Atherigona dikei, Deeming, 2019

Deeming, John C., 2019, Atherigonini (Diptera: Muscidae) from Madagascar, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 66 (4), pp. 87-98 : 95

Atherigona (s.s.) dikei sp. nov.

Figures 7–9.

MATERIAL. — HOLOTYPE: Male (dry-mounted and in good condition) labelled MADAGASCAR: Fianarantsoa Prov., Parc National Ranomafana, radio tower at forest edge.21̊15.05′S 47̊04.43′E, alt 130. 1 m, Malaise trap in mixed tropical forest, 15-21.xii.2001, R. Harin’Hala, Code MA-02-09B-07, CASLOT 020383. Deposited in the California Academy of Sciences . PARATYPES: Fianarantsoa Prov., Parc National Ranomafana , radio tower at forest edge, alt. 1130m, 21̊15.05′S 47̊24.43′E, 15-21.xii.2001, R. Harin’Hala, Malaise trap in mixed tropical forest. MA-02-09B-07, CASLOT 020383. 42 Males . 26-31.iii.2002, MA-02-09B-22, CASLOT 020409. 10 Males.

Province Fianarantsoa, Parc National Ranomafana, Vohiparara , at broken bridge, alt. 1110m, 25.v.- 4.vi.2002, 21̊13.57′S 47̊22.19′E, R.Harin’Hala, Malaise trap in high altitude rainforest, MA-02- 09A-30, CASLOT 020400. 3 Males . 15-25.vii.2002, 21̊13.57′S 47̊22.19′E, MA-02-09A-35 CASLOT 020385. 2 Males. Province Fianarantsoa, Parc Nat. Ranomafana, Belle Vue at Talatakely , 1020m, 21̊15.99′S 47̊25.21′E, 26.ii-4.iii.2002, R. Harin’Hala, Malaise trap in secondary -tropi cal forest MA-02-09C18, CASLOT 020376. 1 Male .

Fifteen paratypes in National Museum of Wales .

DESCRIPTION. — Colouration: All setae and setulae black; dusting on dark parts grey; head and antenna black, yellow on face, parafacialia, gena and palpus; thorax black, yellow on postpronotal lobe and proepisternum; scutum with three barely perceptible darker longitudinal lines, these being medially and on dorsocentral lines; legs yellow, fore femur infuscate on a preapical band occupying one third of its length, the knee narrowly yellow, the tibia and tarsus infuscate throughout; wing hyaline with brown veins becoming yellow at base and with squamae pale yellow; haltere yellow.

Head: Fronto-facial angle more acute than a right angle, parafacialia at point of insertion of antenna four times as wide as at narrowest point.

Thorax: Two proepisternal setae, of which the lower is only two thirds of the length of the upper and much weaker, the two prostigmaticals much shorter and weaker than these. The lowersituated of the three katepisternal setae very much the weaker and situated much closer to the more posterior of the two upper setae.

Legs: Fore tarsus lacking specialized structure or chaetotaxy.

Wing: Not unusual in any way.

Abdomen: Not unusual in any way. Hypopygial prominence (Fig. 7) weakly bifurcate in dorsal aspect, in profile the two lobes somewhat pointing downwards. Trifoliate process (Figs. 8–9) black with the membrane sepatating the lateral lobes pale grey, large and triangular, so that the base of the median lobe is situated very much below the bases of the lateral lobes, the lateral lobes on their inner surfaces bearing a lattice-shaped paler pattern and sparse fine pruinosity, on their outer surfaces bearing a stronger, but not longer, compact pruinosity.

Length: c.3.0mm, of wing 3.0mm.

Female: unknown.

AFFINITIES. — In Dike′s 1989 key this species would trace to A. angustiloba van Emden , but differs from it in that the hypopygial prominence is weakly bifurcate, rather than roundedly truncate, and the trifoliate process has the peculiar interval of space between the insertion of the medial and lateral lobes, which A. angustiloba has not.

ETYMOLOGY. — This species is dedicated to the memory of my late friend and colleague Prof.

Michael C. Dike of the Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru of the Ahmadu Bello Universi-

ty, Nigeria. A fellow shootfly enthusiast who described a number of species of Atherigona , he was tragically killed in a traffic accident in 2015.