Phthiria vaganoides Gharali & Evenhuis, 2017

Gharali, Babak & Evenhuis, Neal, 2017, Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. (Bombyliidae, Phthiriinae, Phthiriini) from Northern Iran with the first record of Phthiria fulva Meigen, 1804 reared from a lepidopteran and description of the pupa, Zootaxa 4300 (1), pp. 55-70 : 56-63

Phthiria vaganoides Gharali & Evenhuis sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–4 )

Type material. Holotype (♂), 1 ♀ paratype (dried by HMDS) and 10 ♀ paratypes (in alcohol), Qazvin, Abazar Road , N 36°17', E 50°10', 1463 m a.s.l., white pan traps, leg. Babak Gharali, 10.vi.2009 ( IRIPP) ; 10 ♀ and 2 ♂ paratypes, same data as holotype ( BPBM) ; 5 ♀ and 2 ♂ paratypes, same data as holotype ( ZMHB), 12 ♀ and 1 ♂ paratypes , same data as holotype (BG).

Diagnosis. Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. is morphologically similar to Ph. vagans Loew, 1846 but is easily distinguished by the long dorsal process on the first antennal flagellomere (shorter than the style in Ph. vagans ) and in females also by the completely yellow scutellum (yellow with a small black mark in Ph. vagans ).

Description. Holotype male. Body length: 4 mm, wing length: 5 mm.

Head ( Fig. 1 c, e) completely black; frons gray dusted, with short white hairs; parafacials dusted along eye margin, with sparse short white hairs; mentum gray dusted; ocellar tubercle prominent black, with a few white hairs; eyes in contact for about 2.0 times frons length, contact sector of eyes medially depressed, facets of upper half of eyes enlarged; antennae ( Fig. 1 f) completely black, scape quadrate, wider than long, pedicel cylindrical, as long as wide, first flagellomere long, 2.5 times greatest width, dorsal process 1.5 times length of transparent style; occiput with long white hairs; palpi black, proboscis long, 2.5 times head length, black. Thorax ( Fig. 1 b). Mesonotum black, densely white haired, length of hairs about equal to combined length of two basal antennal segments, gray dusted, except narrow line admedially and wide lateral stripe from transverse suture to postalar calli; scutellum black, gray dusted with long dense white hairs; pleura completely black, gray dusted, katepisternum and anepisternum with long white hairs, laterotergite with few white bristles, halter stem and knob white. Wing. Hyaline, uniformly microtrichose; veins blackish brown; costa reaches vein CuA2+A1; R4+5 originates at level of m-m crossvein; crossvein r-m beyond middle of discal cell; anal cell closed, stalked; anal lobe wide; alula narrow, longer than wide. Leg ( Fig. 1 a). Blackish brown; coxae and femora with long white hairs; tibiae with a few black bristles; tarsal segments ventrolaterally with dense black bristles; empodium white, as long as claw. Abdomen ( Fig. 1 d). Tergites with long white hairs, tergite I black except two large yellow spots at posterior corners, other tergites black with posterior margin of each yellow, black spots on tergites III to last tergite; sternites black with posterior margins narrowly yellow. Genitalia. Hypopygium black except gonocoxites apically yellow; epandrium triangular in dorsal view, with small invagination apically ( Fig. 2 e); gonocoxites fused, longer than wide, apicomesal process short with small bristles; gonostyli elongate oval ( Figs. 2 b, c); basal aedeagal process narrow in dorsal view with two lateral rami basally, lateral aedeagal apodemes narrow ( Fig. 2 a); aedeagus apically curved ( Fig. 2 d).

