Grallipeza marleyi, Marshall, S. A., 2013

Marshall, S. A., 2013, Grallipeza Rondani (Diptera: Micropezidae: Taeniapterinae) of the Caribbean and North America, Zootaxa 3682 (1), pp. 45-84 : 63-64

Grallipeza marleyi new species

Figs. 28–31

Description (females only). Size: Approximately 7 mm. Colour: Head orange except shining brown clypeus and apically slightly darkened palpus ( Fig. 28 ). Thorax with notum dark brown and pleuron yellow-orange. Fore femur orange, darkened on distal half, tarsomere one and tarsomere two off-white with white bristles, apex of tarsomere 2 and tarsomeres 3–5 brown with brown bristles. Mid and hind femora pale brown with an indistinct dark distal ring. Katepisternal bristles golden. Abdominal tergites two and three pale, tergites 1, 4, 5 pruinose brown, tergite 7 pruinose at base, otherwise shining brown. Upper third of female abdominal pleuron black on segments 3–5; oviscape shining brown with scattered setulae.

Head: Arista conspicuously long-haired at least over basal 2/3, hairs as long as scape width ( Fig. 30 ). Pedicel with long ventroapical bristles, one almost as long as first flagellomere. Frontal vitta broadened and slightly raised in front of ocelli; narrow, parallel-sided and slightly depressed behind ocelli.

Thorax: Cervical sclerite concave ventrally, concave surface densely covered with distinct pores. Fore femur with only small ventral setulae. One or two distinct dorsocentral bristles; suprahumeral bristles very large, exclinate, forming a distinct row of 4–5 black bristles at anterior end of an inconspicuous row of minute, pale dorsocentral setulae ( Fig. 31 ). Wing: Anal cell microsetulose, wing membrane lightly and evenly infuscated ( Fig. 28 ).

Female abdomen: Oviscape elongate, 3 times as long as tergite 6 and almost as long as preabdomen ( Fig. 28 ). Paired spermathecae elongate, three times as long as wide, expanded distally, on short ducts arising from a swollen oval distal part of the common duct, swollen part occupying distal third of common duct and three times as wide as spermatheca. Single spermatheca bilobed, duct uniform with a constriction at base of spermatheca (one of the two female types was dissected but incompletely cleared, spermathecae partially embedded in a hard matrix, Fig. 29 ).

Type material: Holotype female and one paratype female: Jamaica: Windsor, 15.5 km S Falmouth, path through Cockpit country to Troy, 2.iv.1983, J. Spott, wet limestone forest, debu00256921 (2 Ƥ, DEBU).

Comments: Grallipeza marleyi is distinctively coloured and easily distinguished from other Grallipeza species, although the apparent difference in dorsocentral number between the two otherwise identical female type specimens is unusual. The desclerotized tergites 2–3 suggest a close relationship to another Jamaican species, G. cliffi , and to the Hispaniolan species G. nigrivitta and G. albiterga . The strongly swollen common spermathecal duct is characteristic of several members of the G. placida group, but the relatively small, elongate, trumpet-like paired spermathecae appear to be unique. The oviscape was removed from both the female holotype and the female paratype, and in both cases the usual clearing process (boiling in potassium hydroxide) left the spermathecae and ducts embedded in opaque tissue that could not be teased away from the spermathecae. This is an unusual problem and it is remarkable that it occurred in two specimens cleared in different stock solution several weeks apart. Figure 29 shows the stained paratype spermathecae in which the distally swollen common duct is clearly visible; the holotype spermathecae are barely distinguishable from the surrounding tissue but appear to match the paratype. Etymology: Grallipeza marleyi is a patronym referring to the Jamaican musician Bob Marley.

Figures

FIGURES 28 – 31. Grallipeza marleyi. 28, female, right lateral; 29, spermathecae and ducts, partially concealed in matrix; 30, female head dorsal; 31, female head lateral.