Hemerodromia deminuta, Plant, Adrian R., 2015

Plant, Adrian R., 2015, Diversity of Hemerodromia Meigen, 1822 (Diptera: Empididae) in Thailand, the tip of a tropical iceberg?, Zootaxa 4039 (1), pp. 1-56 : 21-23

Hemerodromia deminuta sp. nov.

( Figs 29, 30 , 81 )

Diagnosis. A black species with vein M2 absent (M1+2 fork not present) and a single row of spinose setae ventrally on the front tibia. R2+3 is short, joining C only about 0.5X the distance between end of R1 and R4 and cell bm+dm is rather long, ending just beyond level of R1. Male terminalia with cercus elongate, linear on distal part. Surstylus with tip slightly spatulate.

Description. Male: Body length 3.0 mm; wing length 2.8 mm. Head. Black, dusted brownish grey. Antenna whitish but apical receptor of stylus blackish; mouthparts whitish. One pair reclinate ocl; one pair small but distinct and another smaller pair of vtl distinguishable from smaller fine hairs on vertex and upper occiput; postocular and lower occipital setulae minute. Antenna with postpedicel ~2.0–2.5X long as wide, stylus of similar length; scape with distinct fine dorsal seta. Thorax. Black, very slightly paler on scutellum, dusted greyish. All setae yellowish white; minute apart from one npl; scutellum with a few minute marginal sct. Legs. Ground colour whitish yellow, hardly darker on distal tarsomeres. C1 ~1.1X longer than distance between C1 and C2, all setulae minute except a few slightly longer apicals. F1 ~ 1.2X long as C1, ~ 5X long as wide, hardly constricted 0.3 from base; femoral formula ~ 7/16/16 +1/8, denticles black, rows converging apically; spines yellow, shorter than limb is deep, longest basally, av and pv rows of similar strength. T1 ~ 0.6X long as F1, evenly curved, ventral face shallowly concave; with one row of ~12 sharply pointed spinose setae ventrally; ventroapical spur hardly developed; a strong ventroapical erect black spinose seta present. Mid and hind legs slender with only small setulae. Wing. Membrane darkened with blackish microtrichia but hyaline basally. Veins greyish black but whitish near base. Marginal setulae greyish. R2+3 sublinear, short, joining C ~ 0.5–0.6X distance between end of R1 and R4; length of C between ends of R2+3 and R4 ~1.6–1.9X long as R4. R4 slightly S-shaped, angle with R5 at extreme base ~ 75°; R5 ~2.2X long as R4; R5 and M1 almost linear, very slightly converging distally; M2 absent, represented at most by a slight fold wing membrane; cell bm+dm rather long, ending just beyond level of R1. Halter: knob with anterior face black weakly demarked from whitish grey posterior face; stem yellowish white. Abdomen. Brownish black dorsally with tergite 1 whitish, tergite 7 hardly paler than preceding segments; ventrally with sternites 1 and 2 largely pale, otherwise brownish black; all setulae, small becoming somewhat longer on distal segments. Terminalia. Brownish black with dark setae. Cercus ( Figs 29, 30 ) elongate in lateral view, extending well beyond tip of epandrium, linear on distal part; rather evenly narrowing and curving inward from base to tip, bearing numerous fine setae. Epandrium ( Fig 29 ) rather narrow, bluntly pointed apically with 2–3 strong setae apically and along ventral margin. Hypandrium moderately large, divided ventrally on proximal 0.5, with a few distinct setae posteroventrally. Two internal process present; upper one (probably posterior process of subepandrial sclerite) narrow, slightly constricted apically with a few minute peg-like tubercles subapically on inner face and a strong incurved apical seta; lower process (surstylus) broader, its tip slightly spatulate, bearing numerous fine setae along posterior margin. Female: Unknown.

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, THAILAND: Chiang Mai Province, Doi Inthanon NP, Checkpoint 2, 1,700 m, 18°31.554'N, 98°29.94'E, 29.iv.–6.v.2007, MT, Y. Areeluck [T1857]( QSBG). PARATYPE: 1♂, same data as holotype ( QSBG).

Etymology. The specific epithet is from the Latin deminuta meaning diminished or lessened, in reference to the simplified wing venation. It is used as a noun in apposition.

Remarks. Hemerodromia deminuta sp. nov. is most similar to H. attenuata sp. nov. and for differences between the two, see the species account for the latter. This species is only known from hill evergreen forest during April on the mountain Doi Inthanon, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand ( Fig. 81 ).

Figures

FIGURES 29 – 30. Male terminalia of Hemerodromia deminuta sp. nov. 29, lateral view of terminalia; 30, dorsal view of cerci. Abbreviations: cer = cerci, epa = epandrium, hyp = hypandrium, pss = posterior process of subepandrial sclerite (?), sur = surstylus (?).

FIGURES 73 – 81. Distribution of Hemerodromia spp. in Thailand at a resolution of 0.25 ° and symbols sized to 0.5 ° of latitude and longitude. 73, H. acutata Grootaert, Yang & Saigusa; 74, H. alphalutea sp. nov.; 75, H. anisoserrata sp. nov.; 76, H. anomala sp. nov.; 77, H. attenuata sp. nov.; 78, H. betalutea sp. nov.; 79, H. conspecta sp. nov.; 80, H. deltalutea sp. nov.; 81, H. deminuta sp. nov.