Microphorella iota Colless, 1964

Brooks, Scott E. & Cumming, Jeffrey M., 2022, New Australasian Parathalassiinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae sensu lato), Zootaxa 5188 (6), pp. 521-543 : 539-541

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5188.6.2

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BF01B6B4-3415-41A1-86A0-F4B187541A55

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7105657

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038D87B8-C802-201D-EBC3-E3A79D43A92B

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Microphorella iota Colless
status

 

Microphorella iota Colless View in CoL

( Figs 1 View FIGURES 1–4 , 47, 48 View FIGURES 47–48 )

Microphorella iota Colless, 1964: 320 View in CoL . Type locality: Mt. Majura , ACT, Australia.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♂ labelled: “[ AUSTRALIA] Mt. Majura [ca 35.2372°S 149.1822°E], A.C. T. [Australian Capital Territory]/ 2 Apr. 1963 / D.H. Colless. ”; “ ANIC 5873 About ANIC / HOLOTYPE / Microphorella / iota. Colless. [red label]”; “ ANIC Database No./ 29 029403” ( ANIC) GoogleMaps . ALLOTYPE ♀, same locality and date data as holotype ( ANIC) GoogleMaps . PARATYPES: AUSTRALIA: A.C. T ., Canberra , Mt. Majura, 29.ix.1960, D.H. Colless (1♂, ANIC); A.C . T. Ginninderra Falls [ca 35.1968°S 148.9617°E], 28.ii.1962, D.H. Colless (2♀, ANIC) GoogleMaps .

Other material examined. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales, Colo Vale [ca 34.4017°S 150.4886°E], 17.i.1957, W.W, Wirth (5♀, USNM) GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Males of M. iota are distinguished from the other known Australasian Microphorella by the following combination of features: body and legs blackish brown or blackish grey with black setation; palpus dark and narrowly ovate, dorsal surface with club-tipped processes ( Colless 1964, fig. 1d); hypopygium ( Figs 47, 48 View FIGURES 47–48 ) with phallus relatively short, swollen along midlength, with tip bent back and brush-like; hypandrium large, distinctly wider than epandrial lamellae in lateral view.

Distribution. In addition to the two localities in the Australian Capital Territory listed above, Colless (1964) recorded two female paratypes (in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia) from Sassafras Gully [ca 33.6992°S 150.5711°E], Springwood, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales collected by D.K. McAlpine on 10.i.1956. We have also seen additional specimens from Colo Vale in New South Wales ( Fig. 1 View FIGURES 1–4 ).

Remarks. Until this study, M. iota was the the only described species of Microphorella known from Australia. In their phylogenetic analysis of the Parathalassiinae, Cumming & Brooks (2019) , determined that M. iota was not closely related to M. papuana from New Guinea or the two new Australian species of Microphorella described in this paper. Males of M. iota have club-tipped processes on the dorsal surface of the palpus, possess a unique phallus with a modified brush-like apex and have a large hypandrium. Colless (1964) states that specimens of M. iota were all collected by sweeping near streams. The females from Colo Vale differ slightly from the other known specimens by their blackish grey coloration.

T

Tavera, Department of Geology and Geophysics

ANIC

Australian National Insect Collection

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Dolichopodidae

Genus

Microphorella

Loc

Microphorella iota Colless

Brooks, Scott E. & Cumming, Jeffrey M. 2022
2022
Loc

Microphorella iota

Colless, D. H. 1964: 320
1964
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