Platypalpus sublutescens, Barták, Miroslav & Shamshev, Igor, 2015

Barták, Miroslav & Shamshev, Igor, 2015, Species of Platypalpus Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Uzbekistan, with descriptions of thirteen new species, Zootaxa 3926 (3), pp. 351-376 : 364-365

Platypalpus sublutescens sp. nov.

( Figs 25–27 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, labelled: “ UZBEKISTAN, Zeravshan res., deciduous wood, 39°38'N, 67°08'E, 24.v.1989, M. Barták” ( CULSP). PARATYPES: UZBEKISTAN: 1 ♂, 4♀, same data as holotype (1 ♂, 2♀ in CULSP; 2♀ in ZIN); 2♀, 1♂, same locality as holotype, 21–22.v.1989, M. Barták (2♀ in CULSP; 1♂ in ZIN); 2♀, Samarkand, along river Zeravshan, 39°38'N, 67°04'E, 22.v.1989, M. Barták ( CULSP).

Diagnosis. Entirely yellow species with 1 pair of vertical setae; thorax microtrichose except lustrous spot on katepisternum; mid tibial spur black and sharp in both sexes, and long sparse pale posteroventral setae on mid femur.

Description. Male. Head yellow, frons and part of occiput behind eyes in some views obscurely greyishyellow; microtrichose (including clypeus), white setose. Frons » 0.09 mm broad on lower part (much broader than pedicel) and » 0.11 mm broad on upper part (at level of anterior ocellus). Face » 0.09 mm broad at middle. Gena broad, microtrichose. Antenna yellow with brown stylus; postpedicel 1.5–1.8X longer than broad, stylus 1.7–2.2X longer than postpedicel. Palpus broadly ovate, pale yellow, about half as long as proboscis, with 1–2 white setae on posterior margin. Ocellar setae pale, » 0.08 mm long. One pair of pale vertical setae, » 0.10 mm long, relatively widely separated (» 0.15 mm apart). Occiput with setae shorter on upper half and longer on lower part. Proboscis yellow, half as long as height of head. Thorax entirely yellow, microtrichose, katepisternum lustrous, leaving narrow microtrichose stripe on anterior part and broader stripe on posterior part. All setae yellowish-white. Chaetotaxy: postpronotal seta long and strong (only slightly shorter than postalar) accompanied with several very short hairs; acrostichals narrowly biserial, slightly divergent, short (» 0.04 mm), about 5–7 setae per row; dorsocentrals distinctly longer than acrostichals, uniserial (8–10 setae per row), last pair strong and long; notopleuron with 2 usually subequally long setae posteriorly; 1 postalar and 1 pair of long scutellar setae (with additional pair of small lateral hairs). Wing clear, with pale veins. R4+5 almost straight, M1 very slightly S-shaped (both veins nearly parallel in apical part). Crossveins broadly separated. Cu slightly recurrent and almost straight. Costal seta yellow. Squama pale yellow with yellow fringes, halter pale yellow. Legs entirely yellow including all coxae and last tarsomeres (only with indistinct small dark dots on trochanters and knees of mid and hind legs). All setae whitish yellow (even spines in double ventral rows on mid femur pale on basal part). Fore femur distinctly thickened (almost as deep as mid femur), short setose, ventral setae scarcely 1/3rd as long as depth of femur. Fore tibia thin, short setose. Mid fem ur with only a few (3–4 long and several much shorter) pale posteroventral setae. Mid tibia with black, sharply tipped apical spur subequally long as depth of tibia. Hind legs thin, femur short setose ventrally. Abdomen yellow including genitalia (except brown hypandrium), tergites 2–3 darkened dorsally. Tergites appear microtrichose except dorsal parts of last tergites, remaining sclerites including venter and epandrial lamellae lustrous (extent of lustrous and microtrichose parts poorly visible on yellow background). All abdominal setae pale and short except somewhat longer lateral marginals and setae on last segment. Genitalia ( Figs 25–27 ) with cerci short, right cercus digitiform, narrowed apically; left cercus mostly as broad as right cercus but abruptly attenuated apically and produced as narrow pojection; left epandrial lamella as in Fig. 27 , with somewhat convex ventral margin bearing about 20 long setae; right epandrial lamella ( Fig. 25 ) elongate ovate, with row of several long subapical setae and some long setae along ventral margin; right surstylus small. Female. Similar to male except as follows: abdominal tergites appear more lustrous. Length: body 2.1–3.3 mm, wing 2.4–3.6 mm.

Etymology. The species name stresses the similarity with P. lutescens (Collin) in main characters. Distribution. Uzbekistan.

Remarks. The species described above can be recognized according to the key. In basic characters (yellow species with dark arista, single pair of vertical setae and sharp mid tibial spur) it is similar to P. lutescens known only from the Russian Far East ( Collin 1941) and to P. luteolus (Collin) widely distributed in Europe (including the Caucasus) ( Grootaert & Chvála 1992). The new species can be readily distinguished from both these species primarily by its yellow head. Given the very short description of P. l u t e s c en s and fact that the male remains unknown we cannot provide a fuller list of differences between this species and P. sublutescens sp. nov. Platypalpus luteolus has a lustrous clypeus, very narrow and lustrous genae, much narrower mid femora and quite different genitalia with left epandrial lamella deeply concave ventrally.

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 27. Platypalpus sublutescens sp. nov., male terminalia. 25. right epandrial lamella, lateral view. 26. cerci, dorsal view. 27. left epandrial lamella, lateral view. Scale bars = 0.10 mm.