Elaphropeza furcatella, Grootaert, 2019

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 : 8-11

Elaphropeza furcatella sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8DC272D2-7B30-4371-A22F-C437B77BBAA9

Figs 4–5

Etymology

The specific name is from the Latin ‘ furca , furcatella ’, meaning ‘fork, small fork’, and alludes to the fork-shaped tip of the right epandrial lamella.

Material examined

Holotype

HONG KONG • ♂; Tai Tan (28M1); 22.43857° N, 114.33327° E; C. Taylor and U. Chang leg.; 5–19 Dec. 2017; barcode reference JP1 F (not dissected); RBINS.

Paratypes

HONG KONG • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; barcode reference HKC_0000505; RBINS • 1 ♂; Tai Tam (22M2); 22.24614° N, 114.22334° E; C. Taylor and U. Chang leg.; 9–23 Oct. 2017; barcode reference HKC_0000801; RBINS .

Description

Male ( Fig. 4 )

BODY. 1.4 mm long; wing 1.5 mm long.

HEAD. Occiput black, scape and pedicel yellow, postpedicel brown, but paler on basal half. Postpedicel nearly 4× as long as wide. Stylus a little longer than postpedicel. Palpus yellow, with white basal and pale brown subapical bristle. Proboscis pale yellowish.

THORAX. Yellow, including scutellum, metanotum dusky yellow (not brown). Acrostichals quadri-serial, not reaching scutellum.

WING ( Fig. 4 ). Clear. Haltere white.

LEGS. Yellow, including all tarsomeres. Fore femur with a single row of short white ventral bristles, nearly half as long as femur is wide. Mid femur with a row of ventral bristles that are longest in basal half, brownish and becoming shorter towards tip. Bristles are pale brownish in basal half. Mid tibia with a row of tiny dark spine-like ventral bristles in apical half only, row ending in a tiny black apical spine. Hind tibia with a pale anterodorsal bristle near middle.

ABDOMEN. Tergites 2–3 and 6–7 yellowish (not brown). Tergite 4 long, black and covered with long pale bristles that are not squamiform. Tergite 5 very narrow, with a row of indistinct pale squamiform bristles. Terminalia ( Fig. 5 ) brown, but hypandrium yellowish at base.

TERMINALIA. Right epandrial lamella with a forked apex, right margin with four strong bristles, left fork with short bristles, right fork almost bare ( Fig. 5A ). Cerci apically fused, with a few strong bristles on right side ( Fig. 5B ). Tip of the cercus blunt ( Fig.4D ). Left surstylus with a wide truncate tip ( Fig. 5C ) with a small notch near apex ( Fig. 5B , not visible on Fig. 5C ). The apical border before the notch with pronounced papillae (not visible on Fig. 5 C due to bend of the surstylus).

Female

BODY. 1.7 mm long; wing 1.6 mm long.

Resembling male in most aspects except the mid femur with only white ventral bristles and the mid tibia without ventral spinules and lacking the tiny apical spine. Tergites 4–5 and 8 black. Cerci short, brown. Sternite 10 not pronounced.

Remarks

The most striking character in this species is the forked right epandrial lamella, which is quite unique in Elaphropeza . The acrostichal bristles do not reach the anterior border of the scutellum, but the presence of a small hair beside the most apical dorsocentrals might be confusing. The fore and mid tibiae and tarsi are pale yellowish, but sometimes in the female they are dusky yellow, which can lead to its being confused with E. riatanae .

Figures

Fig. 4. Elaphropeza furcatella sp. nov., holotype, ♂, habitus, RBINS (leg. C. Taylor and U. Chang; photo A. Samoh). Barcode reference JP1F.

Fig. 5. Elaphropeza furcatella sp. nov., male terminalia, RBINS (leg. C. Taylor and U. Chang). A. Right epandrial lamella. B. Epandrium, dorsal view. C. Left surstylus. D. Tip of fused cerci. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.