Paramanota grandaeva, Hippa, Heikki, 2010

Hippa, Heikki, 2010, Review of the genus Paramanota Tuomikoski (Diptera, Mycetophilidae), with the description of new fossil and recent species, Zootaxa 2618, pp. 47-60 : 54-55

Paramanota grandaeva sp. n.

Figs 1 A, B, 4 A, B

Female. The single specimen is in amber which is partly milky so that many characters are invisible. Colour. Pale brown, face dark brown, finer setae and trichia pale brown, the thicker ones dark brown to black. Head, Fig. 4 A: medial part of eyes and the ocelli not visible, the curvature of the mesial margin of eye suggests the presence of an eye bridge. Antenna, Fig. 4 A: setae on scapus and pedicellus unusually long. Maxillary palpus, Fig. 4 A: basal segmentation fairly indistinguishable, no sensory pit on the antepenultimate palpomere, ultimate palpomere twice as long as the penultimate one. Number of strong postocular setae 7. Thorax. Similar to fig. 8 a in Hippa et al. (2004) except for prothoracic pleura which has longer setae, the longest ones being as long as the long postocular setae. Legs. Front tibia is seen in ventral view and the characters apically on the prolateral side are not visible. Wing, Figs 1 A, B: Sc unusually strong, as strong as R1, Rs not observed with certainty. Wing length 3.2 mm. Abdomen, Fig. 4 B: sternite 1 large, sloping posteroventrad, its posterior part pushed over the base of sternite 2, the medial part (anterior to the broken line in Fig. 4 B) seems to be membranous but it is not fully visible because of the milkyness. Apical part of abdomen not very visible, similar to fig. 11 d in Hippa et al. (2004), the apical cercomere slightly larger.

Male. Unknown.

Discussion. Three of the key characters of Paramanota cannot be seen in the holotype of P. grandaeva : i. e. the complete eye bridge, medially divided anterior ocellus and the transverse comb-like row of strong setae prolaterally at the apex of front tibia. The two first characters are obscured by the milkyness of the amber, the latter because both of the front tibiae are visible in ventral aspect. Otherwise the species is quite similar to the recent Paramanota and does not differ more than can be expected between closely related species. When compared with all the recent Paramanota , P. grandaeva has h and Sc more strongly sclerotized, equal to R1 instead of being conspicuously weaker, and Sc is slightly longer. This is supposedly true for both sexes.

Etymology. The name is Latin, grandaeva , ancient, referring to the discovery of the species in Baltic amber.

Types. Holotype. Female, Baltic amber; Eocene: Lutetian; Sambia, former East Prussia; ex coll. Albertus University Königsberg. Labelled GZG.BST.02724 (G4393) (in GZG).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Wing, dorsal view (A and C – F) and ventral view (B). A, B. Paramanota grandaeva sp n. (holotype). C. P. orientalis Tuomikoski (Thailand). D, F. Paramanota furcillata sp. n. (D holotype, F paratype). E. P. bifalx sp. n. (holotype). Scale 1.0 mm.

FIGURE 4. Paramanota grandaeva sp. n. (holotype). A. Head, oblique frontal view. B. Basal part of abdomen, lateroventral view. Scale 1.0 mm. cx 3 = hind coxa, f 2 = middle femur, st 2 – st 3 = sternites 2 – 3, tg 1 – tg 4 = tergites 1 – 4.