Teuchophorus fuscihalteratus, Meuffels & Grootaert, 2004

Meuffels, Henk & Grootaert, Patrick, 2004, The genus Teuchophorus in South-East Asia and New Guinea, description of new species, species-groups and their phylogeny (Insecta, Diptera, Dolichopodidae), Journal of Natural History 38 (2), pp. 143-258 : 171-173

Species 13: Teuchophorus fuscihalteratus sp. nov. (male and female) (figures 69–73)

Etymology. The name refers to the dusky halters [Lat. fuscus; Gr. haltèr]. Diagnosis. Medium-sized species with dusky halters; hind leg largely browned. Wing of male with a very broad costal swelling. Eyes of male very narrowly separated. Third antennal segment short. Front femur without ventral bristles. Male: middle femur with some ventral bristles near base; middle tibia with two remarkable, short black bristles; hind femur ventrally with only a short bristle near base.

Material examined. Type material: Papua New Guinea, Madang province, Baiteta , sweeping along a brook in a primary rain forest, 25 May 1995,    male and      two males, five females (No. 95063); three males (No. 95069). All leg. P. Grootaert.

Male

Body length 1.4–1.5 mm. Wing length 1.35–1.4 mm.

Head. Frons and face with shining bluish or greenish black ground colour. Face narrowing downwards; eyes nearly touching beneath middle of face. Palpi yellowish brown with darkened tips and a small black apical bristle. Rostrum brownish yellow. Occiput greenish black. Chaetotaxy as usual. Postoculars black. Antenna (figure 69): short, dark brown; apex of third segment yellowish. Second segment with a circlet of short black bristlets, that are longest above. Third segment deeper than long, more or less trapezium-shaped with a subacute ventral triangular apex. Arista inserted at the upper corner, nearly three times as long as antenna, shortly pubescent.

Thorax. Mesonotum and scutellum with shining greenish black ground colour, more brownish towards sides; pronotum, pleurae and sides of metanotum brown; metapleura with a black anterior border. Chaetotaxy as usual; acr uniseriate; five dc; a tiny propleural bristlet; scutellum with two large marginals.

Legs. Legs, including coxae, yellow; coxa II with a faint brownish vertical streak; hind leg brownish darkened, apart from base of femur.

Fore leg. Coxa anteriorly with sparse short brownish hairs; near apex a row of about five darker bristles. Trochanter with a few tiny ventral hairlets. Femur with one or two weak preapical pv; a very weak and short, hair-like bristlet posteriorly near base. Tibia slightly shorter than femur, without bristles, and with a hardly perceptible serration. First tarsal segment with a short ventral spinule at the very base. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.34: 0.07:0.06:0.05: 0.06.

Mid leg (figure 70). Coxa without bristles. Trochanter with a small anterior bristlet. Femur ventrally near base with three or four small black bristles of unequal length; a preapical av. Tibia slightly shorter than femur; two ad, one pd; anteroventrally on apical third two remarkable short ‘flags’ (figure 71), consisting of coagulated hairs, as long as diameter of tibia. First tarsal segment with a thin ventral spinule at base. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.45:0.21: 0.1:0.08: 0.06:0.07.

Hind leg. Coxa with a weak black exterior bristle. Trochanter with a tiny bristlet. Femur gently curved; at very base a thin ventral bristle, about as long as diameter of femur; two preapical av. Tibia about as long as femur; two rather long dorsal bristles at about one-third and two-thirds from base of tibia; on apical half a row of shorter dorsal bristles or bristly hairs; anteroventrally a row of bristle-like hairs that grow longer towards tip of tibia. First and second tarsal segments ventrally shortly spinulose. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.51: 0.12:0.13:0.1:0.07:0.07.

Wing. Wing (figure 72) hyaline, feebly brownish tinged. Costa with a broad, brown swelling, cut off obliquely at base, tapering and running into costa before reaching tip of r1. r4+5 and m1+2 more or less parallel on apical half of wing. Anal vein indicated by a fold. Halters brown. Squamulae small, yellowish, with darkened margin and dark cilia.

Abdomen. Abdomen dark brown, dull. Hairs and marginal bristles on terga short, black. Hypopygium (figure 73) small, brown; cerci pale.

Female

Body length 1.3–1.4 mm; wing length 1.25–1.3 mm.

Very similar to male, lacking the costal swelling. Face broader, at its narrowest point about one-third as broad as depth of third antennal segment. Femur II without ventral bristles at base. Tibia II with two ad, one pd, one av. Tibia III without row of bristle-like av. Genital parts yellowish, with a row of black acanthae.