Bradysia melina, Vilkamaa, Pekka, Hippa, Heikki & Mohrig, Werner, 2012

Vilkamaa, Pekka, Hippa, Heikki & Mohrig, Werner, 2012, The genus Bradysia Winnertz (Diptera, Sciaridae) in New Caledonia, with the description of thirteen new species, Zootaxa 3489, pp. 25-44 : 34-35

Bradysia melina sp. n.

Figs 7 A–C

Material studied. Holotype male. NEW CALEDONIA, Rivière Bleue N.P., (parc 6), rainforest, 20.i.1993, Bonnet de Larbogne, Chazeau & Guilbert (in MNHN).

Description. Male. Head. Brown, antenna slightly paler brown, unicolorous but scapus and pedicellus slightly paler, maxillary palpus very pale brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Face with 15 scattered longer and shorter setae. Clypeus with 1 seta. Maxillary palpus with 3 palpomeres; palpomere 3 longer than palpomere 1, palpomere 2 shortest; palpomere 1 with 2 setae, with a dorsal patch of sensilla in shallow depression; surface of antennal flagellomeres very rough, body of flagellomere 4 ( Fig. 7 A) 2.2x as long as wide, the neck shorter than broad, the longest setae about as long as the width of flagellomere. Thorax. Brown, setae dark. Anterior pronotum with 2 setae. Episternum 1 with 4 setae. Scutum with long dorsocentrals, with some longer and shorter laterals, scutellum with 4 longer and some short setae. Wing. Hyalinous. Length 1.6 mm. Width/length 0.40. Veins distinct. R1/R 0.75. c/ w 0.80. r-m and than bM subequal in length. M, CuA, r-m and bM non-setose. Legs. Yellow. Coxal setae pale. Front tibial organ with pale vestiture forming a long row. Front tibial spur slightly longer than the tibial width. Claws with large teeth. Abdomen. Setae dark and long. Hypopygium ( Figs 7 B, C). Brown, concolorous with abdomen. Gonocoxa narrow, longer than gonostylus, mesial margin with sparse setosity, basoventrally with dense short setosity. Gonostylus narrow, rather straight, with the mesial side weakly impressed, with dense apical vestiture, without an apical tooth, with small dorsal subapical lobe with 5 subapical megasetae. Tegmen roundish, weakly sclerotized, with a large area of small aedeagal teeth.

Discussion. Bradysia melina is similar to B. nudilobata in having all the gonostylar megasetae on a short subbasal lobe and by having an apically roundish tegmen, but the species differ in B. melina having a narrower gonostylus and lacking the intercoxal lobe of the hypopygium with only the basoventral area of gonocoxa densely setose ( Figs 7 and 8 ). In having a subbasal lobe on the gonostylus and strong teeth on the tarsal claws Bradysia melina can be placed in the Bradysia fungicola group in the sense of Menzel and Mohrig (2000). It resembles those Palaearctic species of the group which have lack the apical tooth and have the megasetae of their gonostylus in one group. Of the Palaearctic species, B. melina resembles most B. peraffinis Tuomikoski but its gonostylus is less slender, it has denser setosity basoventrally on the gonocoxa, and it has a pale scapus and pedicellus.

Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin word melina , honey-coloured, referring to the pale colour of the first antennal flagellomeres.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Bradysia melina sp. n. (holotype).). A. Antennal flagellomere 4, lateral view. B. Part of hypopygium, ventral view. C. Gonostylus, ventral view. Scale 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Bradysia nudilobata sp. n. (A, C, D holotype, B paratype). A. Antennal flagellomere 4, lateral view. B. Apical part of front tibia, prolateral view. C. Part of hypopygium, ventral view. D. Gonostylus, ventral view. Scale 0.1 mm.