Clistoabdominalis nitidifrons ( Becker, 1900 ) Kehlmaier, 2005

Kehlmaier, Christian, 2005, Taxonomic studies on Palaearctic and Oriental Eudorylini (Diptera: Pipunculidae), with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 1030 (1), pp. 1-48 : 23-27

Clistoabdominalis nitidifrons ( Becker, 1900) comb. nov. ( Figs 8a–l )

Pipunculus nitidifrons Becker, 1900: 241

Pipunculus confusoides Lamb, 1922: 412 syn. nov.

Dorylomorpha lini Hardy, 1972b: 81 . Synonymy [with P. confusoides ]: De Meyer, 1995: 288.

Material studied

Egypt 1♀ (lectotype of P. nitidifrons ), Assiut, XII, leg. T. Becker, coll. MNHU (No. 44398) ; Seychelles Islands 1♂ (lectotype) 1♂ 1♀ (paralectotypes of P. confusoides ), Mahé , ’08–9, coll. NHM ; Israel 1♀, Kiryat Gat , 19.IV.1977, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♂, Herzliyya , 6.VIII.1982, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♂, Eilot , 6.IX.1974, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU , 1♀, Kefar Ruppin , 6.X.1978, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♂, Hadera , 14.X.1972, leg. A. Freidberg, coll. TAU ; 1♀, Kefar Ruppin , 25.X.1978, leg. A. Feidberg, coll. TAU .

Redescription

Male

Body length. 2.2–2.4mm.

Head. Face dark, silver­grey pollinose. Scape dark, with one longer upper bristle. Pedicel dark, with three upper and one lower bristle. Flagellum pale, long tapering and grey pollinose (LF:WF=3.7). Arista dark, flattened, with thickened base. Eyes not meeting but narrowly separated. Frons (incl. vertex) dark, lower third silver­grey pollinose, mid third shining and with wrinkled surface, upper third shining and with smooth surface. Frons bearing a weak median keel in lower half. Ocellar triangle equilateral and elevated. Occiput dark, grey pollinose in lower, brown pollinose in upper half.

Thorax. Prescutum, scutum, scutellum and pleura dark. Pleura weakly grey pollinose. Postpronotal lobe pale in upper half, weakly grey pollinose and with up to five postpronotal hairs along upper margin (up to 0.05mm). Prescutum and scutum weakly and narrowly grey pollinose around postpronotal lobe, otherwise brown pollinose, with two uniseriate dorsocentral rows of hair and some supra­alar hairs. Scutellum partly grey pollinose along posterior margin, otherwise brown pollinose, with a fringe of about ten short hairs (up to 0.05mm).

Wing. Length: 2.4–2.6mm. LW:MWW=3.3–3.4. Wing almost entirely covered with microtrichia, only small basal cells of wing, e.g. bc, the basal half of bm, the very beginning of cell c, r 1, br, cup and almost the entire cell sc with microtrichia absent. Pterostigma absent. LTC:LFC=0.4–0.5. r­m reaches dm at one fifth of the cells length. M 1 almost straight, gently bent shortly before wing margin. Anal lobe very narrow, hardly broader than the length of the hairs on its hind margin.

Halter . Length: 0.3mm. Base dark, stem pale, knob somewhat darkened.

Legs. Coxae dark, weakly grey pollinose. Front coxa with pale anteroapical margin. Mid coxa with two dark anterior bristles on inner apical corner. Trochanters black, weakly grey pollinose with shining patches. Femora dark, narrowly pale at apices, weakly grey pollinose except hind femur shining posteroventrally. Mid femur bearing two ventral rows of dark, peg­like spines, the anterior one restricted to apical half. Tibiae dark but pale in basal quarter to third and narrowly at apices, weakly grey pollinose. Front and mid tibiae with small apical spines. Hind tibia with a wrinkled indentation midanteriorly, bearing a slightly stronger bristle. Tarsi pale, with distitarsi darkened, weakly grey pollinose. Pulvilli shorter than distitarsi.

Abdomen. Ground colour black. Tergite 1 without stronger lateral bristles. Tergite 1 to 6 laterally grey pollinose, extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin and almost meeting on tergite 1, otherwise brown pollinose. Viewed dorsally, tergite 5 almost symmetrical (T5R:T5L=1.1). Syntergosternite 8 dark, fused with sternite 7 and weakly brownish pollinose. Generally rather small, without a dorsal depression on side of the outer surstylus and without a membranous area ( Fig. 8c ). LT35:WS8=1.5. Viewed laterally, syntergosternite 8 higher than long (LS8:HS8=0.6–0.7). Sternite 1 to 5 dark, greyish pollinose. Sternite 6 dark, grey pollinose

Genitalia.

Genital capsule dorsal view: Epandrium dark but apically pale, longer than wide (MLE:MWE=1.5), weakly grey pollinose. Surstyli paler than epandrium, weakly grey pollinose and asymmetrical but both of a rectangular ground shape (longer than wide) ( Fig. 8j ). Outer surstylus clearly longer than inner one.

