Acupalpa rostrata Kroeber

Shaun L., Winterton, 2011, Revision of the stiletto fly genera Acupalpa Kroeber and Pipinnipons Winterton (Diptera, Therevidae, Agapophytinae) using cybertaxonomic methods, with a key to Australasian genera, ZooKeys 95, pp. 29-79 : 49-50

Acupalpa rostrata Kroeber Figs 3E, G, I18

Acupalpa rostrata Kröber 1912: 152; Kröber 1913: 18; Mann 1929: 26; Irwin and Lyneborg 1989: 354 [catalogue]; Winterton 2000: 235; Winterton et al. 2001: 210.

Type material.

Holotype male, AUSTRALIA: New South Wales, Sydney (ZMUH) [destroyed]. Neotype male, AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: Kosciusko National Park, Round Mountain, Olgives Creek, [-35.682°, 149.533°] 1400m, 28.xii.1977, E. I. Schlinger. (MEI029931) (ANIC).

Diagnosis.

Frons profile concave above antenna; scape and pedicel yellow-orange, flagellum black; scutum black, overlain with silver pubescence; pleuron black with silver pubescence; wing banded; femora yellow-orange [hind femur dark]; tibia yellow-orange; abdomen black, overlain with silver velutum in male.

Redescription.

Body length= 7.0-8.0 mm. Head. Frons wider than ocellar tubercle, profile transversely concave above antennae, pubescence as silver patches along eye margin, frontal vestiture as numerous elongate setae, surface texture smooth; face projecting anteriorly, vestiture as dark or pale setae; gena with pale setae; parafacial glabrous; mouthparts relatively short (approximately equal to head length); palpus brown-black, acuminate; occiput glabrous, glossy black; antennal base raised; antennal length approximately equal to head; scape and pedicel yellow-orange, length approximately equal to flagellum, with pale setae ventrally, shorter dark setae dorsally; flagellum black, base of flagellum with short dark setae. Thorax. Scutum uniform grey-black; scutellum overlain with dense, matt-black pubescence; pleuron black, overlain with silver pubescence; wing markings banded infuscate; haltere knob white, dark basally; coxae black; femora yellow with hind femur dark; tibia yellow-orange, apices dark; tarsi yellow-orange, distal segments darker, basitarsus and second tarsomere on foreleg white. Scutal chaetotaxy: np, 4; sa, 1; pa, 1; dc, 2; sc, 1. Abdomen. Black, silver velutum dorsally on tergites (male) or absent (female); terminalia pale.

Comments.

The type of Acupalpa rostrata is apparently destroyed. Winterton (2000) redescribed this distinctive species, without designating a neotype as the species was still identifiable based on the original description alone. With the description of the new species herein a neotype is designated to stabilise the taxon and remove any possibility of confusion in the future. Acupalpa rostrata is differentiated from other Acupalpa species by the unique leg and antennal colouration.