Eloeophila canidorsalis Kato, 2021

Kato, Daichi, 2021, Taxonomic study of the genus Eloeophila Rondani, 1856 of Japan (Limoniidae Diptera), Zootaxa 4995 (3), pp. 425-451 : 430-431

Eloeophila canidorsalis Kato , sp. nov.

( Figs 3A–G , 13B )

Diagnosis. Grey and dark brown species with heavily spotted wing. Prescutum grey, mottled with dark spots and stripes. Pleuron mainly dark brown. Wing with numerous tiny spots in all cells and five large spots at anterior margin. All crossvein seamed with dark brown. Legs generally yellow, tips of femora and tibiae not dark. Halter dark brown, shorter than thorax. Outer gonostylus dorsoventrally flattened, widened distally, outer margin serrate on distal part, outer apical edge claw-shaped, inner one rounded.

Type material. HOLOTYPE male, JAPAN, Nansei Islands, Okinawa, Iriomote Is, Taketomi-chô , Komi , Maira-gawa River , Alt. 20 m, 15.III.2016, D. Kato ( BLKU) . PARATYPES: JAPAN: [ Nansei Islands ] Iriomote Is : 1 males 2 females, same data as holotype ; 2 males 2 females, same data as holotype except 17.III.2016 ; 1 male, Haeminaka–Haemi , Alt. 220 m, 15.III.2016, D. Kato ( BLKU) ; 1 male, Komi , between Maira- and Shiira-gawa River, Alt. 70 m, 29.I.2018, D. Kato ( BLKU) ; 1 male 1 female, Uehara , Urauchi-gawa River, Alt. 50 m, 14.III.2016, D. Kato ( BLKU) .

Description. Male. General coloration grey and dark brown ( Fig. 3A ). Head. Grey dorsally and dark brown ventrally. Anterior part of vertex with small dark spot at middle. Antenna twice as long as head, pale yellow. Scape greyish. Flagellomeres subglobular on basal four segments, long bacilliform on distal segments; ventral sides of basal three flagellomeres distinctly produced ventrally. Rostrum and palpus dark brown.

Thorax. Pronotum grey, dark brown at ventral margin, with narrow dark stripe at middle. Posterior end of postpronotum yellowish. Mesonotum grey, weakly tinged with ocherous toward posterior part. Prescutum mottled with dark markings: marginal spots each at anterior, lateral, and posterior margins, anterior one single, posterior ones triangular; narrow dark stripe at middle of anterior 2/3 of prescutum, joining anterior marginal spot; three pairs of dark markings, anterior pair long and curved, forked posteriorly, situated medial to prescutal pit, outer pair oval, situated between lateral and posterior marginal spots, sometimes indistinct, inner pair oval, close to medial stripe, sometimes indistinct; row of tiny dark spots between outer and inner pairs of dark spot, sometimes weakened. Prescutal pit black and oval. Scutum with lateral margin dark brown, with dark stripe between scutal lobe. Scutal lobe with dark spot at center. Mediotergite dark brown at lateral and posterior sides, with narrow dark stripe at middle. Pleuron dark brown, variegated with ocherous, dorsal part above level of ventral end of wing base grey. Wing ( Fig. 3B ) tinged with brown, heavily spotted with dark brown. Numerous tiny spots in all cells. Five large spots at anterior region: first one at crossvein h; second at Rs origin; third at crossvein r-r largest; fourth and fifth at tips of R 2 and R 3, respectively. Tips of M 1 to CuA each with small spot. All crossveins and fork of M 1+2 seamed with dark brown. Venation: Sc ending at level of fork of Rs; crossvein Sc-r situated more than three times of itself proximal to tip of Sc; first section of R 4+5 curved and oblique to Rs; cell m 1 2–3 times as long as its petiole; supernumerary m-cu slightly distal to Rs origin, posterior end distal to anterior end; A 1 weakly sinuous. Posterior margin of wing produced at tip of A 1. Legs with coxae and trochanters dark brown, fore coxa with two, mid coxa with one ocherous band. Femora to tarsi yellow. Halter dark brown, about half length of thorax.

Abdomen. Brown to dark brown. Male terminalia ( Figs 3C–G ) with tergite 9 roundly concaved at center of posterior margin; concaved part much narrower than produced lateral part ( Fig. 3C ). Gonocoxite cylindrical, about 1.5 times as long as tergite 9; inner part near base roundly produced. Outer gonostylus dorsoventrally flattened, gradually wide on distal part; outer margin weakly serrate on distal part; outer apical edge with small claw-shaped point; inner apical angle about 70 degrees with rounded corner ( Fig. 3D ). Inner gonostylus fleshy, long oval, about as long as and narrower than outer gonostylus. Paramere with mesal-apical lobe flat finger-shaped, about twice as long as lateral lobe ( Fig. 3G ). Lower shelf strongly produced ventrally; posterior margin attached to aedeagus ( Fig. 3F ). Aedeagus cylindrical, about eight times as long as wide in lateral view; tip ending slightly beyond tip of paramere, curved posteroventrally at middle ( Figs 3E–F ). Vesica oval, about half as long as aedeagus in lateral view. Apodeme of vesica small, directed ventrally.

Female. Generally resembling male. Ovipositor brown on tergites, subterminal part of tergite 10 weakly darker. Sternite 8 and hypogynial valve dark brown, hypogynial valve about 2.5 times as long as sternite 8. Cercus ambercolor, slender, upcurved on distal 1/3, about 1.5 times as long as tergite 10.

Measurements. Male (n = 6): body length: 5.1–6.6 mm; wing length: 5.5–6.8 mm. Female (n = 5): body length: 6.9–8.5 mm; wing length: 6.0– 7.1 mm.

Distribution. Japan (Nansei islands: Iriomote Is) ( Fig. 13B ).

Etymology. The specific name canidorsalis is from the Latin canus / cani- (grey) + dorsalis (back, adjective from the noun dorsum), referring to the greyish dorsal parts of head and thorax compared to the dark brownish ventral parts. The name is an adjective in nominative singular.

Remarks. This species somewhat resembles a Nepalese species, E. bicolorata ( Alexander, 1958) , but is differentiated from it by the following characters: each flagellomere not dark basally (dark on basal half in E. bicolorata ); each femur without dark ring (with narrow brown subterminal ring in E. bicolorata ); wing without large dark marking near apical and posterior margins ( Fig. 3B ) (with large dark marking near tips of wing, CuA, and A 1 in E. bicolorata ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Eloeophila canidorsalis Kato, sp. nov. A. habitus, lateral view; B. wing; C. male terminalia, dorsal view; D. outer gonostylus, ventral view; E. aedeagal complex, dorsal view; F. same, lateral view (left = dorsal); G. paramere, dorsal surface. Scale bars: A–B, 2 mm; C–G, 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 13. Distributions of Japanese species of Eloeophila. A. E. amamiana (red); E. apicisetula Kato, sp. nov. (blue); B. E. canidorsalis Kato, sp. nov. (red); E. dietziana (blue); C. E. enischnophallus Kato, sp. nov. (red); E. kintaro (blue); E. tergilobellus Kato, sp. nov. (green); D. E. hadrophallus Kato, sp. nov. (red); E. lilliputina (blue); E. persalsa (green); E. E. subaprilina (red); F. E. ussuriana iwatensis (red); E. verrucosa (blue).