Claraeola perpaucisquamosa 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 : 19-22

Claraeola perpaucisquamosa Kehlmaier spec. nov. ( Figs 7a–k )

Type material

P. R. China 1♂ (holotype) 1♀ (allotype), West Mountains Natural Reserves, Fragrant Hill Park , 40km NW Beijing, 1.VII.1992, leg. L. Papp, coll. HNHM ; 3♂♂ 2♀♀ (paratypes), West Mountains Natural Reserves, Fragrant Hill Park , 40km NW Beijing, 1.VII.1992, leg. L. Papp, coll. HNHM .

Etymology

The name refers to the small number of scales covering the phallus; “perpauci” [lat. very few], “squamosus” [lat. covered with scales].

Description

Male

Body length. 3.5–3.8mm.

Head. Face dark, silver­grey pollinose. Scape dark, with one dark upper bristle. Pedicel with three to four dark upper and three to four dark, lower bristles, the longest almost reaching tip of flagellum, which is dark, pointed and grey or brownish­grey pollinose (LF:WF=1.8–2.2). Arista dark, flattened and with thickened base bearing short hairs dorsally. Eyes meeting for 14 to 16 times diameter of ocellus. F:EM:V= 1:0.7–0.8:0.5. Frons dark, greyish to greyish­brown pollinose, with a weak median keel and an undusted median spot in lower third. Vertex short and dark, bearing an equilateral, elevated ocellar triangle. Occiput dark, grey pollinose, changing to brown in upper third to quarter.

Thorax. Pleura, prescutum, scutum and scutellum dark. Pleura grey pollinose but some weak brown pollinosity may be present in the upper half of the anepisternum. Postpronotal lobe dark, weakly grey pollinose, with about three postpronotal hair along upper and about three postpronotal hairs along lower margin (up to 0.12mm). Prescutum and scutum narrowly grey pollinose along anterior margin and along lateral margin down to wingbase, otherwise brown pollinose, with two uniseriate dorsocentral rows of hair and some supra­alar hair. Scutellum weakly brown pollinose, with a fringe of about 12 dark hairs (up to 0.1mm).

Wing. Length: 4.0– 4.1mm. LW:MWW=3.3–3.4. Microtrichia on wing surface absent or greatly reduced in small basal cells, e.g. bc, along lower half of cell br and the beginning of cell c and anal lobe. Pterostigma dark and incomplete (LS:LTC=0.8–0.9). LTC:LFC=1.9–2.2. r­m reaches dm at or shortly after one third of the cells length. M 1 undulating in its middle.

Halter . Length: 0.4mm. Base and knob dark, stem somewhat paler.

Legs. Coxae dark, weakly grey pollinose. Mid coxa with five strong dark anterior bristles at inner apical corner plus some shorter bristly hairs towards the centre. Trochanters dark, partly grey pollinose. Femora dark, but femoral­tibial joints may be paler, grey pollinose or with brownish pollinosity towards apices, except hind femur shining posteroventrally. Mid femur with two ventral rows of dark, peg­like spines in apical half. Front femur occasionally with some anteroventral spines towards apex. Tibiae dark, grey pollinose. Front and mid tibiae without distal spines. Hind tibia mid­anteriorly with a wrinkled indentation bearing three to five stronger bristly hairs. Tarsi dark, grey pollinose, pulvilli shorter than distitarsi.

Abdomen. Ground colour dark. Tergite 1 with about eight strong dark lateral bristles (up to 0.16mm), situated in two rows. Tergite 2 with about eight longer lateral hairs (up to 0.1mm). Apart from that, only short scattered hairs are present on tergites 1–5. Tergite 1 grey pollinose. Tergite 2 to 5 laterally grey pollinose extending slightly onto dorsal surface along posterior margin, otherwise brown pollinose. Viewed dorsally, tergite 5 almost symmetrical (T5R:T5L=1.0–1.1). Sternites (including 6 and 7) dark, grey pollinose. Syntergosternite 8 dark, brownish pollinose or ventrally with some greyish pollinosity. Viewed dorsally, short and small, without a dorsal depression on side of outer surstylus. LT35:WS8=1.7–1.9. Viewed laterally, higher than long (LS8:HS8=0.5–0.6). Viewed caudally, membranous area narrow to ovate and diagonally directed, from lower right to upper left ( Fig. 7c ).

Genitalia.

