Manota cultrigera, Hippa, Heikki, 2008

Hippa, Heikki, 2008, Notes on Afrotropical Manota Williston (Diptera: Mycetophilidae), with the description of seven new species, Zootaxa 1741, pp. 1-23 : 6-8

Manota cultrigera sp. n.

( Figs 1 C, 3 A, B, C)

Male. Colour. Face yellowish-brown, frons, vertex and occiput dark brown, antennal scapus and pedicellus concolorous with face, basal flagellomeres slightly paler than pedicellus, rest of flagellum slightly darker brown, mouthpart pale yellowish. Thorax brown, prothorax and ventral part of preepisternum 2 paler yellowish-brown. Legs pale yellowish, apical part of trochanter 3 diffusely infuscated, femora 2 and 3 diffusely infuscated ventrally on basal third. Wing unicolorous pale brown; haltere pale brown with brown knob. Setae brown, the thinner ones seeming pale, the thicker ones darker. Head. Antennal flagellomere 4, Fig. 3 A. Palpomere 3 of maxillary palpus with apicomesial extension, with 3–4 apically expanded curved sensilla; palpomere 4 with parasegment. Number of postocular setae 8–12. Thorax. Anepisternum setose, with 43–56 setae; anterior basalare setose, with 9–13 setae; preepisternum 2 setose, with 3–9 setae; laterotergite setose, with 21–27 setae; episternum 3 setose, with 14–27 setae. Wing. Length 1.4–1.7 mm. Hypopygium, Figs 3 C, D: Sternite 9 laterally fused with gonocoxa, extending posteriorly nearly to base of gonostylus, posterior margin slightly concave, anterior margin notched, the setae similar to ventral setae of gonocoxa. Parastylar lobe transverse, large with a broad setose basal part and narrow knife-blade-like non-setose apical part. Paraapodemal lobe not observable. Dorsal mesial margin of gonocoxa with two flattened lobes, one near middle, the other extending over all the more apical part, the former with 4, the latter with 7 flattened blunt-ended megasetae at margin, the megasetae on the more apical one of the lobes very broad and partly overlapping. Apicolateral part of gonocoxa forming a non-setose lobe which posteriorly extends as far as apex of gonostylus. Juxtagonostylar seta/e difficult to identify, apparently similar to and among the flattened megasetae at dorsal mesial margin of gonocoxa. Gonostylus almost round, with a lobe-like projection at mesial margin, the setae on the ventral side rather short, on the dorsal side largely absent, mesial lobe with two strong and long setae. Tegmen narrowly subtriangular, but the base unusually broad, the lateral shoulders ill-defined. Hypoproct large, posteriorly extending as far as apex of gonostylus, with ca. 20 setae on each half. Cerci medially separate.

Female. Similar to male. Antennal flagellomere 4, Fig. 3 B. Number of postocular setae 9. Palpomere 3 with 3–4 apically expanded curved sensilla. Anepisternum with 33–46 setae, anterior basalare with 8–9 setae, preepisternum 2 with 0–3 setae, laterotergite with 22–23 setae, episternum 3 with 28 setae. Wing length 1.5– 1.6 mm. Tergite 9, cercus and sternite 10, Fig. 1 C.

Discussion. M. cultrigera is similar to M. crassiseta Matile. It is distinguished 1) by having the more anterior group of megasetae at the dorsal mesial margin of gonocoxa at the middle, not on the basal half of gonocoxa, 2) by having the number of megasetae in the more posterior group seven instead of four, and 3) by having all the megasetae of the latter group similar, apically strongly expanded, whereas in M. crassiseta the three anteriormost lack the expanded apex (see Matile 1978). It is possible that the expanded megaseta is actually a juxtagonostylar megaseta, and that in M. cultrigera one of the posteriormost megasetae in the same position is also that. Furthermore, the two long setae on the gonostylus seem to be thinner in M. cultrigera than in M. crassiseta . The characters on the ventral side of the hypopygium are mostly unknown in M. crassiseta , but from Matile’s drawing one can deduce that the parastylar lobe is similar to M. macrodon sp. n., with only one long seta. M. cultrigera and M. crassiseta are similar to M. macrodon sp. n., M. serrata Söli and M. sespinea Söli. For distinguishing characters, see under M. macrodon . M. mazumbaiensis Söli and M. montana Söli are not very dissimilar to M. cultrigera and M. crassiseta . They differ e.g. by the number of megasetae at the dorsal mesial margin of the gonocoxa: only one in the more anterior “group” and two in the more posterior one.

The two females are associated with this species because they were collected together with the holotype and are reasonably similar to it. The basal segment of the cercus in the female which is not illustrated is less distinctly narrowed towards the base than in the female shown in Fig. 1 C. The female of M. cultrigera may be impossible to identify on the basis of the characters known today. Among the females which I describe in this paper, the lateral chaetotaxy of the basal segment of the cercus resembles that of M. natalensis Jaschhof and Mostovski : in both species the stouter, blunt setae are relatively long and fine setae are intermixed on the apical half. M. cultrigera has the basal segment of the cercus broader and shorter than in M. natalensis . Apart from this the two species cannot be confused because M. cultrigera has a thumb-like apicolateral extension on palpomere 3, which is completely absent in both sexes of M. natalensis . M. fusca Matile, which was described only on the basis of the female from the Central African Republic, resembles M. cultrigera by the rather short and broad basal segment of the cercus, but it is not possible to see the detailed character of the setae in M. fusca . The two species should be distinguishable by the hind femur, which is infuscated basally in M. cultrigera but apically in M. fusca . Furthermore, M. fusca has infuscated wings.

Types. Holotype. Male, MADAGASCAR, Province Antsiranana, Réserve Spéciale de l'Ankarana, 13.6 km 192° SSW of Anivorano Nord, 12°51’49’’S 49°13’33’’E, 210 m a.s.l., tropical dry forest, Malaise trap, 16.ii.-20.ii.2001, leg. Fisher, Griswold et al. In CAS.

Paratypes. 1 male with same data as holotype (in SMNH). 1 male, MADAGASCAR, Mahayanga Prov., Park Nat. Bemaraha, 1.6 km ESE Anzalove, elev. 150 m, 16–20 Nov. 2001, 19°42’34’’S, 44°43’5’’E, coll. Fisher, Grisvold et al., Calif. Acad. of Sciences; Malaise, tropical dry forest on Tsingv.; code BLF 4462. In CAS.

Other material. 2 females with same data as holotype. In CAS and SMNH.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Apical part of female abdomen (D) and female tergite 9, cercus and apical part of sternite 10 (A, B, C and E), lateral view. A. Manota natalensis Jaschhof and Mostovski (South Africa). B. M. clinochaeta sp. n. (Madagascar). C. M. cultrigera sp. n. (Madagascar). D, E. M. edentula sp. n. (Mauritius). Scale 0.10 mm.

FIGURE 3. Manota cultrigera sp. n. (holotype). A. Antennal flagellomere 4, lateral view. B. Female antennal flagellomere 4, lateral view. C. Hypopygium, dorsal view. D. Hypopygium, ventral view. E. Right juxtagonostylar megaseta, dorsal view. Scale for A and B 0.05 mm, for C and D 0.10 mm.