Bradysia pernitida ( Skuse, 1888 ) Skuse, 1888

Broadley, Adam, Kauschke, Ellen & Mohrig, Werner, 2016, Revision of the types of male Sciaridae (Diptera) described from Australia by F. A. A. Skuse, Zootaxa 4193 (3), pp. 401-450 : 432

Bradysia pernitida ( Skuse, 1888) comb. n.

( Fig. 19 A‒C)

Sciara pernitida Skuse, 1888 [ Skuse (1888): 685 ‒686].

Type locality. Australia, New South Wales, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney & Blue Mountains .

Lectotype (here designated): Male. Slide bears original label data verbatim ‘ Sc. pernitida / Ƌ (ink) TYPE./ F. A. A. Skuse’ (print), ‘Eliz: Bay/ +B. MS’ (ink). Mounted in Canada balsam Dec. 2015. ( ANIC; Slide No. 040-1).

Paralectotype. Female (not studied).

Remarks. Original description states “ Hab.—Elizabeth Bay (Masters and Skuse); Glenbrook, Blue Mountains (Masters). November.

Preservation. Thorax somewhat deformed, gonostylus missing.

Additional description. Male. Head. Brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Antenna brown, very long and thin, necks rather short, brownish; 4th flagellomere with a l/w-index of 5.0, with dense, bristle-like hairs that are barely longer than the width of the basal node; palpus 3-segmented, basal segment with a flat sensory area and 2‒3 bristles. Thorax. Brown, scutum with three darker stripes, short hairs, and a few longer lateral bristles; scutellum with 2 longer marginal bristles; postpronotum bare. Wings brownish; R1 = 2/3 R; R5 with dorsal macrotrichia only; C = 3/4 w; y somewhat shorter than x, without macrotrichia; posterior veins distinct, without macrotrichia. Haltere short, brown. Legs brown; fore tibia with a broad comb of pale bristles; spurs of middle and hind tibia equal in size, somewhat longer than the width of the apex of tibia; claws without teeth. Abdomen. Brownish, with short, sparse, pale hairs. Hypopygium brown, with v-shaped ventral base, without lobe or patch of bristles; gonocoxite with rather long hairs on the inner ventral margin, with 2 megasetae at the ventral apex; gonostylus lost; tegmen apically rounded, with a large area of rather strong teeth and with strong ventral parameral apodeme. Body length: 3.0 mm.

Comments. This species belongs to the genus Bradysia . It is characterized by the brown body colour, unusually long and thin flagellomeres, a flat sensory area on the basal segment of the palpus, the v-shaped ventral base of the hypopygium, an apically rounded tegmen and 2 megasetae on the ventral apex of the gonocoxite. This combination of characters could allow an identification to species even though the gonostyles are missing.

Distribution. Australia (New South Wales).

Figures

FIGURE 19. Bradysia pernitida (Skuse, 1888). A. Base of hypopygium; B. Head and thorax in part; C. Flagellomeres 4 ‒ 6.