Platypalpus moroccensis Grootaert & Zouhair, 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 : 15-17

Platypalpus moroccensis Grootaert & Zouhair sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:CE3431C5-DD27-439C-8FD1-24C65FC05867

Figs 6–7

Diagnosis

A small black species (2.5 mm long) of the longicornis group, with two pairs of long black verticals. Antennae black with postpedicel elongate, about 3.5–4× as long as broad at base, stylus slightly longer than postpedicel. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe densely greyish dusted, pleura greyish dusted, leaving a polished spot on katepisternum. Legs yellow, all coxae whitish yellow, but fore tibia somewhat darker, mid femur with apical half only dorsally brownish, mid tibia brown, hind femur brown in apical half, hind tibia slightly dark apically, and tarsomere brown apically with four apical tarsi of all legs almost entirely brown. Mid femur lacking posteroventral setae. Mid tibia with a brown, flattened apical spur. Wings faintly brown infuscate with R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel throughout.

Etymology

This new species is named moroccensis after the English name of the country where it was found.

Material examined

Holotype

MOROCCO – Rif • ♂; Oued Tissegris ; 20 Apr. 2021; sweep net; L. Zouhair leg.; RBINS.

Paratypes

MOROCCO – Rif • 1 ♂; Bni Bounsar ; 13–31 May 2018; Malaise trap; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 1 ♂; Azilane ; 27 Apr. 2019; sweep net; K. Kettani leg.; LESCB • 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; Rmel ; 24 Feb. 2020; sweep net; F.Z. Sliman leg.; LESCB • 1 ♂; Medchar Lemtahene ; 9 Apr. 2022; sweep net; L. Zouhair leg.; LESCB .

Description

Male

LENGTH. Body: 2.5 mm; wing: 2.8 mm.

HEAD. Black in ground colour, occiput densely greyish pollinose with short pale setae, two pairs of long black verticals. Gena densely greyish pollinose with long pale setae. Ocellar tubercle greyish pollinose, with 2 moderately long black anterior setae and 2 short yellow posterior setae. Frons grey dusted, wide, in front a little wider than pedicel. Face densely grey dusted, narrower than pedicel. Clypeus longer than upper part of face, polished. Antennae entirely black, with pedicel as long as deep, postpedicel elongate, about 3.5 × as long as wide at base, stylus slightly longer than postpedicel. Proboscis black, shorter than head is high (¾ × height of head). Palpus pale yellowish brown, small, ovate, with scattered pale setulae and one long yellow subapical seta ( Fig. 7C ).

THORAX. Black. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe densely greyish dusted, pleura greyish dusted, leaving a polished spot on katepisternum. Postpronotal lobe with 1 short black seta. Mesoscutum with 1 notopleural, 1 long postalar, 4 black scutellars (apical pair long and cruciate, lateral pair short); acrostichals minute, yellow, biserial, dorsocentrals yellow, uniserial, as long as acrostichals.

LEGS. Yellow including coxae and trochanters (even pale yellow), with fore tibia somewhat darker, mid femur with apical half only dorsally brownish, mid tibia brown, hind femur brown in apical half, hind tibia slightly dark apically, tarsomere brown apically, four apical tarsi of all legs almost entirely brown (except yellowish base) ( Fig. 7C ), knee of fore femur has a small anterior black spot; knees of mid and hind femora with a small black anterior and posterior spot, apex of all trochanters with a small black spot. CoXae and trochanters with ordinary yellowish setae of different lengths. Fore femur thickened in basal two thirds, a row of pale brown anterior setae present, half as long as femur is wide. Fore tibia not swollen, anteroventrally over entire length densely set with short setae (shorter than width of tibia), no long dorsal setae present. Mid femur ( Fig. 7A, C ) thickened, more than fore femur, with double row of black ventral spinules (spinules in posterior row longer), without a row of posteroventral setae. Mid tibia slender, with a row of ventral spinules and a short brown, flattened apical spur. Hind femur slender, much longer than mid femur, ventrally with a row of short yellowish setae (less than half as long as femur is wide). Hind tibia slender, slightly dark apically, as long as femur.

WINGS. Faintly brown infuscate, with paler brownish veins. Costa with one moderately long brown seta. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel. Crossveins m-cu and r-m separated, bm slightly longer than br. Vein Cu 2 straight. Vein Cu reaching wing border. Anal vein distinct in apical part and evanescent in basal part. Squama yellowish with yellow seate. Haltere whitish.

ABDOMEN. With pale brown tergites, shining, covered with short pale setae. Sternites pale brown, shining, with similar setation of tergites. Male terminalia ( Fig. 6 ) with left cercus much widened in basal third, right cercus digitiform ( Fig. 6B ). Left epandrial lamella with a broad apical margin, slightly notched near middle with right side pointed. Apical margin and left margin with short setae only.

Female

Resembling male, except for the terminalia.

Remarks

The key in Grootaert & Chvála (1992) leads to Platypalpus palmeni Frey, 1943 (couplet 203), described from the Alps, probably from a male (at least as supposed by Chvála 1989). The new species corresponds very much to the re-description of P. palmeni in Chvála (1989), but the two species differ clearly by: the colour of the thoracic hairs which are yellow in P. palmeni , while they are black in the new species; the fore femur is rather stouter and the mid femur not stouter in P. palmeni ( Fig. 8B ), while in the new species the mid femur is stouter than the fore femur; and by the colour of the legs, which are yellow in P. palmeni ( Fig. 8 ), with only the hind femur being blackish on the apical third and the tips of the four posterior tibiae and all tarsi are uniformly dark brown, while in the new species the legs also yellow, but with the fore tibia darker (yellow in paler specimens), the mid femur with a brown dorsal patch on the apical half, the mid tibia are brown, the hind femur is brown on the apical half, the hind tibia are slightly dark apically (not the four posterior tibiae as in P. palmeni ), the tarsomeres are brown apically and the four apical tarsi of all legs are entirely brown (except the yellowish base).

Figures

Fig. 6. Platypalpus moroccensis Grootaert & Zouhair sp. nov., male terminalia (holotype, RBINS). A. Right epandrial lamella. B. Epandrium with cerci. C. Left epandrial lamella. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 7. Platypalpus moroccensis Grootaert & Zouhair sp. nov., ♂, habitus (holotype, RBINS). A. Dorsal view. B. Mid leg, anterior view. C. Head and thorax, lateral view, mid leg in posterior view. Photos: Isabella Van de Velde.

Fig. 8. Platypalpus palmeni Frey, 1943, ♂ (holotype, MZH, Luomus, Helsinki). A. Habitus with detail of hind femur. B. Detail of mid femur and mid tibia with small apical spur. Scale bars = 0.5 mm. Photos: Jere Kahanpää.