Austrosciara spectabilis ( Skuse, 1888 )

Broadley, Adam, Kauschke, Ellen & Mohrig, Werner, 2016, Revision of the types of male Sciaridae (Diptera) described from Australia by F. A. A. Skuse, Zootaxa 4193 (3), pp. 401-450 : 413

Austrosciara spectabilis ( Skuse, 1888) comb. n.

( Fig. 7 A‒C)

Sciara spectabilis Skuse, 1888 [ Skuse (1888): 716 ‒717; Skuse (1890): 408].

Type locality. Australia, New South Wales, Sydney.

Lectotype (here designated): Male. Slide bears original label data verbatim ‘ Sc. spectabilis / Ƌ (ink) TYPE./ F. A. A. Skuse (print)’, ‘Sydney’ (ink). Mounted in Canada balsam Dec. 2015. ( ANIC; Slide No. 047-1).

Paralectotypes. Female. Same label data as male. 2 females and 2 males (not studied).

Remarks. The original description states “ Hab.—Sydney and Berowra (Masters and Skuse). November to January” ( Skuse 1888).

Preservation. Flagellomeres lost, other structures in rather good condition.

Additional description. Male. Head. Dark brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide; flagellomeres lost; palpus 3- segmented, yellow, basal segment without sensory pit, with 4-5 bristles. Thorax. Brownish, anterior and lateral parts of scutum and pleural sclerites yellowish, prescutellar and a few lateral bristles robust and dark; scutellum with 4 longer marginal bristles; postpronotum bare. Wing pale; R1 = 2/3 R; R5 throughout with macrotrichia dorsally and ventrally; y = x, with macrotrichia; M-stem weakly visible, with 1-2 macrotrichia; M-branches and 2/ 3 of CuA1 with macrotrichia, CuA2 without macrotrichia. Haltere short, brownish. Coxae yellow, legs yellowishbrown; apex of fore tibia with a broad comb of hyaline bristles, 1‒2 somewhat separated; spurs of middle and hind tibia equal in size, longer than width of tibia apex; claws without teeth. Abdomen. With dense, long, dark hairs. Hypopygium with a v-shaped ventral base, without a lobe or bristle patch; gonocoxite with short and sparse hairs at the inner ventral margin; gonostylus with dense hairs on the apex and the inner side, with a short apical tooth and 6‒7 fine, bristle-like spines as long as the tooth among spine-like hairs in the apical half of the inner side; tegmen as long as broad, apically rounded, with fine teeth and with a weak ventral parameral apodeme. Body length: 3.0 mm.

Comments. The species is characterized by macrotrichia on M-branches and CuA1, a yellowish-spotted thorax and a densely haired apex of the gonostylus with a short apical tooth and several very fine bristle-like spines among spine-like hairs in the apical half of the inner side.

Distribution. Australia ( New South Wales).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Austrosciara spectabilis (Skuse, 1888). A. Hypopygium; B. Apex of gonostylus; C. Wing.