Female. Head. ( Figs. 3 a, d & e) Occiput black medially, yellow laterally, with white hairs, length of hairs equal to combined length of two basal antennal segments; vertex yellow; frons yellow, with brownish stripe medially gradually broadened and extended to apex of antennal tubercle, with clear depression at base; parafacials yellow except a black spot at level of scape extended horizontally to eye margin and extending along oral margin as black line to level of lower margin of eyes; oral margin with short scattered white hairs; ocellar tubercle raised, black, ocelli as equilateral triangle; scape brown with two yellow spots on upper side, slightly longer than wide; pedicel black, cylindrical, wider than long; first antennal flagellomere oval, with long dorsal process, longer than width of first flagellomere apically; style transparent, shorter than antennal process; mentum medially with black stripe extending to oral margin; palpi black, with few short white hairs; proboscis long, 2.5 times head length, black. Thorax ( Fig. 3 b). mesonotum yellow, with whitish short hairs; with two paired blackish gray stripes, admedian stripes from anterior margin of mesonotum to ¾ length of mesonotum, lateral stripes from postpronotal lobes to scutellum, then narrowly extending medially; postpronotal lobes yellow, with long white hairs; prescutellar area yellow; scutellum yellow, black ventrally; anepisternum with long white hairs, lower half black, upper half yellow; anepimeron yellow, except anterior margin widely black; katepisternum black except upper margin widely yellow, with few long white hairs; meron black except a yellow spot at upper margin; halter stem and knob white. Leg. Coxa I brownish black with anterior surface mostly yellow, with long white hairs; coxa II brownish black dorsally with yellow spot, with long white hairs; coxa III brownish black; femur densely covered with white hairs, tibia I, II with a few black bristles apically, dorsal margin of tibia III with row of black bristles; tarsal segments with short bristles laterally, metatarsus as long as other segments combined, with row of black bristles; tarsal segment II ventrally with row of black bristles. Abdomen ( Fig. 3 c). Tergites with long white hairs, with two rows of black spots laterally; tergite I yellow; tergite II yellow, with black rectangular spot medially; other tergites yellow with posterior margin of each blackish brown; sternites blackish brown, posterior margin of each very narrowly yellow. Wing. As male ( Fig. 4 a). Genitalia ( Figs. 4 b-c). Furca consisting of two parallel bars; common spermathecal duct short, membranous; basal ducts membranous; sperm pump as wide as apical ducts, striated, dilated apically, slightly sclerotized, slightly longer than apical ducts; apical ducts slightly sclerotized; spermathecal reservoir membranous, round, apical process well sclerotized, cone-shaped, slightly curved, about 3.0 times capsule length.

Distribution. This species is currently known only from northern Iran (Qazvin Province).

Etymology. The name of new species composed of vagan, derived from Phthiria vagans (a common species in Iran) + - oides (= similar) referring to the similarity of the two species.

Taxonomic remarks. There is no comprehensive key to species of Phthiria in the Palaearctic Region except that in Engel (1933), in which the key and descriptions did not include some species described before him such as Ph. tricolor Bezzi, 1924 . Other keys such as those in Austen (1937), Efflatoun (1945) and Zaitzev (1966) are limited, including only a few species of Phthiria confined to the region where they worked. According to the Engel’s (1933) key, our species runs to Ph. subnitens Loew, 1846 in males and the females run to Ph. gaedii . Male Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. are easily distinguished from Ph. subnitens by the white hairs on mesonotum that are black in the new species. Also there is a brown spot on dorsal surface of knob of halter in Ph. subnitens while Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. has completely white halteres. The females of Ph. subnitens have a large triangular black spot on the scutellum but this spot is absent in the female of Ph. vaganoides sp. nov., whose is completely yellow. The males of Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. are easily separated from that of Ph. gaedii by the color of scutellum and postalar calli. In Ph. gaedii the scutellum and postalar calli are completely yellow but in the latter both are black and gray dusted. In the female of Ph. gaedii , the prescutellar area is triangular black but Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. has a completely yellow prescutellar area on which lateral dark mesonotal stripes extended as narrow stripes medially and are approximated in the middle. Based on Austen’s (1937) key, our new species runs to his new species, Ph. virgata , which is known only by a single female specimen, but differences between two exist. In Ph. virgata , the tergites of the abdomen are black with a narrow yellow posterior margin but in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. abdominal tergite II is completely yellow with a small black mark in the middle and the other tergites are predominant yellow on the posterior margin and black on the anterior margin. Another difference is the color of the scutellum (completely yellow in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. but with a triangular blackish brown spot on the upper surface of scutellum in Ph. virgata ).

Efflatoun (1945) studied the bee flies of Egypt and described a new species of Phthiria , Ph. salmayensis , and proposed a key to four species of Phthiria known to him. Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. is closely related to Ph. salmayensis but it is distinguished in the male by different hair color on the frons. The color of hairs in Ph. salmayensis are black and in our new species is white. Females of the two species are easily separated by the distinctly different dark pattern on the frons. Our new species, Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov. also does not match with any species keyed in Zaitzev (1966).

