Austrosciara stockerae, Mohrig & Kauschke & Broadley, 2018

Mohrig, Werner, Kauschke, Ellen & Broadley, Adam, 2018, New black fungus gnats (Diptera: Sciaridae) from Eastern Australia, Zootaxa 4450 (2), pp. 203-241 : 208-210

Austrosciara stockerae sp. n. *

( Fig. 4 A–E )

Type locality: Australia, Victoria, Wilsons Promontory.

Holotype: Male, September 1977, Spring, leg. A.J. Stocker, ASCT 00050341 ( ASCU).

Description. Male. Head. Brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Antenna long, brown, flagellomeres with dense, bristle-like hairs, twice as long as the basal node; 4th flagellomere with a l/w index of 4.0, necks brownish. Palpus 3-segmented, yellowish, basal segment with 2–3 bristles and a patch of sensillae. Thorax. Brown. Postpronotum bare. Wing slightly brownish; R1 nearly = R; R5 along nearly the entire length with ventral macrotrichia; C = 2/3 w; y = x, with macrotrichia; posterior veins with macrotrichia: Haltere short, yellowish. Coxae yellowish, legs somewhat darker; apex of fore tibia with a broad comb of hyaline bristles; spurs of middle and hind tibiae equal in size, longer than the diameter of the apex; claws with a sheet-like tooth. Abdomen. Brownish, with dark hairs. Hypopygium brownish, the ventral base v-shaped; gonocoxites at the inner ventral margin with short and sparse hairs; gonostylus short, narrow, with a short apical tooth and 2–3 spines above and 4 spines below the tooth in the distal half of the inner side. Tegmen small, apically rounded. Aedeagus rather short. Body length: 2.0 mm.

Comments. The species is characterized by having macrotrichia on y and all posterior wing veins, very long flagellomeres, a small gonostylus with an apical tooth and 6–7 spines, 2–3 above and 4 below in the distal half.

* The species is dedicated to Dr Ann J. Stocker, who since 1972 has been working on genetic aspects of the Sciaridae , primarily on the genus Rhynchosciara . Ann collected extensively in Australia during the 1970’s at many different sites including on the Atherton Table Lands, in the Melbourne region and at Wilsons Promontory. She also went on collecting trips with Ben Loudon when he worked at the Biological and Chemical Research Institute (BCRI) of the New South Wales Department of Agriculture, Rydalmere. Ann currently holds an honorary position in Ary Hoffmann’s lab at the University of Melbourne where she works on chromosome evolution among a number of Scaptodrosophila (Drosophilidae) species.

Distribution. Australia: Victoria.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Austrosciara stockerae sp. n. A. Hypopygium; B. FlagEllomErEs 4–5; C. Palpus; D. Tibial organ; E. Wing.