Oxycera micronigra, Yang, Zaihua, Wei, Lianmeng & Yang, Maofa, 2009

Yang, Zaihua, Wei, Lianmeng & Yang, Maofa, 2009, Two new species of Oxycera and description of the female of O. signata Brunetti from China (Diptera, Stratiomyidae), Zootaxa 2299, pp. 19-28 : 23-25

Oxycera micronigra sp. nov.

( Figs. 12–17 )

Diagnosis. A relatively small species. Mostly black, frons flat (at most slightly protuberant), with a pair of small oval yellow spots ( Fig. 13 ); scutellum with yellow hind margin and yellow spines with black apex ( Fig. 16 ), anepisternum with small yellow or pale yellow spots just below and in front of wing base ( Fig. 15 ); abdomen with rather narrow yellowish lateral vittae from hind margin of tergite 3 to hind margin of tergite 4 ( Fig. 17 ); halter yellow green. Wings hyaline, veins and stigma brownish yellow, R4 absent ( Fig. 12 ).

Description. Female. Body length 3.5–3.8 mm, wing length 2.5mm.

Head slightly narrower than thorax, mostly shining black, nearly bare, with broad postocular rim along hind margin of eyes; eyes widely separated, dark brown, bare. Frons slightly protuberant, mostly black, nearly bare, with a pair of small reddish yellow spots; lateral margins nearly parallel, 0.4 times as broad as head. Antenna ( Fig. 14 ) brownish yellow; scape very short, length equal to width; pedicel swollen in middle, twice as long as scape; basal 4 flagellomeres forming oval complex, each flagellomere with short yellow hairs along distal margin, black arista as long as rest of flagellum. Face black, with black hairs on middle, white vitta ( Fig. 13 ) consisting of white pubescence and hairs developed along eye margin on each side. Proboscis pale yellow, with yellow hairs. Thorax almost wholly black, only hind margin of scutellum and spines yellow, the apex of spines black ( Figs. 15, 16 ); anepisternum with a small pale yellow spot below and in front of wing base. Wing ( Fig. 12 ) hyaline, with yellow stigma, veins yellow to brownish yellow; R4 absent; discal cell and veins arising from discal cell barely distinct. Legs yellow, but fore tibiae, fore tarsi and apical half of hind tibiae black. Halter green yellow. Abdomen ( Fig. 17 ) slightly broader than thorax, mostly black, densely punctated and sparsely covered with white hairs; narrow yellow lateral vittae distinct from hind margin of tergite 3 to hind margin of tergite 4, tergite 5 with narrow transverse yellow apical spot.

Type material. Holotype Ƥ, Guizhou province, Guanling, 700m, 20 April 2008, L.M. Wei leg; paratype: 1Ƥ, Guizhou province, Guanling, 600m, 12 April 2008, L.M. Wei leg.

Etymology. The present species is derived from the Latin “ micro ” (very small) and “ nigra ” (black).

Remarks. Oxycera micronigra sp. nov. is a relatively small species of the genus and only known from the female. It is similar to O. tibialis Meijere, 1907 from Indonesia (Java), and O. whitei Brunetti, 1923 from Sri Lanka. Apart from the superficial descriptions of both species, the new species may be easily distinguished by the frons being flat or slightly protuberant, the anepisternum with small pale yellow spots near the wing base ( Fig. 15 ), the abdomen with narrow yellow lateral vittae on tergirtes 3 to 4 and a narrow yellow apical spot on tergite 5 ( Fig. 17 ). Oxycera tibialis and O. whitei have frons strongly protuberant, the abdomen of O. tibialis is wholly black; the thorax of O. whitei is mostly black, with small yellowish spots on the anepisternum, and its abdomen is characterized by narrow lateral margins on tergites 4 and 5.

Figures

FIGURES 12 – 17. Oxycera micronigra sp. nov., female, diagnostic characters. 12, wing; 13, head, frontal view; 14, antenna, inner view; 15, thorax, lateral view; 16, thorax, dorsal view; 17, abdomen, dorsal view.