Genital capsule dorsal view: Epandrium and surstyli dark, grey pollinose. Surstyli simple shaped, asymmetrical but both long and slender ( Fig. 7f ). Outer surstylus apically bent towards inner surstylus. Epandrium small, wider than long (MLE:MWE=0.8–0.9), lateral margin of side of outer surstylus clearly protruding ( Fig. 7f ).

Genital capsule ventral view: Gonopods unequal, outer one minute, inner one large ( Fig. 7a ). Phallus trifid, with a long and straight base bearing a small membranous sheet with about 15 small spines or scales ( Fig. 7d ). Ejaculatory ducts short, narrow and wavy. Phallic guide simple, long and narrow, with minute lateral hairs in upper third ( Fig. 7a ).

Genital capsule lateral view: Epandrium without projecting lobe on either side. Surstylus with apex bent towards sternites by 90° ( Figs 7e, g ). Phallic guide rather deep, bent towards surstyli by 45° ( Fig. 7b ).

Ejaculatory apodeme tube­shaped ( Fig. 7k ).

Female

Body length. 3.6mm.

Head. LF:WF=2.0 ( Fig. 7j ). Front facets moderately enlarged (0.04mm). Frons dark, widened in middle (MWF:WFA=1.3), silver­grey pollinose at least in lower half. Frons anterior to ocellar triangle with two short keels that fuse to form a broad and elevated median keel, narrowing towards and ending in a tubercle shortly before antenna. Lateral rows of setae starting after ocellar triangle and reaching down almost to tubercle.

Thorax. Pleura and postpronotal lobe grey pollinose. Prescutum and scutum grey pollinose narrowly along anterior and posterior margin, more broadly along lateral margin down to postalar callus. Dorsocentrally brown pollinose with some greyish pollinosity intermingled, especially in anterior half. Scutellum brown pollinose with some greyish pollinosity along margins.

Wing. Length: 3.7–4.3mm. LW:MWW=3.4–3.6. Microtrichia more reduced than in male, absent or greatly reduced in small basal cells, e.g. bc, basal three quarters of bm, basal half of c, middle of sc, along lower half of cell br and at the beginning of r 1, r 2+3, r 4+5, cup and anal lobe. Pterostigma complete or incomplete (LS:LTC=0.9–1.0). LTC:LFC=1.0–1.4. r­m reaches dm at or after one third of the cells length.

Legs. Femora without brownish pollinosity. Hind tibia with bristly hairs on the wrinkled indentation less distinct than in male. Pulvilli only slightly shorter than distitarsi.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 with about five lateral hairs (up to 0.12mm). Tergite 2 laterally with about three longer hairs (up to 0.08mm). Grey pollinosity along posterior margin of tergites extending more towards the middle than in male, but not touching. Tergite 5 as long as or slightly longer than tergite 4. LT35:WT5=0.7. WT5:LT5=4.1. Sternites greyishbrown pollinose.

Ovipositor. Base dark, weakly grey pollinose, but in apical half predominantly shining. Piercer slightly paler and shining. Viewed dorsally ( Fig. 7i ), base ovate, longer than wide, without longitudinal median furrow. Suture between tergite 7 to 8 visible as a shining band. Proximal part of piercer narrow and triangular. Anal opening narrow. Distal part of piercer long and thin. Viewed laterally ( Fig. 7h ), base with a ventral tubercle at anterior margin. Piercer ventrally rather angled than bent, but gently curved towards sternites as a whole and reaching anterior margin of sternite 2. LP:LB=1.2. LDP:LPP=2.3.

Discussion

Cla. perpaucisquamosa belongs to the halterata species group and is closely allied to the Western Palaearctic Cla. melanostola (Becker, 1897) , recently redescribed and illustrated by Kehlmaier (2005). It can be differentiated from the latter by a generally smaller size, by the shape of the female ovipositor with its broader and shorter base in dorsal view ( Fig. 7i ), by the male surstyli which are shorter and cross each other at its tips ( Figs 7 e­g) as well as by the less numerous hairs on the postpronotal lobe.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Claraeola perpaucisquamosa Kehlamier spec. nov. (a) Phallic guide and gonopods ventral view. (b) Phallic guide lateral view. (c) Syntergosternite 8 caudal view. (d) Phallus ventral view. (e) Outer surstylus lateral view. (f) Surstyli strictly dorsal view. (g) Inner surstylus lateral view. (h) Ovipositor lateral view. (i) Ovipositor dorsal view. (j) Female antenna lateral view. (k) Ejaculatory apodeme. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.