Subsequent to these studies, additional species have been described from different areas ( Table 1 ). We place our new species with the species of Phthiria with the long dorsal process at the apex of the first antennal flagellomere.

Báez (1985) described two new species, Ph. freyi and Ph. antiqua , and three subspecies of Ph. simonyi from the Canary Islands [all subspecies were raised to full species rank in Evenhuis & Greathead (1999)]. Phthiria freyi is easily distinguished from Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. in both sexes by the large ventral process of first antennal flagellomere (see Báez, 1985; page 68, fig. 5). The male of Ph. freyi is also different from Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. by the color of hairs on mesonotum that are completely black, while in the new species they are completely white. Females of Ph. freyi have the scutellum black with a yellow apex and two yellow spots basally, while in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. the color of the female scutellum is completely yellow. Phthiria simonyi and its three originally proposed subspecies (currently treated as Ph. ombriosus Báez, 1985 ; Ph. intermedia Báez, 1985 & Ph. lazaroi Báez, 1985 ) are easily distinguished from males of Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. by the color of hairs on the mesonotum and by the color of the scutellum in the females. Hairs on male mesonotum are scattered and black in the former species but they are completely yellow and dense in the latter. The scutellum in the females of Ph. simonyi and its subspecies is gray with two yellow spots in each side of the lateral margins while the females of Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. have a completely yellow scutellum.

Greathead & Evenhuis (2001) and Greathead (2004) described two new species of Phthiria , Ph. socotrae and Ph. stictica , that both have the first antennal flagellomere with a long dorsal process. Phthiria stictica is distinguished from our species and easily from all other species of Phthiria by infuscated spots on the wing and Ph. socotrae is also clearly separated from our species by having an orange dorsal pattern on the mesonotum and two triangular black spots on the prescutellar area.

Zaitzev (2005) described three new species from Morocco including Ph. merlei , Ph. maroccana , and Ph. lucidipennis , in which the first two have the first antennal flagellomere with a long dorsal process. Phthiria merlei is easily distinguished by the dark brown mark on the knob of the halter and the yellow scutellum with a dark brown spot in the center of the apical surface where in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. the knob is completely yellow and the scutellum is black. Although the female of Ph. merlei has a yellow frons, the color of its legs are yellow on coxae, femora and tibiae, differing from the blackish brown legs of Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. From Ph. maroccana , our new species is easily distinguished by the color of hairs on the mesonotum and scutellum that are completely black in males, while in Ph. vaganoides they are completely whitish. The females of Ph. maroccana have an almost all dark abdomen but in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. the abdomen is almost all yellow. The halter is also different in the two species. The former species has a brown spot on the halter knob that is absent in the latter. Phthiria lucidipennis is also distinguished from our new species, Ph. vaganoides sp. nov., by the halter knob color and the color of scutellum. In Ph. lucidipennis the halter knob has a black spot in both sexes and also females have yellow scutellum with a large triangular black mark. The halter knob is completely yellow in our new species and the color of the scutellum is completely yellow in females.

El-Hawagri & Al Dhafer, (2014) described a new species, Phthiria sharafi , from Saudi Arabia. The males of Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. are different from those of Ph. sharafi at least in the color of hairs on frons (white in Iranian species and black in Egyptian). The females of the two species are clearly different in two characters: dark pattern on frons and the shape of spermathecal process. The frons has a wide black stripe in Ph. sharafi extending from the ocellar tubercle to the base of the antenna, but the frons in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. is almost yellow ( Fig. 3 d). The spermathecal process is recurved in Ph. sharafi while in Ph. vaganoides sp. nov. it is nearly straight or slightly curved.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov., male holotype: a. lateral view; b. thorax (dorsal view); c. head (dorsal view); d. abdomen (dorsal view); e. head (lateral view); f. antenna.

FIGURE 2. Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov., male genitalia: a. phalic complex (dorsal view); b. gonocoxites left half (dorsal view); c. gonocoxites ventral view; d. hypopygium (lateral view); e. epandrium (dorsal view).

FIGURE 3. Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov., female paratype: a. lateral view; b. thorax (dorsal view); c. abdomen (dorsal view); d. head (dorsal view); e. head (lateral view).

FIGURE 4. Phthiria vaganoides sp. nov.: a. female wing; b. female genitalia; c. female genitalia without furca.