Stiremania robusta Cerretti & O'Hara

O'Hara, James E. & Cerretti, Pierfilippo, 2016, Annotated catalogue of the Tachinidae (Insecta, Diptera) of the Afrotropical Region, with the description of seven new genera, ZooKeys 575, pp. 1-344 : 274-276

Taxon classification Animalia Diptera Tachinidae

Stiremania robusta Cerretti & O'Hara sp. n. Figs 15c, 16 e–f

Type material.

Holotype ♂: "Capland/ Willowmore/ März 1935/ Dr. Brauns" (NMDA).

Etymology.

The specific epithet derives from the Latin adjective robustus meaning stout, alluding to the robustness of this species, mostly due to its thick, short legs.

Description.

Body length: 8-9 mm.

Male differs from that of Stiremania karoo as follows:

Colouration (Figs 15c, 16 e–f): Fronto-orbital plate, parafacial and upper occiput blackish-brown; frontal vitta brown; lower occiput, postgena, gena, genal groove, facial ridge, and face yellowish-red in ground colour. Head covered with grey microtomentum, denser on parafacial than fronto-orbital plate. Antenna yellow. Palpus yellow. Thorax mostly brown especially on scutum, largely reddish-yellow on pleura. Legs mostly brownish-yellow. Basicosta yellow. Wing membrane hyaline, veins yellowish. Abdomen yellowish-red ventrally, laterally and dorsolaterally, shading into brown dorsomedially. Syntergite 1+2 microtomentose only on mid-dorsal depression; tergites 3-5 with a narrow basal band of whitish-grey reflecting microtomentum, which is medially expanded into a triangular prolongation almost reaching posterior margins of tergites (Fig. 16f).

Head (Figs 15c, 16e): Frontal setae descending to about level of middle of pedicel. Parafacial convex, at its narrowest point about 3-4 times as wide as width of postpedicel. Face deeply concave, antennae entirely hidden from view in profile. Facial ridge straight, with a few decumbent setulae on lower 1/5. Upper occiput with 1 irregular row of black setulae behind postocular row. Palpus sub-cylindrical, about as long as postpedicel, with several setulae along whole length. Prementum short, about 0.20 times as long as height of head.

Thorax: Two inner and 1 outer posthumeral setae. Apical scutellar setae erect and subparallel; 2 pairs of lateral scutellar setae.

Legs: Fore tibia with 2 posterior setae. Preapical anterodorsal seta of fore tibia about 2/3 the length of preapical dorsal seta. Fore claws about 0.8-0.9 times as long as fifth tarsomere. Preapical posteroventral seta of hind tibia well developed and about as long as preapical anteroventral seta.

Wing: Bend of vein M1 obtuse-angled; postangular section of M1 incomplete, being very faint from about halfway between bend and wing margin, then vanishing into the membrane and not reaching wing margin (Figs 15c, 16f). Section of M1 between crossveins r-m and dm-m clearly longer than section between dm-m and bend of M1. Section of M1 between dm-m and bend of M1 longer than postangular section of M1.

Abdomen (Fig. 16f): General setulae of tergites 3-5 dorsally short and decumbent; ventrally long and suberect. Tergites 4 and 5 with a symmetrical pair of sexual patches consisting of a carpet of curled microtrichia: in dorsal position on tergite 4, in dorsolateral position on tergite 5. Tergite 5 about 0.7 times as long as tergite 4.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution.

South Africa.