Phronia hannarostiae, Kurina & Pototski, 2022

Kurina, Olavi & Pototski, Aleksander, 2022, Two new species of Phronia Winnertz, 1864 (Diptera, Mycetophilidae) from Taita Hills, Kenya, African Invertebrates 63 (1), pp. 89-103 : 89

Phronia hannarostiae sp. nov.

Figs 3A , 4A-F , 6B , 7B

Diagnosis.

Phronia hannarostiae sp. nov. is closest morphologically to P. flobertae Matile, 1978 and P. ristoi sp. nov. but differs in characters of the male terminalia: gonocoxites anteroventrally with wide shallow incision; distal lobe of the ventral branch of the gonostylus elongated and stout; medial lobe of the ventral branch of the gonostylus sub-rounded with a strong long spine at dorsal margin medially; internal branch of the gonostylus bipartite, with ventral lobe apically widening, having combs of spines along posterior and dorsal margins, with dorsal lobe conical, having marginal lamellae; anterior branch of the gonostylus subrectangular, posteriorly somewhat widening, with four long setae subapically; aedeagal guides wide, narrower basally, rounded.

Etymology.

The species is named after Ms. Hanna Rosti (Helsinki, Finland), a PhD student of the University of Helsinki. Her study project includes research and conservation of nocturnal mammals of Taita Hills. She generously assisted and guided Mr. Risto Haverinen (Vantaa, Finland) and the junior author, collectors of the material, around the named area.

Description.

Male. Body length 3.1-3.2 mm (n = 4). Coloration. Head with vertex and frons brown, face and clypeus dark yellow, mouthparts yellow except palpus dark brown. Scape, pedicel and base of first flagellomere yellow, rest of flagellum brown. Thorax with scutum dull-yellow, having three longitudinal dull-brown strips, medial tapering posteriorly, ending before posterior margin; scutellum anteriorly brown, posteriorly yellowish to light brown; anepisternum, laterotergite and medial part of mediotergite brown, other thoracic lateral parts yellow. Thoracic setae brown. Wing hyaline, unmarked with slight yellowish tinge. Halter with stem yellow and knob brown. Legs yellow, hind coxa with lateral elongated brown macula, mid coxa with brown macula apically, hind femur entirely brown at apical fifth and brown dorsally at apical half, all tibiae with brown apical band, and tarsi yellow but seem darker because of dense brown setae. All setae on legs brown, tibial spurs brown. Abdomen brown, first 3-4 segments with large yellow anterolateral areas. Abdominal vestiture brown. Terminalia dark yellow. Head. Ocelli two, touching eye margins. Frontal furrow complete. Clypeus rectangular. Fourth flagellar segment about as long as wide, apical flagellar segment 2.2 times as long as wide basally. Flagellar segments with dense whitish setae about one third of segments’ width. Thorax. Scutum covered with setae, marginal setae stronger, two prominent prescutellar setae extending well over scutellum posteriorly. Scutellum with four strong marginal setae. Antepronotum with 4-5 strong and several weaker setae. Proepisternum with three strong and some weaker setae. Anepisternum with four strong setae at hind margin and several weak setae over surface. Katepisternum and anepimeron non-setose. Laterotergite setose with setae longer towards hind margin. Mediotergite non-setose. Wing. Length 2.88-3.00 mm, length to width 2.77-2.82. Sc, bm-m, m-stem and CuP non-setose, all other veins setose. C extending very slightly beyond apex of R4+5. Length of Sc measured from h 0.47 of r-stem. r-m about as long as m-stem. Posterior fork begins well beyond furcation of anterior fork, at the level of basal third of anterior fork, ratio of M2 to M4 2.7. Legs. Ratio of femur to tibia for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.11-1.29; 0.95-1.03; 0.84-0.93. Ratio of tibia to basitarsus for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.00-1.13; 1.30-1.48; 1.67-1.77. Fore tibia with a spur 2.25-2.57 times of tibial maximum width. Mid tibia with anterior spur 3.11-3.25 times and posterior spur 3.89-4.25 times of tibial maximum width. Hind tibia with anterior spur 2.55-3.22 times and posterior spur 3.27-3.89 times of tibial maximum width. Terminalia (Figs 4A-F , 6B , 7B ). Tergite 9 posteriorly rounded, with non-regular row of sub-marginal setae of different length, anteriorly with large U-shaped incision. Cerci long ovate, posteriorly blunt. Gonocoxites fused, closed ventrally and open dorsally; anteroventrally with wide, shallow incision. Posteroventral margin of gonocoxites with medial incision, supplied by a dorsal fringe. Gonocoxites setose with setae erect, somewhat longer on posterior half, deviating from other setosity of gonocoxites. Ventral branch of gonostylus with setose distal lobe, elongated and tapering in lateral view, posteriorly blunt and non-setose; setose medial lobe subrounded, with excavation at dorsal margin posteriorly and with a stout spine at dorsal margin medially. Internal branch of gonostylus formed of ventral and dorsal lobes; ventral lobe large, posteriorly widening, discernible partly between distal and medial lobe of ventral branch, with combs of spines along posterior and dorsal margin; dorsal lobe cone-shaped with lamellae along margins. Dorsal branch of gonostylus formed from two conical, posteriorly setose lobes. Anterior branch of gonostylus subrectangular, posteriorly slightly widening, with four subapical strong setae. Aedeagus digitate. Aedeagal guides apically widening, rounded. Parameres large, somewhat convoluted, not extending over aedeagus apically.

