Chonocephalus forcipulus, Liu & Chu, 2016

Liu, Guangchun & Chu, Mengying, 2016, First record of the scuttle fly genus Chonocephalus Wandolleck (Diptera: Phoridae) from China, with description of a new species, Zoological Systematics 41 (1), pp. 117-121 : 119

Chonocephalus forcipulus sp. nov. ( Figs 1–5 , 11–12 )

Description. Male. Body generally brown with a pale abdominal venter. Frons brown with a darker ocellar triangle. Only antial and anterolateral bristles clearly differentiated. Postpedicel brown and rounded. Palp strong and about 2 times as long as its greatest breadth. Thorax brownish, dark on top. Scutellum with four fine bristles. Three hairs on upper part of posterior margin of mesopleuron. Legs brown, but all tarsi paler. Front tarsus with a posterodorsal hair palisade on tarsomere 1–4 and tarsomeres 4 and 5 almost same in length. Mid tibia uniformly brown. Hind femur normal and without modification. Wing 1.1–1.2 mm long. Costal index 0.52. Thick veins light brown with tip of costa and vein Rs darker. Thin veins grayish brown and membrane tinged brownish gray. Vein Rs with a vesicle which extends beyond tip of costa. Halter brown. Abdomen with tergites I–VI brown, with only a few short hairs, almost confined to posterior margins. Venter pale grayish with minute, sparse, pale hairs on segments 3–6. Abdominal tergites with fine hairs, little longer in tergites VI. Venter hairs smaller and finer. Hypopygium mainly brown with long hairs, especially in cercus. Left side of epandrium with a dark process before apex, left surstylus and the modified spine lack. Right side of epandrium with a strong process. Bridge strongly developed, dark and M-shaped. Left gonopod long with two bristles and right one lack. Two lobes of hypandrium long, pointed and forceps-shaped.

Material examined. Holotype. ♂, China, Tibet, Motuo (29.65  N, 95.48  E; elev. 2 118 m), 3 August 2013, leg. Jianfeng Wang. Paratype. 1♂, same data as the holotype .

Distribution. China (Hainan).

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to forceps-shaped lobes of hypandrium.

Remarks. The species is easily distinguished from other species of the genus by the forceps-shaped lobes of hypandrium, the M-shaped bridge of epandrium and the brown mid tibia. In the key of Disney (2002), the species runs to couplets 3 to C. heymoni. In the key of Disney (2005, 2008) it runs separately to 12 and 25, both to C. heymonsi and C. dominicanus. In the key of Disney (2015), it runs to 33 to C. heymonsi and C. gonocurvatus. However, the new species is distinguished from C. heymonsi and C. dominicanus by the details of hypandrial lobes, right gonopod and the bridge. It is also differed from C. gonocurvatus by the details of anterior process of epandrium and right gonopod of hypandrium.

Figures

Figures 1–10. Chonocephalus spp. 1–5. C. forcipulus sp. nov. 6–10. C. fletcheri Schmitz, 1912. 1, 6. wing. 2, 7. Mid tibia. 3, 8. Fore tarsus. 4–5, 9–10. Hypopygium. Scale bar=0.1mm.

Figures 11–12. Chonocephalus forcipulus sp. nov., hypopygium. 11. Posterior view. 12. Ventral view. Scale bar=0.1mm.