped, acrostichals quadriserial, spur on mid tibia absent, legs yellow with posterior four coXae brownish. However, these species differ especially in the fore tibia and tarsi: in P. cilitarsis , the fore tibia is slender (tubiform) and entirely yellow, while in the new species it is swollen in the apical half and darkened. The tarsi in P. cilitarsis are brownish just on apical segments, and all the metatarsi are pale yellow, while in the new species the tarsi of the fore legs are entirely yellow except for the metatarsus, which is dark brown at the base, but the last three tarsal segments of the mid and hind legs are brownish (darker in hind than mid legs). In the new species, the fore metarsus is covered with long brown setae, the longest at the base being slightly longer than the metatarsus is wide (about 1.3×), unlike P. cilitarsis which has a row of long pale setae, the longest seta at the base is 3× as long as the metatarsus is wide. The apical three tarsal segments are distinctly widened in P. cilitarsis , while in the new species they are not widened. Unfortunately, to our knowledge no illustrations of the male terminalia of P. cilitarsis are available.

Figures

Fig. 9. Platypalpus rifensis Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov., male terminalia (holotype, LESCB). A. Right epandrial lamella. B. Epandrium with cerci and detail of apex of right cercus. C. Left epandrial lamella. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 10. Platypalpus rifensis Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov., ♂, habitus (holotype, LESCB). A. Lateral view. B. Head, thorax and fore legs, lateral view. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.