Sobarocephala kapnikos, Lonsdale, Owen, 2014

Lonsdale, Owen, 2014, Revision of the Old World Sobarocephala (Diptera: Clusiidae), Zootaxa 3760 (2), pp. 211-240 : 222

Sobarocephala kapnikos spec. nov.

Figs 29, 42–44

Description (Fig. 29). Male. Body length 3.1mm. Arista sparsely plumose with hairs on basal half denser. Setae brown. Ocellar seta small and thin. Mid fronto-orbital 2/3 length of hind fronto-orbital. Presutural intra-alar welldeveloped. Two dorsocentral setae with slightly more developed setula in front of anterior dorsocentral. Acrostichal seta absent. One pair of lateral scutellar setae. Head yellow (paler below antenna) with faded dorsal stripe on first flagellomere (strongest around base of arista), ocellar tubercle brown with spot continuing onto dorsal margin of back of head, and with gena, occiput and lateral margin of face whitish; gena pilose. Notum brown with most of anterior half of presutural scutum yellow excluding anterior margin of postpronotum. Pleuron yellow with anepisternum, anepimeron and anterodorsal spot on katepisternum brown. Legs yellow with mid tibia brownish medially. Halter entirely white. Wing very lightly clouded along anterior margin. M1+2 ratio 3.5. Abdomen brown with tergite 1, cerci and surstylus yellow.

Female. Unknown.

Male terminalia. ( Figs 42–44 ) Annulus well-developed, enclosing 7th spiracle. Cerci small and rounded with setae short. Surstylus approximately as high as epandrium, broad with base and apex tapered; tubercle-like setae along inner surface of apical and posterior margins. Internally as described for S. nimbipennis except paraphallus thumb shorter and more attenuated, and pregonite better defined and with one distal setula.

Etymology. The specific name is Greek for “smoky”, referring to the colour of the body and hypandrial complex.

Holotype: SRI LANKA [”Celyon”]. Rat. Dist., Uggalkaltota , 350ft., Irrigation bungalow, 31.i–8.ii.1970, Davis & Rowe (1♂, USNM).

Comments. This darkly-coloured species can be diagnosed by a large ocellar spot, a reduced mid frontoorbital, a presutural intra-alar seta, and a strong subnotal stripe that continues onto the anterodorsal face of the katepisternum. Sobarocephala kapnikos is so far the only species of Sobarocephala known from Sri Lanka.

Five species are tentatively allied on the basis of a presutural intra-alar seta, which is only otherwise found in a few sobarocephaline species outside of the Sobarocephala flava group, where it occurs with relative frequency. Of these, the Oriental S. kapnikos and S. nimbipennis are supported as sister taxa on the basis of clouded wings, dark somatic colouration, characteristic surstyli ( Figs 42 , 45) and a pigmented hypandrial complex ( Figs 44 , 47). Sobarocephala nebulosa ( Laos) has an acrostichal seta, a medially yellow scutellum and a much smaller surstylus. The two Afrotropical species with a presutural intra-alar seta ( S. recava and S. laticrinis ) also form a well-defined natural group on the basis of similarly unusual surstyli (Figs 48, 51), a long epiphallus, a long slender paraphallus and a long, curved hypandrial arm (Figs 50, 53).

Figures

FIGURES 42 – 44. Sobarocephala kapnikos spec. nov., male genitalia; 42: external, left lateral; 43: external, posterior; 44: hypandrial complex, left lateral. Figs 45 – 47: S. nimbipennis spec. nov., male genitalia; 45: external, left lateral; 46: external, posterior; 47: hypandrial complex, left lateral. Figs 48 – 50: S. laticrinis spec. nov., male genitalia; 48: external, left lateral; 49: external, posterior; 50: hypandrial complex, left lateral. Figs 51 – 53: S. recava spec. nov., male genitalia; 51: external, left lateral; 52: external, posterior; 53: hypandrial complex, left lateral.