Helina ponti Deeming, 2020

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A. & Deeming, John C., 2020, The Muscidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia, descriptions of two new species, new records and updated list of species, Zootaxa 4869 (1), pp. 1-54 : 18-19

Helina ponti Deeming sp. nov.

Male ( Fig. 22 & 23A, B, C )

Type material examined. Holotype, male, Abha, Al-Souda, Bani Mazen, 19.vi.–9.vii.2013, Malaise trap, H.A.Dawah ( NMWC) . Paratypes 2♂ same data as holotype ( NMWC; CERS) .

Type locality. Saudi Arabia, Abha , Al-Souda, Bani Mazen .

Size. Length 5mm, of wing 5mm.

Colour. A black species, rather heavily dark grey dusted, except for parafrontalia and parafacialia, which are silver dusted; legs dirty yellow on mid and hind coxae, on all trochanters, on all knees and bases of femora and on tibiae of mid and hind legs; wing hyaline with brown veins, but wing base dirty yellow and squamae whitish grey with pale yellow margins and fringes white; haltere yellow; anterior crossvein situated in a distinct black spot, the hind crossvein very weakly and narrowly fumose, this most noticeable anteriorly; mesonotum with three darker subshiny longitudinal vittae; tergites 3 and 4 with a pair of well separated subshiny black spots occupying quite three quarters of their lengths; lobes of pregenital sternite (sternite 5) dirty yellow; chaetotaxy black throughout, except for dense short pale setulae clothing barette.

Head. Deeper than long; frons narrowest at mid length, there 0.14 x width of head and 0.33 x its median length; ratio of depth of gena: height of eye = 3:16; width of parfacialia at middle equal to width of postpedicel; 3 inferior orbital setae, of which the most anterior is by far the longest and strongest and which is equal in length to the ocellar; a slightly longer and stronger internal vertical seta, the external vertical no longer than the postoculars; postocellars weak, only two fifths of length of ocellars and with an equally developed seta on either side situated on median occipital sclerite; vibrissa very long, longer than the arista, and with a single row of genal setae of half its length, becoming shorter posteriorly; arista long plumose, the rays extending almost to apex.

Thorax. One postpronotal seta; 1+2 notopleural, the more posterior of which is much weaker and only two thirds of length of the more anterior; 2+3 long dorsocentral; 1 posthumeral on a level with most anterior dorsocentral; prealar seta inconspicuous; c.6 irregular rows of intradorsocentral setulae presuturally, becoming more numerous postsuturally; 1 weak prescutellar, only half length of adjacent dorsocentral; scutellum with the usual lateral and apical marginals and all setulae situated above the insertions of the marginals; katepisternum with 2+2 upper setae, of which the lower pair are much the shorter and weaker and with a dense clump of strongly downwardly-directed rather blunt strong setae in front of and between mid coxae; no hairs present beneath metathoracic spiracle.

Legs. Fore femur with a row of strong posteroventral setae occupying almost full length; fore tibia lacking posterior seta; tarsi with some longer apical hairs on apical segment; mid femur with three long erect posteroventrals on basal half and with two preapical posterior setae; mid tibia with two posterior setae; hind trochanter with a dense group of short backwardly-directed spinose setae on ventral surface; hind femur with a row of anterodorsal setae extending from near base to level of the strong preapical anterior setae, with a posterior preapical and a posterodorsal just basad of it, anteroventrally with a row of long setae and a single short erect posteroventral slightly beyond mid length; hind tibia with two long anterodorsals on shaft and an apicoventral flange.

Wing. Costal spine quite one half as long as distance separating mouths of Sc and R 1; posterior crossvein presenting a slightly concave bend to wing margin.

Abdomen. Very long setose laterally on all but postabdomen, marginally on tergites 4–5 and discally on 5; sternites dusted as tergites, sternites 2–4 each with a pair of fine setae situated at mid length of sclerite and as long as it; sternite 5 (the pregenital) ( Fig. 23A ) very large and conspicuous, medially cleft for three quarters of its length, the lobes rounded and bearing only weak hairs; terminalia ( Fig. 23B,C ) with hypopygium dorsally humped, the fused cerci broadest at apex, where they are truncate and with a slightly concave apical margin, their surface bearing numerous upwardly-directed spicules, laterally with a few upwardly-directed setae and dorsally with numerous long setae and setulae, the surstyli longer and pointed, their anterior surfaces spiculate, posteriorly pilose on apical half.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. This species runs to couplet 117 (114) in van Emden’s 1951 key, but differs from the species to which that leads ( H. hirtipes Macquart nominate ssp. and ssp. metatarsalis van Emden ) in having the tip of the fore femur conspicuously pale and the fore tibia not densely villose on ventral surface.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Dr. Adrian Pont, whose contribution to the knowledge of Muscidae has been so considerable and who was kind enough to examine this material and advise the author. He considers this species to be probably of Afrotropical, rather than of Palaearctic origin.

Figures

FIGURE 23. Helina ponti sp. nov. Male: A) Fifth sternite from beneath (chaetotaxy omitted from right hand side); B) hypandrium, fused cerci and surstyli from behind (chaetotaxy omitted); C) the same in profile.

FIGURE. 18–22. Muscidae species habitus: 18) Brontaea tonitrui (Wiedemann, 1824), Female; 19) Helina clara (Meigen, 1826), Female; 20) Helina coniformis (Stein In Becker, 1903), Male.; 21) Helina lucida (Stein, 1913), Male; 22) Helina ponti sp. nov. Male.