Apolysis pusilloides Gharali & Evenhuis

Gharali, Babak, Kamali, Karim, Evenhuis, Neal & Talebi, Ali Asghar, 2010, Two new species of the genus Apolysis (Apolysini, Bombyliidae, Diptera) from the north of Iran, Zootaxa 2441, pp. 41-52 : 44-46

Apolysis pusilloides Gharali & Evenhuis , sp. nov.

Apolysis sp. Papp, 2005 Figs 2–3 & 6 pp. 265–266.

Specimens examined: Holotype male, and 1 male and 4 female paratypes from Marand, Payam region, N 38° 20' 15ʺ, E 45°46' 59ʺ, 1914 m elev., 27 June 2008, sweeping, leg. H. Lotfalizadeh; 2 male, 4 female paratypes same data as holotype except 8 July 2009, Leg. H. lotfalizadeh & B. Gharali; 5 female paratypes, Barajin region, 8 km North of Ghazvin City, Ghazvin province, N 36° 20' 50ʺ, E 50° 4' 15ʺ, 1512 m elev., 10 June 2008, sweeping, leg. B. Gharali.

Type depositories. Holotype and 2 paratypes [2 females, Marand, 27 June 2008] deposited in collection of Tarbiat Modares University; 2 paratypes [1male, 1female, Marand, 8 July 2009] in personal collection of David Gibbs, 6 paratypes [5 females, Barajin region, 10 June 2008; 1 male, Marand, 8 July 2009] in BPBM, 2 paratypes [1male, 1female, Marand, 8 July 2009] in ZMHB, other paratypes [3 females] in personal collection of first author.

Description. Male ( Fig. 1 ): length 1.8 mm. Head subglobular, slightly higher than long; eyes holoptic; ocellar triangle prominent with a few long whitish hairs; frons yellow with yellowish pubescent; antennae black except base of first flagellomere; scape obconical, longer than wide; pedicel subglobular, slightly higher than long; 1st flagellomere long, cylindrical with an articulated spine-like second flagellomere in addition to a minute stylus; labrum black, stiff, pointed apically, 1.2 times head height; proboscis black, slightly broadened at tip, as long as labrum; palpi yellow; oral margin black except next to antennal insertion, with long yellowish hairs in upper half of oral margin, hairs as long as two basal antennal segments combined; mentum and occiput black with long whitish hairs; occiput very narrow at vertex, broadening posteroventrally.

Thorax. Mesonotum slightly longer than wide, black, heavily pollinose before notopleural suture, with scattered whitish hairs, longest hairs on lateral margin from post pronotal lobe to wing base; post alar calli bare; scutellum black with few yellowish long hairs; anepisternum black, with a small patch of long whitish hairs dorsally; anepimeron, katepisternum and meron black, bare; halter yellow.

Wings ( Fig. 9 ). Hyaline; Sc and humeral cross veins yellowish, remainder blackish; costa ends at Cu2+ A1; subcostal cell tinged yellowish in apical half; br cell 1.3 times bm cell; apical section of R5 subequal in length to penultimate section; anal cell closed before wing margin by a distance three times r-m crossvein; M1 straight, its apical section subequal in length that of discal cell; discal cell closed; M2 straight, apical section of M2 about 1/3 that of discal cell; alula and alar squama well developed, fringe of hairs in posterior margin of wing shortest at wing tip becoming longer toward base.

Leg. All legs completely black except knees yellow, with yellowish pubescence; pulvilli yellow, as long as claws.

Abdomen. Tergite I black, interrupted at middle by a faint triangular yellow mark, remaining tergites black, posterior margins of all tergites narrowly yellow; sternites black, posterior margins narrowly yellow. Male genitalia. ( Figs. 11, 13–16 ). Epandrium subquadrate, nearly as long as wide, with long, yellow hairs, a few hairs thicker and longer; cercus subquadrate, well exposed in lateral view; in dorsal view epandrium wider than long, cercus triangular with shallowly dentate inner margin, with dense yellow bristles; gonocoxites slightly widened apically, fused, with narrow and shallow excavation apicomedially, with dense bristles apically, with inwardly oriented rectangular plates apicomedially, plates with a duplex setae basally and four short bristles apically; gonostyli bottle-shaped with oblique apical margin and four short, thick bristles posteroapically, bristles thicker than others on gonocoxites; epiphallus conical, short, narrowing to tip; ramus narrow; aedeagal basal plate oblong oval; lateral aedeagal apodemes absent; basal aedeagal apodeme flexibly connected to basal plate, about as long as basal plate, with a notch at tip.

Variability. Yellow mark on tergite I is seen in two male specimens (including holotype) and completely absent in the other males.

