Apolysis glabrifrons 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 : 46-51

Apolysis glabrifrons Gharali & Evenhuis , sp. nov.

Specimens examined: Holotype male and 4 males, 5 female paratypes from Joladak village, 36° 21' 7ʺ N, 50° 32' 18ʺ E, 2400 m elev., 15 May–23 July 2007, white and yellow pan traps, Leg. Babak Gharali, 4 male 6 female paratypes, same data as holotype except 27 June–21 August 2008, 5 male 4 female paratypes, same data as holotype except 1 July–21 August 2009.

Type depositories. Holotype and 4 paratypes [2 males, 2 females, 15 May–23 July 2007] deposited in the collection of Tarbiat Modares University; 5 paratypes [2 males, 3 females, 1 July–21 August 2009] in the personal collection of David Gibbs, 9 paratypes [4 males, 5 females, 27 June–21 August 2008] in BPBM, 4 paratypes [2 males, 2 females, 1 July–21 August 2009] in ZMHB, other paratypes [3 males, 3 females] in personal collection of first author.

Description. Holotype. Male ( Fig. 17 ): Length: 2.1 mm. Head. completely black, subglobular, slightly higher than long; eyes holoptic; ocellar tubercle prominent with few long whitish hairs; frons bare; gena narrow, gray pollinose; oral margin bare, occiput very narrow dorsally, swollen posteroventrally; occiput, mentum and gena with long, whitish hairs; maxillary palp black; labrum blackish brown, sclerotized, stiff, pointed apically, 1/2 as long as head; proboscis blackish brown, with fleshy wide tip, slightly longer than labrum; antennae blackish brown, 1/2 as long as head, antennal ratio: 1: 1: 2.6; scape obconical, about as long as wide; pedicel elliptical, wider than long; 1st flagellomere clavate, length about 2 times its greatest width; lower margin straight, upper margin curved, apically rounded with an excavation; sensillum hyaline, as long as brown style.

Thorax. Thorax as wide as head, dense gray pollinose anteriorly; mesonotum with scattered, whitish pubescence, longer and denser laterally between post pronotal lobe and transverse suture; postalar calli bare; scutellum blackish brown with long whitish hairs marginally; anepisternum dorsally with whitish long hairs; katepisternum, metapleuron, and meron bare.

Legs. Coxa I and all femora blackish brown with sparse whitish hairs ventrally; coxae II & III with whitish hairs apicoventrally; tibia whitish pubescent; tarsi black; metatarsus as long as other segments combined; pulvilli white, as long as claws.

Wing ( Fig. 22 ). Hyaline, veins yellowish; costa ends at Cu2+ A1; subcostal cell clouded yellowish in apical half; br cell about as long as bm cell; junction of R4 with R5 about 1/2 distance from base of R4+5 to wing margin; anal cell closed before wing margin by a distance subequal to r-m crossvein; M1 straight, its apical section equal in length that of discal cell; M2 straight, its length 0.6 that of discal cell; discal cell closed; alula and alar squama well developed, a fringe of hairs on posterior margin of wing shortest at wing tip becoming longer toward base.

Abdomen. With scattered whitish pubescent; tergite II brown, other tergites brown with narrow whitish posterior margins, tergites II–V whitish laterally, remainder brown; sternites brown.

Male genitalia. ( Figs. 23, 25–29 ). In lateral view epandrium rectangular, higher than long, brownish, apically less sclerotized and hyaline; cerci semicircular, exserted apically, about half the epandrium in length; gonocoxite long, triangular, slightly longer than epandrium, apically rounded, in ventral view gonocoxites fused, oval, tapering to apex with deep excavation apically, with two short, apicomesal lobes; gonostyli comma-shaped, bifid apically; epiphallus conical tapering to rounded tip; aedeagal bulb large; basal aedeagal apodeme narrow, two times the lateral apodeme in length, elliptical; lateral apodeme rectangular.

Female. ( Fig. 18 ) as male except following characters:

Eyes dichoptic, separated at vertex by two times distance between lateral ocelli; frons depressed medially, almost bare with a few hardly visible yellowish pubescent at eye margins.

Female genitalia: ( Figs. 19–21 ). Furca U-shaped, thinly sclerotized, sclerotization interrupted at the base of lateral arms, membranous medially; apical spermathecal duct long, thin, membranous, its length about 13 times that of sperm pump, broadening gradually to apex, with a bulbous expansion next to sperm pump; spermathecal reservoir elliptical, short, black, well sclerotized, its length one half that of sperm pump; sperm pump with sclerotized papillae laterally, both sclerotized collars well developed, sperm pump 0.8 times lateral arm of vaginal apodeme and 2 times spermathecal reservoir in length; basal spermathecal ducts short, membranous; common duct and vaginal opening membranous.

Distribution. Iran (Ghazvin province).

Etymology. The specific name derived from the Latin, glabri = bare + frons; referring to absence of hairs on the frons.

