Sciophila georgei, Kurina, 2021

Kurina, Olavi, 2021, A contribution towards checklist of fungus gnats (Diptera, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Bolitophilidae, Keroplatidae, Mycetophilidae) in Georgia, Transcaucasia, ZooKeys 1026, pp. 69-142 : 69

Sciophila georgei sp. nov. Figs 3A , 4A-G

Type material.

Holotype. Male, Georgia, Kakheti, Lagotekhi NR, Matsimi river gorge, 41°47.75'N, 46°17.12'E, 350 m a.s.l., 17-27.v.2011, Malaise trap, leg. G. Japoshvili [see Table 1 : K-5] (mounted from alcohol, IZBE). Paratype. Male, same as holotype (mounted from alcohol, IZBE) .

Diagnosis.

Sciophila georgei sp. nov. can be distinguished by combination of the characters of the male terminalia as follows: lateral branch of gonostylus ventrally with two apical spine-like setae, small internal branch of gonostylus with one spine-like seta, tergite 9 large with medially rising apical margin that bears two large and simple setae, parameres straight and long, extending over tergite 9 apically, aedeagus small, star-shaped.

Description.

Male. Body length 2.7-2.8 mm (n = 2). Coloration. Head with vertex and frons dark brown, face and clypeus brown and mouthparts including palpus pale yellow. Scape and pedicel yellow. First three or four flagellomeres yellowish, rest of flagellomeres light brown. Scutum entirely dark brown, antepronotum and proepisternum yellowish, anepisternum, anepimeron and katepisternum light brown, laterotergite and mediotergite brown, scutellum brown. Thoracic setae all yellowish. Wing hyaline, all veins brown including radial veins somewhat darker. Halter with stem and knob pale yellow. All coxae, femora and tibiae yellow, tarsi yellow but seem darker because of dense brown setae. Tibial setae brown, spurs yellowish. Abdomen with tergites light brown, 1-3 tergites somewhat lighter, all sternites yellowish. Abdominal vestiture yellow. Terminalia brown. Head. Ocelli in a shallow triangular arrangement. Medial Mycetophila ocellus somewhat smaller than laterals. Frontal furrow complete. Clypeus subrounded, about as long as broad. Fourth flagellar segment about as long as wide, apical flagellar segment 2.25 times as long as wide basally. Flagellar segments with dense yellowish short setae. Thorax. Scutum covered with short setae, with marginal and prescutellar setae stronger. Antepronotum with 8-9 setae. Proepisternum with 6-7 setae. Anepisternum with 5-6 setae on upper part, katepisternum and anepimeron non-setose. Laterotergite with 7-9 setae on posterior half. Mediotergite with 10-15 setae on lower part. Metepisternum with setulae. Scutellum with setulae and marginal setae not arranged in pairs. Wing. Length 2.5-2.8 mm, length to width 2.4-2.7. Wing membrane uniformly covered with micro- and macrothichia. All veins setose, except sc-r, Rs, R 2+3. Costa reaches about one fifth from R 4+5 to M1. Sc ending on C before level of furcation of posterior fork. Sc-r located slightly before Rs. r-m about two times as long as m-stem. M4 basally very faint or shortly interrupted at base. Legs. Ratio of femur to tibia for fore, mid and hind legs: 0.83-0.93; 0.89-0.97; 0.84-0.92. Ratio of tibia to basitarsus for fore, mid and hind legs: 1.26; 1.42-1.65; 1.33-1.37. Fore tibia with a spur 2.29-2.81 times of tibial maximum width. Mid tibia with anterior spur 3.08-3.15 times and posterior spur 3.42-3.69 times of tibial maximum width. Hind tibia with anterior spur 2.50-2.60 times and posterior spur 3.47-3.57 times of tibial maximum width. Terminalia (Fig. 4A-G ). Gonocoxites fused for short distance ventrobasally forming medial triangular lobe with medial more sclerotized longitudinal ridge internally. Ventromedial margin of gonocoxite with a membranous flange drawn medially out into digitate apically hooked lobe. Gonocoxite covered with uniform setae except non-setose lateroapical and dorsomedial marginal areas. Dorsoposterior margin of gonocoxite with two prominent medially directed setae. Gonocoxal apodeme anteriorly enlarged, shoe-shaped, well discernible in dorsal view. Tergite 9 large, slightly convergent posteriorly, extending over gonocoxites, subapically constricted with two prominent simple setae apically, apical margin medially rising. Parameres long and straight, apically slightly widening, extending over tergite 9 apically. Aedeagus small, star-shaped, medially with posteriorly projecting digitate process. Lateral branch of the gonostylus laterally setose with aggregation of spine like setae along posterior margin; ventral part extended with two prominent apical spine-like setae. Medial branch of gonostylus with 25-30 furcated megasetae. Small internal branch of gonostylus with one prominent medially directed seta.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology.

The species is named in honour of Prof. George Japoshvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) in recognition of his contribution to study of the insects’ diversity in Georgia and his invaluable help in collecting the fungus gnat material that underlies the current communication. He was also the collector of the type material of this species .

Remarks.

More than 190 species of Sciophila Meigen are known wordwide ( Kurina 2020a, Taber 2021); the most comprehensive key to the Holarctic species is still that by Zaitzev (1982). Fortunately, all subsequently described species are supplemented with appropriate illustrations of the male terminalia (e.g. Polevoi 2001; Salmela and Kolcsár 2017; Taber 2021) that provides an adequate compendium of the morphological distinctions. Following the key by Zaitzev (1982), the new species runs to couplet 31 because of (1) wing with both macro- and microtrichia, (2) gonostylus without additional branches, (3) lateral branch of the gonostylus with two large setae ventroapically, (4) small internal branch of the gonostylus with one large seta, and (5) gonocoxites dorsoapically without protruding appendages. However, S. georgei sp. nov. differs from the species included in this couplet by details in the male terminalia. Notably, by the characters of tergite 9 (large, posteriorly convergent, extends over gonocoxites, bears two prominent simple setae apically, apical margin medially rising) and parameres (long, straight, extending over tergite 9 apically).

Figures

Figure 3. Habitus photos of new species A Sciophila georgei sp. nov., paratype B Anatella metae sp. nov., paratype C Leia katae sp. nov., holotype, terminalia detached. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 4. Sciophila georgei sp. nov., male terminalia A dorsal view B ventral view C lateral view D apical part of tergite IX, dorsal view E dorsal view, tergite IX removed F aedeagal complex, dorsal view G gonostylus, internal view H gonostylus, posterior view. Abbreviations: aed = aedeagus, cer = cercus, gc = gonocoxite, gc ap = gonocoxal apodeme, gst lbr = lateral branch of gonostylus, gst mbr = medial branch of gonostylus, gst sibr = small internal branch of gonostylus, par = paramere, tg 9 = tergite IX. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.