Platypalpus curvifemur, Barták & Grootaert, 2024

Barták, Miroslav & Grootaert, Patrick, 2024, Description of twelve new species of Platypalpus Macquart from Europe and the Middle East (Diptera, Empidoidea, Hybotidae), Zootaxa 5443 (2), pp. 161-185 : 164-165

Platypalpus curvifemur sp. nov.

( Fig. 2 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂: TURKEY, 15km SW of Muğla, damp valley nr.brook, 630 m, 37°06′31″N, 28°15′31″E, Barták, Kubík , 23.v.2011 ( CULSP).

Diagnosis. Very small blackish brown species of P. longicornis group with two pairs of vertical setae. Antennae black, pedicel yellow but slightly brownish apically, stylus shorter than postpedicel. Clypeus microtrichose. Palpus yellow. Acrostichals multiserial, not distinctly separated from dorsocentrals. Legs pale yellow including coxae and tarsi, mid tibia without apical spur, mid femur peculiarly hump-like swollen basally, lacking posteroventral setae.

Description. Male. Head black, grey microtrichose, face including clypeus light grey microtrichose. Frons ≈ 0.04 mm broad at ventral part (about as wide as pedicel) and 0.07 mm broad at level of anterior ocellus. Face ≈ 0.02 mm broad at middle. Gena narrow and microtrichose. Antenna with pedicel yellow but slightly brownish in distal part, postpedicel black, 2.6× longer than broad, covered with rather long setulae, stylus 0.8× postpedicel. Palpus short, oval, yellow, with 3 white setae. Ocellar setae pale brown, unusually short, ≈ 0.06 mm long (ocellar triangle with 2 pairs of additional very short setae behind anterior pair of ocellars). Two pairs of vertical setae longer (inner pair ≈ 0.12 mm, outer pair shorter), inner pair inserted 0.14 mm apart. Occiput with pale brown setae, darker dorsally and paler ventrally (lower third with only a few setae). Proboscis brownish black, lustrous, one third as long as head high. Thorax blackish brown, mesoscutum thinly grey microtrichose; katepisternum with lustrous spot reaching hind margin, only dorsal part and narrow stripe anteriorly microtrichose. Large setae pale brown to dirty yellow. Chaetotaxy: 1 long postpronotal seta; proepisternum with single seta as long as lower occipitals; acrostichals multiserial not distinctly separated from dorsocentrals by bare stripe and rather short (≈ 0.04 mm, about 8 setae in one row), dorsocentrals irregularly biserial and equally small, last 2 pairs longer; notopleuron with 2 setae, posterior seta longer and several short hairs; 1 short postalar and 1 pair of dirty yellow scutellar setae (with 2 smaller pale hairs). Wing membrane clear, veins pale yellow and rather indistinct. R 4+5 and M 1 almost parallel, only slightly bowed in middle and slightly divergent apically. Crossveins contiguous. CuA only basally distinct, slightly recurrent, CuA+CuP indistinct. Costal seta yellow. Squama yellow with yellow fringes. Halter pale yellow. Legs pale yellow including coxae and tarsi, pale setose (except black ventral spines on mid legs). Fore femur slightly thickened on basal third, with yellow antero- and posteroventral setae one third as long as femur depth. Fore tibia very slightly dilated, short pale setose. Mid femur strongly swollen at basal fourth, narrowed apically, basal swollen part with several longer setae ventrally, both ventral rows of spiny-form setae regular on basal half (anterior spines very short, posterior much longer) and not forming two distinct rows on apical half, posteroventral setae absent ( Fig. 2 ). Mid tibia without apical spur; ventral row of spines double on apical third. Hind femur and tibia narrow, short setose. Abdomen blackish-brown, lustrous, except tergite 1 microtrichose; covered with short pale setae, only last segment with somewhat longer setae. Terminalia (undissected): left epandrial lamella smoothly curved and almost bare ventrally; right epandrial lamella with longer setae ventrally; cerci digitiform, slightly overlapping lamellae.

Female. Unknown. Length. Body 1.5 mm, wing 1.4 mm.

Etymology. The species name refers to the peculiar shape of the mid femur. It should be treated as noun in apposition.

Distribution. Turkey.

Remarks. In the key of European species ( Grootaert & Chvála 1992), P. curvifemur sp. nov. will run to couplet 211 in having two vertical setae, entirely microtrichose mesoscutum, pedicel distinctly lighter than postpedicel, mid femur lacking posteroventrals, and a short spur on the mid tibia (though absent in the new species). There it can be distinguished easily from P. pulicarius (Meigen) or P. vegrandis Frey , by the peculiar shape of the mid femur.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Platypalpus curvifemur sp. nov., holotype male, mid femur and tibia posteriorly. Scale 0.1 mm (image M. Barták).