Acupalpa miaboolya, Shaun L., Winterton, 2011

Shaun L., Winterton, 2011, Revision of the stiletto fly genera Acupalpa Kroeber and Pipinnipons Winterton (Diptera, Therevidae, Agapophytinae) using cybertaxonomic methods, with a key to Australasian genera, ZooKeys 95, pp. 29-79 : 46-47

Acupalpa miaboolya sp. n. Fig. 13

Type material.

Holotype male, AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 14.5 km N Carnarvon, Miaboolya Beach, [-24.76°, 113.65°], 4.x.1969, H. E. Evans, R. W. Matthews. (MEI080305) (ANIC). Paratype. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: female, same data as holotype (MEI080301) (MCZ).

Diagnosis.

Frons profile rounded above antenna; antenna brown to black; scutum glossy black with pubescent stripes of grey and brown; pleuron black; wing faintly infuscate; femora and tibia dark, fore tibia pale distally; abdomen black, without silver velutum.

Description.

Body length= 5.0-6.5 mm. Head. Frons wider than ocellar tubercle, profile rounded above antenna, pubescence sparse silver-grey, without setae, surface texture smooth; face broadly rounded, glabrous; gena with pale setae (female) or dark setae (male); parafacial glabrous; mouthparts relatively short (approximately equal to head length), or elongate and projecting anteriorly; palpus brown-black, acuminate; occiput glabrous, glossy black; antennal base flat; frons roughly level with eye in profile; antennal length approximately equal to head; scape light brown to black, length approximately equal to flagellum, scape with sparse black setae; flagellum black, base of flagellum with short, dark setae. Thorax. Scutum black, overlain with stripes of grey and brown pubescence; scutellum overlain with sparse grey pubescence; pleuron black, overlain with sparse silver-grey pubescence; wing largely hyaline, faint band midway (male) or infuscate with pale band midway, hyaline ocellations basally (female); haltere knob white; coxae black, overlain with silver pubescence; femora brown to black; tibia brown; fore tibia pale distally; tarsi black, mid and hind basitarsi pale basally. Scutal chaetotaxy: np, 3; sa, 1; pa, 1; dc, 3; sc, 1. Abdomen. Black, overlain with bronze pubescence, silver velutum absent; terminalia dark.

Comments.

Acupalpa miaboolya sp. n. is a relatively small, dark species from Western Australia very similar to Acupalpa boharti sp. n. This species can be differentiated from the latter based on scutal pattern; the scutum has grey and brown stripes in Acupalpa miaboolya sp. n. while the scutum of Acupalpa boharti sp. n. has more uniform brown-bronze pubescence.

Etymology.

This species is named after the region in which the specimens were collected, Miaboolya beach, on the north-central coast of Western Australia.