Aragara flavaristata, Liu, Xiaoyan & Yang, Ding, 2014

Liu, Xiaoyan & Yang, Ding, 2014, Species of the genus Aragara Walker (Diptera: Chloropidae: Chloropinae: Mindini) from China with key to species of the world, Zootaxa 3895 (1), pp. 127-136 : 128-129

Aragara flavaristata sp. nov.

Figs 1 , 5–11

Diagnosis. Body slender and long. Frontal triangle smooth without median groove. Antenna and arista yellow; arista naked. Legs yellow except for brown basal portion of mid coxa, hind coxa, fore tibia, basal 0.9 of fore tarsomere 1, basal 1/2 of hind femur and yellowish brown mid and hind tarsomere 5.

Description. Male. Body length 6.3–7.0 mm, wing length 3.8–3.9 mm.

Head yellow with microtomentum, 1.1x as long as high, 1.2x as wide as thorax; face somewhat concave in lateral view, facial carina distinct; frons yellow with posterolateral corner black, 1.3x as long as wide, projecting slightly in front of eye; gena narrow, 0.2x as wide as first flagellomere; parafacial indistinct. Frontal triangle blackish brown except for anterior 1/3 yellow, smooth, shiny, reaching anterior margin of frons, with obtuse apex; ocellar tubercle brown. Postgena and occiput black. Cephalic setae and setulae black; oc and poc hair-like, oc as long as poc; vte and vti developed, vte as long as vti. Antenna yellow with thick greyish microtomentum; first flagellomere 1.3x as long as wide; arista yellow, slender and naked. Proboscis and palpus yellow with yellow setulae.

Thorax black with microtomentum, evenly covered with short setulae. Postpronotum yellow with a small brown spot. Scutum long, 1.5x as long as wide, convex on anterior portion and distinctly flattened centrally in posterior 1/2, with granulated microsculpture. Thoracic pleuron shiny brown without microtomentum except for yellow propleuron; ventral portion of katepisternum with some yellow setulae. Scutellum 0.5x as long as wide; ap sc developed, as long as scutellum. Setae and setulae on thorax black except for yellow a npl; npl 1+2, a npl hairlike, p npl developed, a npl as long as p npl; a pa developed and p pa hair-like, a pa as long as p pa; 1 dc hair-like, as long as a pa. Legs yellow except for pale yellow fore coxa; basal portion of mid coxa, hind coxa, fore tibia and basal 0.9 of fore tarsomere 1, basal 1/2 of hind femur brown (hind femur entirely yellow in some specimens); mid and hind tarsomere 5 yellowish brown. Fore coxa distinctly long, slightly shorter than fore femur; fore femur thickened, maximum width 1/4 its length, with two rows of stout spines arranged on sides of ventral surface, spines of outer row slightly longer, spines arranged on distal 7/10 of fore femur; fore tibia 0.8x as long as fore femur and distinctly curved. Setulae on legs brown except for fore tarsus with some yellow setulae. Wing 3.3x as long as wide, hyaline; veins brown. Relative lengths of 2nd: 3rd: 4th costal sections = 3.8: 2.5: 1; cross-veins r-m and mm not approximated, r-m at basal 0.55 of discal cell. Halter pale yellow on knob, brown on stem.

Abdomen shiny brown except for yellow tergites 1+2, tergite 2 with small black lateral spot; venter yellow. Setulae on abdomen brown.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 5–8 ): Epandrium short tubular, yellowish brown with long brown setulae and 2 band-like sclerites along posterodorsal notch; surstylus basally broad, distally narrowed, attached to epandrium anteroventrally. Cercus oblong in ventral view, with some short setulae. Gonites arranged in a row; postgonite long with some sensory setulae, distally broad and slightly incurved, with minute serrations on inner margin near basiphallus; pregonite short, 0.5x as long as postgonite, basally broad, distally narrowed; basiphallus longer than wide, cylindrical; distiphallus cylindrical, longer than basiphallus, reaching dorsal margin of hypandrium, largely membranous; phallapodeme long, extended near base of basiphallus, with basal stalk broad in lateral view. Hypandrium extremely broad.

Female. Similar to male. Body length 5.3–5.6 mm, wing length 3.6–4.0 mm.

Female genitalia ( Figs. 9–11 ): Tergite 9 nearly triangular, as long as wide, with 2 long setae; sternite 9 long, apically round with long stout setae. Cercus short and stout with some long setae.

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂ ( CAU), CHINA: Yunnan: Mengla, Yaoqu, 2. V. 2011, Coll. Lihua Wang. PARATYPES 1 ♀ ( CAU), same date as holotype; 1 ♀ ( CAU), Mengla, Yaoqu, 10. IV. 1981, Coll. Fasheng Li; 1 ♀ ( CAU), Menglun, Botanical Garden, 2. VI. 2008, Coll. Hui Dong; 1 ♂, 1 ♀ ( CAU), Mengla, Bubang, 8. V. 2009, Coll. Guoquan Wang; 1 ♂ ( CAU), Mengla, Bubang, 9. V. 2009, Coll. Guoquna Wang.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Remarks. The new species is somewhat similar to A. mizoramensis Cherian in having the body slender and long; frontal triangle smooth without median groove; arista naked. It can be separated from the latter by the following features: body long, 6.3–7.0 mm (male); frontal triangle without a longitudinal groove along each lateral margin; antenna entirely yellow. In A. mizoramensis , body is short, 3.15 mm (male); frontal triangle has two linear grooves along 1/2 of the length of each posterior lateral margin; pedicel is yellowish brown and first flagellomere is yellow except for brownish black distal margin ( Cherian 1984).

Etymology. The specific name is from the Latin flav- (“yellow”) and aristatus (“arista”), refering to the yellow arista.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aragara flavaristata sp. nov., male. Body, lateral view. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURES 5 – 8. Aragara flavaristata sp. nov., male. 5 epandrium, posterior view; 6 epandrium, lateral view; 7 hypandrium and phallic complex, ventral view; 8 hypandrium and phallic complex, lateral view. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 9 – 11. Aragara flavaristata sp. nov., female. 9 abdominal terminalia, dorsal view; 10 abdominal terminalia, lateral view; 11 abdominal terminalia, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.