Tomosvaryella bistounensis Motamedinia & Skevington

Motamedinia, Behnam, Skevington, Jeffrey H. & Kelso, Scott, 2021, Revision of Tomosvaryella Aczél (Diptera: Pipunculidae) in the Middle East, with description of 19 new species, Zootaxa 5002 (1), pp. 1-103 : 16-19

Tomosvaryella bistounensis Motamedinia & Skevington sp. nov.

Figs 6A–F , 51 , 66A–B

Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the shape of surstyli in dorsal view, broad at base and elongated; both surstyli bent toward sternites in lateral view ( Fig. 6A ); phallus with three ejaculatory ducts, one with three spines in lateral view ( Fig. 6F ). Other species that have such distinct spines are T. israelensis De Meyer, 1995 ( Fig. 20D‒E ), T. jubata De Meyer, 1995 (Fig. 221D), T. minuscula ( Collin, 1956) ( Földvári & De Meyer, 1999: fig. 13E–F) and T. sedomensis De Meyer, 1995 ( De Meyer, 1995: fig. 21f). On the basis of genitalia characters, this species is close to Tomosvaryella cilifemorata ( Becker, 1907) ( Földvári & De Meyer, 1999: fig. 11A–E; Kehlmaier et al. 2019: fig. 6A) and Tomosvaryella mutata ( Földvári & De Meyer, 1999: fig. 15A–D). It differs by the shape of surstyli in lateral view and having three distinct spines on one of ejaculatory ducts ( Figs 6F ).

Description: MALE: Body length (excluding antennae): 3.6 mm (n = 5). Head. Scape, pedicel, arista dark. Pedicel with a pair of dorsal setae; flagellum light brown, gray pollinose and tapering, distinctly paler than pedicel (LF:WF = 3.0). Eyes meeting for a distance of seven facets. Frons silver-gray pollinose. Occiput dark, gray pollinose. Thorax. Postpronotal lobe light brown with 2–3 pale setae along the upper margin (up to 0.03 mm). Prescutum and scutum black, prescutum silver-gray pollinose and scutum light brown pollinose, with scattered setae at anterior supra-alar area and uniseriate rows of intra-alar setae. Scutellum black, silver-gray pollinose, with 1–2 thin short setae along posterior margin (up to 0.03 mm). Subscutellum and pleura black. Wing. Wing length: 2.5 mm., LW:MWW = 2.7. Wing almost entirely covered with microtrichia. M 1 strongly undulating in middle. Halter length: 0.33 mm. Brown to yellowish, narrowly black at base. Legs. Coxae black, trochanters dark brown, smooth. Femora dark brown with narrow yellow apices, silver pollinose. Mid and hind femora with one or two wrinkled indentations in basal. Tibiae brown at base, gray pollinose, with two rows of short brown setae on anterior and three rows on posterior side. Tibiae without distal spines, mid and hind tibiae with one or two wrinkled indentations in middle. Tarsi light brown, distitarsi brown. Abdomen. Ground color dark, tergite 1 silver gray pollinose, tergites 2‒5 brown pollinose with scattered short dark setae. Tergite 5 asymmetrical, T5R:T5L=1.2. Membranous area present. Sternites brown laterally and dark centrally, gray pollinose. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium and surstyli brown, gray pollinose. Surstyli elongated, almost symmetrical, with a broad base and inward bent tips, left surstylus slightly longer ( Fig. 6A ). Genital capsule in ventral view: gonopods equal in height, right slightly broader than left one ( Fig. 6B ); genital capsule in lateral view: both surstyli broad at base and bent toward sternites ( Fig. 6D‒E ); phallus with three ejaculatory ducts, one with three long spines towards phallic guide ( Fig. 6F ); ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle ( Fig. 6C ). FEMALE: unknown.

Etymology: The specific epithet refers to Bistoun, an archaeological site in Kermanshah from where the specimens have been collected.

Specimens examined: HOLOTYPE: IRAN: Kermanshah: Ghazanchi , 34°26’N, 47°00’E, 1304 m a.s.l., 15.vi.2015, M. Zardouei, Malaise trap, JSS51939 (1♂, CNC) . PARATYPES: IRAN: Kermanshah: Dodan , 35°00’N, 46°12’E, 1011 m a.s.l., Garden, 22.vii.2016, M. Zardouei, Malaise trap, JSS52194 (1♂, CNC) ; Ghazanchi , 34°26’N, 47°00’E, 1304 m a.s.l., 15.vi.2015, M. Zardouei, Malaise trap, JSS51935, JSS51940 (2♂, TAU, CNC) ; Gheshlagh , 34°56’N, 46°27’E, 1533 m a.s.l., 1.vi.2015, M. Zardouei, Malaise trap, JSS51950 (1♂, CNC) .

Distribution: Iran ( Fig. 51 ).

Notes: Based on DNA barcodes, this species is closest to T. minuscula ( Collin, 1956) , differing by 0.9% (pairwise divergence) (Supplementary Table 1). It is possible that these are a single species with polymorphic genitalia, so future genetic and ecological work are required to confirm their taxonomic status.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Male genitalia of Tomosvaryella bistounensis sp. nov., holotype (JSS51939, CNC) A) dorsal view, B) ventral view, C) ejaculatory apodeme, D, E) lateral view, F) phallus in lateral view.

FIGURE 20. Male genitalia of Tomosvaryella israelensis, paratype (JSS52378, CNC) A) dorsal view, B) ventral view, C) ejaculatory apodeme, D, E) lateral view.

FIGURE 51. Distribution of Tomosvaryella bistounensis sp. nov., T. emaratensis sp. nov., T. frontata, T. gazliensis, T. hamata, T. hamounensis sp. nov. in the Middle East.

FIGURE 66. Male habitus of Tomosvaryella species A–B) T. bistounensis sp. nov., holotype (JSS51939, CNC) A) in dorsal view B) in lateral view, C–D) T. cyprusensis sp. nov., paratype (JSS52349, CNC) C) in dorsal view D) in lateral view, E–F) T. ellipiensis sp. nov., holotype (JSS51945, CNC): E) in dorsal view F) in lateral view.