Female: ( Figs. 2, 7 ). Length 2.2 mm, head subglobular, slightly longer than high; eyes dichoptic, separated at vertex by three times distance between lateral ocelli; frons blackish gray except two yellow triangular spots at antennal insertions, with long whitish hairs in upper half; antennae black except base of 1st flagellomere and inner side of scape; scape obconical longer than wide; pedicel cylindrical, wider than long; 1st flagellomere long, cylindrical, about 3.2 times its greatest width, upper margin straight, lower margin slightly sinuous; occiput black in 1/3 upper part, remainder yellow with dense white, long hairs; mentum yellow with long whitish hairs; oral margin narrow, yellow, about 1/3 as wide as occiput, with long whitish hairs in upper half of oral margin; hairs as long as two basal antennal segments combined; labrum black, stiff, pointed apically, its length two times head high; proboscis as long as labrum, broadened slightly at tip; palpi white, one-segmented.

Legs. Very long subequal in length to body length; coxae yellowish white, with short hairs ventroapically; trochanters yellowish white; femur I yellow with a dorsoapically blackish gray stripe; femur II yellow; femur III yellow with a small dorsoapically blackish mark; tibia I black; tibia II and III yellowish, blackish at base and apical third; tarsi black, 1st tarsal segment subequal in length to other segments combined, 2nd segment as long as 3rd segment; claws black, pulvilli yellow, as long as claws.

Thorax. Mesonotum yellowish gray, dull; post pronotal lobe yellow with few yellow hairs; katepisternum brownish in basal half, apically yellowish; anepisternum yellow with a large black spot basomedially, with a small patch of long whitish hairs dorsally; meron brownish basally, yellowish apically; scutellum yellowish white with a large basomedially black spot; halter yellowish white.

Wing. Similar to male.

Abdomen. Tergites completely black except lateral and posterior margins narrowly yellow; sternites yellow.

Female genitalia ( Figs. 3, 5, 6, 8 ). Furca U-shaped, thinly sclerotized, medially membranous, half length of sperm pump; sperm pump with lateral sclerotized papillae, both sclerotized collars well developed; apical spermathecal duct membranous, length 1.3 times sperm pump, spermathecal reservoir long, black, subcylindrical, tapering to rounded tip, apical third with minute wart-like protuberances, well sclerotized, about 1.5 times length of sperm pump, with scattered minute glands apically, common duct short, membranous.

Variability. In one of female specimens dried by HMDS, the black mark on the scutellum is very large and yellowish color confined to apical margin of scutellum.

Distribution. Currently known from Iran (East Azerbaijan and Ghazvin provinces) and Greece.

Remark. Papp (2005) illustrated the male genitalia of an unknown species from Greece. His illustrations completely match with our new species and it is surely conspecific with Apolysis pusilloides . We think the distribution of the new species is more likely wider and to be found in other countries in the Mediterranean region including Turkey.

Etymology. The specific name derived from the combination of pusilla (a species of Apolysis ) and the Latin suffix oides = similar; referring to morphological similarity of this new species with A. pusilla (Paramonov) .

Diagnosis. This species is very similar to A. pusilla Paramonov, 1929 ( Figs. 4 & 10 ) and A. szappanosi Papp, 2005 but it can be separated from A. pusilla Paramonov, 1929 by hairy face next to and below antennal insertion (face bare in A. pusilla ) ( Figs. 4 & 7 ). Unfortunately A. pusilla is represented by only one single female type specimen so we are not able to compare diagnostic features of the genitalia in these two closely related species also new species is distinguished from A. szappanosi Papp in female by long hairs next to antennal insertion which are as long as two basal segment of antennae combined (hairs shorter and at most as long as scape in A. szappanosi ), absence of bulbous expansion in the base of spermathecal ducts of female genitalia and in male by long hairs next to antennal insertion, dark femora (extensively pale femora) and thick bristles on lateral margin of gonostyli (absent in A. szappanosi ). Apparently specimens of A. szappanosi collected from Polish don’t show any expansion in the base of spermathecal duct opposite to the Papp’s illustrations (2005) (David Gibbs pers. comm.). Although the illustration isn’t depicted precisely but we feel this character is a diagnostic feature and its absence is better to be confirmed by checking the types and related slides and by being sure about conspecificity of polish material with type species.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. A. pusilloides (1 – 3, 5 – 9) and A. pusilla (4, 10). 1. female lateral view, 2. male same, 3. spermathecal reservoir, 4. female head lateral view, 5. vaginal furca 6. female genitalia, 7. female head lateral view, 8. sperm pump, 9. female wing, 10. female wing.

FIGURES 11 – 16. A. pusilloides, 11. gonostyli, 12. Antennae lateral view, 13. hypandrium dorsal view, 14. epandrium dorsal view, 15. epandrium lateral view, 16. Gonocoxites and gonostyli, dorsal view.