Genital capsule ventral view: Gonopods minute ( Fig. 8b ). Phallus trifid, thin and long ( Fig. 8d ). Phallic guide hard to detect, short, broad and pointed, with short lateral hairs ( Fig. 8b ). Hypandrium deflected by almost 90° ( Fig. 8b ).

Genital capsule lateral view: Epandrium without a projecting lobe on either side. Outer surstylus clearly bent towards sternites ( Fig. 8k ). Phallic guide pointed ( Fig. 8a ).

Ejaculatory apodeme small, roughly spade­shaped ( Figs 8e–f ).

Female

Differing from the male in the following points:

Body length. 2.2–2.5mm.

Head. Flagellum pale but can be distinctly darkened at base ( Fig. 8g ). LF:WF=3.9–4.6. Front facets hardly enlarged (0.03mm). Frons strongly widened in middle (MWF:WFA=1.7), silver­grey pollinose in lower quarter to third, otherwise completely polished. Frons with lateral rows of setae reaching down two thirds and with a weak median keel, ending in a slightly elevated tubercle shortly before antenna. Brown pollinosity of occiput restricted to upper quarter.

Thorax. Prescutum and scutum grey pollinose in apical quarter to third and broadly along lateral margin down to wing base or postalar callus. Scutellum grey pollinose in apical half.

Wing. Length: 2.4–2.6mm. LW:MWW=3.4. LTC:LFC=0.4.

Legs. Front and mid tibiae with long distal spines. Tarsi pale, last two to four segments darkened dorsally. Last tarsal segment with long dark bristles, slightly longer than the segment itself. Pulvilli as long as or slightly shorter (hind legs) than last tarsal segment.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 to 6 laterally grey pollinose, extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin and almost meeting on tergite 1 and 6. Viewed dorsally, tergite 5 slightly longer than tergite 4. LT35:WT5=1.1–1.3. WT5:LT5=2.3.

Ovipositor. Base dark, weakly grey pollinose. Piercer pale, shining ventrally in proximal part and the entire distal part. Viewed dorsally ( Fig. 8i ), base small and roundish, without longitudinal median furrow but may show a very weak depression on dorsocentral surface near apical margin. Suture between tergites 7 and 8 visible as a narrow shining band. Anal opening narrow and rather triangular. Proximal and distal part of piercer very narrow, letting it appear a bit squashed. Viewed laterally ( Fig. 8h ), piercer straight with its tip bent towards sternites. Piercer reaching posterior margin of sternite 3. LP:LB=1.7–2.2. LDP:LPP=2.6.

Discussion

Becker (1900) based the original description of this species on three female syntypes collected in Cairo and Assiut during the months of November and December. No other discovery of P. nitidifrons has been mentioned in the literature thereafter. The redescription is based on one female syntype deposited at the MNHU (Nr. 44398 – Assiut, XII). The other two syntypes are supposed to be deposited at the NMBS and were studied by Albrecht in the past, who transferred the taxon to Eudorylas ( Albrecht 1990) . Unfortunately, these two syntypes could not be located by Daniel Burckhardt, curator of the Diptera collection at NMBS (Burckhardt in e­mail from 16.X.2002). Therefore, the remaining syntype at the MNHU is hereby designated lectotype of P. nitidifrons to fix the name and ensure universal and consistent interpretation of the taxon.

A lectotype for Pipunculus confusoides Lamb, 1922 has only recently been designated by Földvári (pers. comm.) in his forthcoming revision of Afrotropical Eudorylini .

There have been different considerations about the correct placement of this taxon in the past, resulting in the proposal of various new combinations: Dorylomorpha nitidifrons by Aczél (1948: 16) or Eudorylas nitidifrons by Albrecht (1990: 213). Recently, Skevington & Yeates (2001) transferred P. confusoides to Clistoabdominalis , which now proves to be synonymous with P. nitidifrons . The previous authors’ perception is followed here. Hence, P. nitidifrons needs to be placed within Clistoabdominalis as well ( Cli. nitidifrons ( Becker, 1900) syn. nov.).

Apart from the distinctly shaped male genitalia and female ovipositor, Cli. nitidifrons can be identified by the separated eyes in the male, the predominantly shining and widely broadened female frons and the Dorylomorpha ­like wing venation.

The species has a very large distribution, covering parts of the Afrotropical ( Reunion Island, Seychelles Islands), Oriental ( India, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand) as well as Palaearctic region ( Egypt, Israel, Japan­Nansei Is.). On Reunion Island, Cli. nitidifrons was reared from the cicadellid Cicadulina mbila (Naudé, 1924) , a known transmitter of the Maize Streak virus ( De Meyer 1995).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Clistoabdominalis nitidifrons (Becker, 1900). (a) Phallic guide lateral view. (b) Phallic guide, gonopods and hypandrium ventral view. (c) Syntergosternite 8 caudal view. (d) Phallus ventral view. (e) Ejaculatory apodeme. (f) Ejaculatory apodeme. (g) Female antenna lateral view. (h) Ovipositor lateral view. (i) Ovipositor dorsal view. (j) Surstyli strictly dorsal view. (k) Outer surstylus lateral view. (l) Inner surstylus lateral view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.