Wiedemannia ljerkae Ivkovic & Sinclair

Ivkovic, Marija, Cevid, Josipa, Horvat, Bogdan & Sinclair, Bradley J., 2017, Aquatic dance flies (Diptera, Empididae, Clinocerinae and Hemerodromiinae) of Greece: species richness, distribution and description of five new species, ZooKeys 724, pp. 53-100 : 55-58

Wiedemannia ljerkae Ivkovic & Sinclair sp. n. Figs 1, 2, 4, 5, 8

Type locality.

Greece: Epirus, Igoumenitsa, River Thiamis, Soulopoulo, 39°32'00"N, 20°12'00"E.

Type material.

Holotype ♂ (in 80% ethanol), labelled: "HOLOTYPE/ Wiedemannia // ljerkae IVKOVIĆ et SINCLAIR// GREECE, Epirus,/ Igoumenitsa, R. Thiamis,/ Soulopoulo// 39°32'00"N, 20°12'00"E, 30.iv.1989,/ leg. B. Horvat, I. Sivec" (UZC). Paratypes: same data as holotype (2 ♂, 6 ♀, UZC; 3 ♂, 9 ♀, CNC (dried from alcohol); 2 ♂, 16 ♀, SMNH).

Additional material.

GREECE: Central Greece, Etolia, Peristera, Agrinio, 1 km S of Perkos, 300 m, 38°38'00"N, 21°45'00"E, 24.iv.1990 (SMNH); Peloponnese, Kato Klitoria, 450 m, 37°50'00"N, 22°10'00"E, 20.iv.1990 (SMNH); Peloponnisos, R. Kratis, 7 km N of Peristera, 600 m, 38°05'00"N, 22°14'00"E, 22.iv.1990 (SMNH); Peloponnese, Aroania Mts., Kastria, 21.iv.1990 (UZC).

Diagnosis.

This species of Wiedemannia is distinguished by the cercus with two long finger-like processes and a rounded pterostigma on the wings.

Description.

Male. Body length 3.5-4.5 mm, wing length 4.0-4.3 mm (colouration bleached by prolonged storage in alcohol). Head (Fig. 2) in lateral view higher than long; gena broad, more than half height of eye. Frons short, broader than face. Face wide, with distinct carina on lower margin, bare, lacking setae. Ocellar setae short and fine; one pair of vertical setae; about 7-8 distinct upper postocular setae; lower postocular setae finer and merging with longer setae on middle and lower occiput; numerous dark setulae on vertex and between ocellar area and eye margin. Antenna brown; postpedicel and stylus minutely pubescent; pedicel slightly shorter than half length of scape, with complete circlet of subapical setae; postpedicel apically pointed, stylus nearly twice length of postpedicel; scape with setulae dorsally.

Mesonotum with 5 pairs of dorsocentral setae with short setulae interspersed. Acrostichal setae small and fine, biserial, extended onto prescutellar depression; 1 strong postpronotal seta and 2-4 small setulae; 2 notopleural setae with several short setulae; 1 presutural supra-alar seta and many small anterior setulae; 1-2 postsutural supra-alar setulae; 1 postalar seta. Antepronotum with 3-4 pairs of dark, strong setae and some smaller setae. Proepisternum with some fine, long setae. Katepisternum with some short setulae on posterior margin. Laterotergite with fine, pale setae. One pair of strong marginal scutellar setae, with many scattered setulae on disc.

Wing (Fig. 5) membrane infuscate, veins darker; 1 long basal costal seta extending almost to humeral crossvein. R2+3 dipped beneath pterostigma. Cell dm produced anteroapically. M1 and M2 originating separately, together or sometimes with a very short stem vein proximal to M1+2 fork. CuA+CuP appearing as crease. Pterostigma broad, circular to squarish, dark brown, extending faintly beyond R2+3. Squama with setulae. Halter pale, yellowish.

Legs mostly brown; fore femur with one stronger preapical anterior seta; uniformly covered with rows of small dark setulae. All coxae with longer setae anteriorly. Fore and mid femora ventrally with some longer setulae on proximal half.

Abdomen concolourous with thorax, covered in short setae. Terminalia (Figs 4, 8): hypandrium shorter than epandrium, bearing 4 pairs of setae. Epandrium subquadrate, covered with long dark setae especially ventrally and laterally; surstylus slender, digitiform. Clasping cercus with two long, slender, finger-like processes and small basal lobe with crown of spine-like setae on inner face apically; finger-like lobes with long setae distally; posterior finger-like lobe with inner cluster of stout setae at mid-length. Phallus more or less linear, very slender; distiphallus with distinct swelling at mid-length.

Female. Similar to male except pterostigma smaller, more elliptical, not extending beyond R2+3; cercus short, ovate and minutely pilose.

Etymology.

The species is named after the first author’s mother, Katica Ljerka Ivković, for all those things that mothers do for all of us.

Remarks.

Wiedemannia ljerkae sp. n. is known only from several localities in Greece. On the basis of the multiple slender lobes of the clasping cercus and distinct pterostigma, W. ljerkae sp. n. appears closely related to W. braueri (Mik, 1880) and W. tricuspidata (Bezzi, 1905) (see Engel 1918, 1940).