Neosciomyza peckorum, McAlpine, 2012

McAlpine, David K., 2012, Notes and Descriptions of Australian Helosciomyzidae or Comb-winged flies (Diptera: Schizophora), Records of the Australian Museum 64 (1), pp. 51-70 : 68

Neosciomyza peckorum n.sp.

Figs 1 , 8–10 , 14 , 28

Type material. Holotype ♂. Australian Capital Territory: Picadilly Circus [road junction], Brindabella Range , c. 800 m, 29.iv.1972, D.K.M., K.T.R. ( AM K264387 ). Doublemounted on micro-pin through polyporus . Paratypes. Australian Capital Territory: 1♂, Picadilly Circus , April 1978, S.B.P., J.K.-P. ( ANIC) ; 1♀, Black Mountain, Canberra , July 1960, I.F.C. ( ANIC) . New South Wales: 1♂, Kanangra- Boyd National Park , 1 km N of Boyd River bridge, c. 1200 m, Oct. 2005, D.K.M. ( AM) .

Other material examined. Victoria: 3♂♂, Acheron Gap, near Warburton , 750 m, April 1978, S.B.P., J.K.-P. ( ANIC) .

Description (male, female). Rather large, slightly elongate, predominantly dull tawny fly, with almost unmarked wing; most parts pruinescent and non-shining.

Coloration (clean specimens which have not passed through alcohol). Head, in large part, tawny-orange; postfrons with darker tawny-brown ocellar region, largely covered with greyish pruinescence, and paler grey to yellowish-pruinescent orbital margin; face and cheeks paler than rest of head, yellowish with whitish pruinescence. Antenna largely dark brown; more basal parts of segment 3 tawny. Prelabrum yellow to grey-brown; palpus tawny-yellow basally, greybrown on distal third or more. Thorax dorsally tawny-orange; mesoscutum broadly creamy grey-pruinescent on lateral margins, with narrower pale-pruinescent dorsocentral stripe interrupted at suture and between the two dorsocentral bristles, and very narrow less distinct median pale-pruinescent stripe; humeral callus pale-pruinescent, except on ventral margin near spiracle; scutellum without pale-pruinescent margins; pleura tawny-orange, very generally covered with dense pale greyish to yellowish pruinescence, mesopleuron thus without any exposed tawny areas. Legs largely pale tawny-orange; all femora broadly brown-black at apices; tibiae all brown-black apically, mid and hind tibiae also with brown basal zone; tarsal segment 3 partly brown, segments 4 and 5 usually darker brown. Wing: membrane slightly tinged with yellow-brown, less intensely so than in Luta luteipennis ; subcostal cell with broad yellow-brown blotch restricted to part of cell near end of subcosta; veins tawny; anterior and discal crossveins without trace of darker pigmentation. Halter yellow. Abdomen tawny, without distinct darker markings; tergites 1 to 4 covered with fine rather dense greyish pruinescence; tergite 5, in contrast, smooth and glossy, pruinescent only near lateral margins; in male sternite 8 and in female tergite 6 glossy like tergite 5.

Head slightly higher than long, slightly angularly produced anteriorly so that face is oblique in profile; cheek 0.43–0.50 as high as eye, with numerous fine setulae not reduced to single series anteriorly; face with very slightly

Figures

Figure 28. Neosciomyza peckorum, left wing of holotype. Longitudinal veins: sc, subcosta; v1–v7, veins 1 to 7. Crossveins: ac, anterior crossvein; an, anal crossvein; dc, discal crossvein; hm, humeral crossvein. Cells: al, anal cell; di, discal cell; ma, marginal cell; sm, submarginal cell; su, subcostal cell; 1b, first basal cell; 1p, first posterior cell; 2b, second basal cell; 2c, second costal cell.

Figures 1–3. Left hind tibia, anterior view of apical part. (1) Neosciomyza peckorum. (2) Helosciomyza bickeli. (3) Cobergius vittatus. as, apical ventral spurs; pd, preapical dorsal bristle; sa, subapical anterior bristle.

Figures 8–10. Neosciomyza peckorum, ventral views of male left hind tarsus. (8) entire tarsus. (9) detail of basitarsus showing scopula. (10) microstructure of scopula; scale = 10 µm.

Figures 14–18. (14) Neosciomyza peckorum (Boyd River), terminal part of epandrium and associated structures, anterior view, right anterior epandrial process cut away for clarity, scale = 0.5 mm. (15) Helosciomyza bickeli (Cobcroft Creek), left surstylus, outer view, scale = 0.2 mm. (16) H. fuscinevris (Clarence, near Lithgow), left surstylus, outer view. (17) same specimen, right surstylus, outer view. (18) H. subacuta (Wannon River), left surstylus, outer view. Figs 15–18 all same scale. aep, anterior epandrial process; bsp, basal surstylar process; c, cercus; ep, epandrium; ss, surstylus.