Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907

Grootaert, Patrick, 2019, Species turnover between the northern and southern part of the South China Sea in the Elaphropeza Macquart mangrove fly communities of Hong Kong and Singapore (Insecta: Diptera: Hybotidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 554, pp. 1-27 : 5-8

Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907

Figs 2–3

Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907: 488 , male, type locality: Taiwan, Takao.

Elaphropeza calcarifera – Bezzi 1912: 489 , female. — Shamshev & Grootaert 2007: 114 , figs 188–190, re-description; neotype designated from Taiwan, Anping.

Material examined

HONG KONG • 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀; Shui Hau (19M1); 22.21936° N, 113.91898° E; C. Taylor and U. Chang leg.; 1–14 Nov. 2017; male dissected and figured ( Fig. 3 ); RBINS • 2 ♂♂; Sam A Chung (5 BM 1 ); 22.50829° N, 114.27248° E; C. Taylor and U. Chang leg.; 11–27 Dec. 2017; both dissected and barcoded with references: JP2 B, JP 2C; both have yellow tergites 6 and 7; RBINS • 5 ♂♂, 1 ♀; Tai Tam (22M1); 22.24614° N, 114.22334° E; C. Taylor and U. Chang leg.; 9–23 Oct. 2017; with following NGS barcode references: HKC_0000787 ♀ 22M1, HKC_0000788 ♂ 22M1, HKC_0000789 ♂ 22M1, HKC_0000790 ♂ 22M1, HKC_0000791 ♂ 22M1, HKC_0000793 ♂ 22M1; RBINS • 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; Tai Tam (22M2); 22.24614° N, 114.22334° E; C. Taylor and U. Chang leg.; 23–30 Oct. 2017; with following NGS barcode references: HKC_0000798 ♂ 22M2, HKC_0000800 ♂ 22M2, HKC_0000804 ♀ 22M2, HKC_0000808 ♂ 22M2, HKC_0000809 ♀ 22M2; RBINS .

Description

Male ( Fig. 2 )

BODY. 1.5 – 1.7 mm long; wing 1.3 – 1.4 mm long.

HEAD. Scape and pedicel yellow, postpedicel brownish, base largely yellow. Inner vertical bristles nearly twice as long as outer verticals. Postpedicel 3× as long as wide; stylus as long as postpedicel.

THORAX. Scutum yellow, scutellum and metanotum brown. Acrostichals irregularly tri- to quadri-serial, not reaching border of scutellum. Two longer prescutellars, distinct from other short dorsocentrals. Most apical one twice as long as the preceding one.

LEGS. Yellow, but tarsomere 5 of all legs contrastingly black. Mid femur ventrally with a single row of short spine-like bristles, not as long as femur is wide, bristles brown in basal half while pale in apical half. Mid tibia with short somewhat flattened bristles, not really spinules ending in indistinct pale short apical spine. A long pale preapical posterior bristle present. Hind tibia with long brown anterodorsal seta near middle.

WING. Clear, veins yellow; costal bristle yellow. Haltere white.

ABDOMEN. Tergites 1–3 yellow, tergite 4 large, shining black, lacking squamiform setae, tergite 5 very narrow, with a row of squamiform setae; tergites 6–7 yellow.

TERMINALIA ( Fig. 3 ). Right epandrial lamella black, except for dusky yellow base. Cerci fused with pale brown digitiform tip, a strong bristle below middle ( Fig. 3B ). Left surstylus black, narrow with a truncate tip bearing yellow hairs, dorsal margin with a very long seta at base and a few strong setae near middle ( Fig. 3C ).

Female

BODY. 1.7 – 1.8 mm long; wing 1.4 mm long.

Identical to male in most respects. Stylus a little longer than postpedicel. Tergite 8 black, cerci very short, pale brown, tergite 8 long, brown, produced beyond the cerci. The ovipositor is quite large and on superficial look like male terminalia.

Remarks

The presence of a pointed apical projection in E. calcarifera on the hind tibia is easily overlooked and, therefore, this species is mentioned twice in the key above. When the pointed projection is overlooked, it will lead in the key to the Oriental Elaphropeza (see Grootaert & Shamshev 2012) E. melanura Bezzi, 1912 , also described from Taiwan. Unfortunately, the neotype male of E. melanura has not been dissected to illustrate the male terminalia. Apart from the pointed projections, the differences with E. calcarifera are small, but there are a few characters to distinguish the two species. In E. melanura the inner verticals are long, while the outer ones are hardly prominent. In E. calcarifera the inner verticals are also very long and the outer ones distinct and more than half as long as the inner ones.

In E. melanuroides Grootaert & Shamshev, 2015 , another related species, the inner verticals are as long as the outer verticals. The postpedicel is brown in E. melanura , while in both E. calcarifera and E. melanuroides the postpedicel is brown with its base ventrally largely yellow. There is one long prescutellar bristle in E. melanura , while E. calcarifera and E. melanuroides have two longer prescutellars. The haltere is yellow in E. melanura while white in E. melanuroides . However, the colour of the haltere might have become yellow over time as it is a dried specimen. Both E. calcarifera and E. melanuroides were fresh in our study and have been studied in ethanol. The mid femur in E. melanura bears two rows of spine-like, short ventral bristles. In E. calcarifera there is only a single row of strong bristles. In E. melanuroides the mid femur has bristles that are not spine-like; however, on the apical third there are some darker bristles.

In E. calcarifera there is variation in the colour of tergites 6 and 7 from very pale to yellow and even dusky yellow.

Figures

Fig. 2. Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907, ♂, habitus, RBINS (leg. C. Taylor and U. Chang; photo A. Samoh).

Fig. 3. Elaphropeza calcarifera Bezzi, 1907, male terminalia, RBINS (leg. C. Taylor and U. Chang). A. Right epandrial lamella. B. Epandrium, dorsal view. C. Left surstylus. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.