Female. Unknown.

Type material.

Holotype. Kenya • ♂; Taita-Taveta County, Taita Hills, Ngangao indigenous forest; 3.3642°S, 38.3410°E alt. 1930 m; 4 February 2022; A. Pototski & R. Haverinen leg.; hand-picked (pinned, terminalia in glycerin, IZBE0228825). Paratypes. Kenya • 3 ♂♂, same data as for holotype (pinned, terminalia in glycerin, IZBE0228826, IZBE0228827, IZBE0228828).

Comments.

Matile provided figures of male terminalia of all described Afrotropical Phronia species from ventral view ( Matile 1978: figs 59-62) that regrettably do not describe all details of the gonostyli. However, the distal lobes of the ventral branch of the gonostylus and ventromedial margin of the gonocoxites have been provided in necessary details to allow an unambiguous delimitation of the species. Phronia hannarostiae sp. nov. shares the general outline of the gonostylus with P. ristoi sp. nov. but can be distinguished by (1) distal lobe of the ventral branch of the gonostylus stout, posteriorly blunt with subequal setae along the surface (slender, posteriorly tapering and bent, with aggregation of very long setae anteroventrally in P. ristoi ), (2) medial lobe of the ventral branch of the gonostylus subrounded with a stout spine at dorsal margin medially (thumb-shaped, with a small hump at dorsal margin medially, with a sabre-like spine subapically in P. ristoi ) and (3) internal branch of the gonostylus with ventral lobe large, posteriorly widening, with combs of spines along posterior and dorsal margin (large, conical, with comb of lamellae along dorsal margin in P. ristoi ). Moreover, P. hannarostiae has (1) cerci long, ovate, posteriorly blunt (tapering posteriorly, with a mesial excavation in P. ristoi ), (2) aedeagal guides apically widening, rounded (digitiform, apically pointed in P. ristoi ) and (3) parameres large, somewhat convoluted, not extending over aedeagus apically (large, extending over aedeagus apically in P. ristoi ).

Figures

Figure 3. General habitus of Afrotropical Phronia species, lateral view A P. hannarostiae sp. nov. B P. ristoi sp. nov.

Figure 4. Phronia hannarostiae sp. nov., male terminalia A terminalia, ventral view B terminalia, dorsal view with cerci detached C terminalia, lateral view D cerci and tergite IX E gonostylus, lateral view F gonostylus, internal view. Abbreviations: aed = aedeagus, aed gd = aedeagal guide, cer = cercus, gc = gonocoxite, gc pvm = posteroventral margin of gonocoxite, gst ab = anterior branch of gonostylus, gst db = dorsal branch of gonostylus, gst ibdl = dorsal lobe of internal branch of gonostylus, gst ibvl = ventral lobe of internal branch of gonostylus, gst vbdl = distal lobe of ventral branch of gonostylus, gst vbml = medial lobe of ventral branch of gonostylus, par = paramere, tg 9 = tergite IX. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

Figure 6. Gonostylus, lateral view A Phronia ristoi sp. nov. B Phronia hannarostiae sp. nov. For abbreviations see Fig. 4. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.

Figure 7. Gonostylus, internal view A Phronia ristoi sp. nov. B Phronia hannarostiae sp. nov. For abbreviations see Fig. 4. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.