Diagnosis: Apolysis glabrifrons sp. nov. is similar to A. gobiensis Zaitzev, 1975 but is distinguished from it by the bare face and frons (frons and face hairy in A. gobiensis ), long white hairs of the occiput (with forwardly oriented black hairs in A. gobiensis ) and shorter 1st flagellomere of the antennae, 1.2 times as long as basal segments combined (1st flagellomere 2 times as long as basal segments combined in A. gobiensis ), and the male gonostyli bifid apically and comma-shaped, (with a lateral preapical denticle in A. gobiensis ). Apolysis glabrifrons is similar to A. beijingensis but it is easily separated by blackish gray scutellum (yellow in A. beijingensis ). Apolysis glabrifrons sp. nov. is also closely related to two Chinese species: A. beijingensis (Yang & Yang) and A. galba Yang et al. , but our species is separated from the former by the short 1st flagellomere, the length of which is only two times greatest width (three times in A. beijingensis ), the gray color of dusting in anterior half of mesonotum (white dusted in A. beijingensis ) and the deep invagination of fused gonocoxites apically (shallow invagination with straight lower margin in A. beijingensis ); and is separated from the latter by the short 1st flagellomere (four times greatest width in A. galba ), bare frons (with short sparse black erect hairs in A. galba ), the gray color of dusting in anterior half of mesonotum (white dusted in A. galba ), and the shape of spermathecal reservoir which is elliptical and without constriction medially (medially constricted in A. galba ).

Discussion. Based on a single damaged female specimen, Paramonov (1929) described Apolysis pusilla originally in Dagestania , deriving the genus-group name from the type locality. Paramonov placed his new species in a new genus because it did not fit in the three previous known genera with a closed discal cell, namely: Geron Meigen, 1820 , Oligodranes Loew, 1844 and Parageron Paramonov, 1929 . It differed from Geron by the bare antennae, small and non-cylindrical scape slightly longer than pedicel (not 2 1/2–3 times pedicel), oral cavity extending to base of antennae, and the absence of a face below the antennae; from Oligodranes by the short and one-segmented palpi (two segmented in Oligodranes ); and from Parageron by the anal cell closed far from wing margin and the bare thorax.

Papp (2005) described his A. szappanosi from Hungary and illustrated the male and female genitalia. Unfortunately, the female genitalia were incorrectly depicted and the sperm pump was not drawn and its position to other parts was not shown. Nevertheless, both A. szappanosi and A. pusilloides , have some shared male genitalic features: there is no lateral aedeagal apodeme and the basal aedeagal apodeme is moderately long and, at least in our species, flexible; also they have similar gonostyli: oblong oval, tapering to the end; and a short and conical epiphallus whose sclerite as long as basal plate; the gonocoxite has two inwardly oriented plates; the basal aedeagal apodeme is suddenly narrowed leaving the apical part as a notch; and the narrow ramus. Interestingly, the male genitalia of Parageron turkmenicus Paramonov, 1947 has similar features (David Gibbs pers. comm.).

In females of all three species ( A. szappanosi , A. pusilloides sp. nov. and A. pusilla ), the spermathecal reservoir is black, well sclerotized, cylindrical and moderately long (in comparison with A. glabrifrons ). Considering the genitalic similarity among these four species we feel these four species constitute a group of closely related species that we call the pusilla species group. At this moment because of unavailability of specimens from these four species we are not able to check all characters and find good diagnostic morphological characters to define this group. It is possible that this new finding may necessitate resurrection of Dagestania as a valid genus or subgenus, but without a comprehensive review of all species in the Palaearctic region, checking their types, examining their male and female genitalia, and considering the variation in this genus worldwide, we believe acting on this idea would be premature at this time.

Except A. ornata (whose types are destroyed), each species of the genus Apolysis with a closed discal cell have been known from only female or only male specimens so it is somewhat difficult to accurately interpret their descriptions. Moreover, their descriptions included few characters and in a short and incomplete form. Also most species were described without illustrations. Only A. szappanosi Papp was described with both male and female genitalia illustrated while A. gobiensis Zaitzev and A. beijingensis Yang & Yang, 1994 have only male genitalia illustrations. Hence, a comprehensive review of this group of species is desirable for a better understanding of the range of variation of characters found in this genus.

We thus feel that providing key to all the species of this genus is premature at this time and we provide only a key for Iranian species (see above) and a table dividing species in two groups to aid proper identification ( Table 1).

Apolysis albella Zaitzev, 1972 A. beijingensis ( Yang & Yang, 1994) A. andalusiaca (Strobl, 1898) A. dolichorostris (Paramonov, 1947) A. cinerea (Perris, 1877) A. fumipennis (Loew, 1844)

A. eremophila Loew, 1873 A. glabrifrons Gharali & Evenhuis sp. nov. A. montivaga Francois, 1969 A. gobiensis Zaitzev, 1975

A. major Zaitzev, 1975 A. langemarki ( Francois, 1969) A. zaitzevi Evenhuis, 1990 A. ornata (Engel, 1932)

A. pusilla ( Paramonov, 1929)

A. pusilloides Gharali & Evenhuis sp. nov. A. superba ( Engel, 1933)

A. szappanosi Papp, 2005

Figures

FIGURES 17 – 22. A. glabrifrons. 17. male, 18. female. 19. vaginal furca, 20. female genitalia, 21. sperm pump 22. female wing.

FIGURES 23 – 29. A. glabrifrons 23. epandrium lateral view, 24. female antennae lateral view, 25. phallic complex dorsal view, 26. Gonostyli, 27. Gonocoxites and gonostyli ventral view, 28. hypandrium dorsal view, 29. gonocoxites and gonostyli lateral view.