Platypalpus subinfectus, 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 : 363-364

Platypalpus subinfectus sp. nov.

( Figs 22–24 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, labelled: “ UZBEKISTAN, Karamazar, damp meadow, 41°32'N, 69°48'E, 500 m, 18.v.1989, M. Barták” ( CULSP). PARATYPES: UZBEKISTAN: 1♂, same data as holotype ( CULSP).

Diagnosis. Black species with 1 pair of vertical setae; stylus thickened, subequal in length to narrow and long postpedicel; mesoscutum microtrichose, katepisternum largely lustrous; legs yellow with dark knees of mid leg and apical part of hind femur; mid tibia with long and pointed apical spur, posteroventral setae on mid femur present.

Description. Male. Head black, occiput rather dark grey, frons and face (including clypeus) light grey microtrichose. Frons » 0.05 mm broad on lower part (about as broad as pedicel) and 0.09 mm broad on upper part (at level of anterior ocellus). Face » 0.04 mm broad at middle. Gena lustrous, narrow. Antenna black, both basal segments very slightly lighter, brownish (or reddish) black, postpedicel narrow at base and equally narrowing apically, 3.4–4.0X longer than broad, stylus distinctly thickened (0.02 mm broad), subequal in length to postpedicel (1.0–1.2X longer). Palpus broadly ovate, brown, small (about 1/3rd as long as proboscis), with long, pale subterminal seta and 2 additional shorter setae. Ocellar setae pale, » 0.13 mm long, posterior pair pale and relatively long. One pair of long (» 0.16 mm), pale vertical setae rather closely separated (» 0.15 mm distance) in paratype, in holotype left seta longer and right one undeveloped. Occiput sparsely covered with somewhat darkened short setae on upper part and slightly longer paler setae on lower part. Proboscis slightly more than half as long as height of head, brownish-black. Thorax brownish-black, light grey microtrichose, katepisternum with large triangular lustrous spot in middle, both anterior and posterior parts narrowly microtrichose. All setae whitish yellow. Chaetotaxy: postpronotal seta long and strong; acrostichals biserial, rather long (» 0.07 mm), 8–9 setae in row, with several additional setae posteriorly on prescutellar depression; dorsocentrals uniserial, longer than acrostichals and bristle-like, ending in 1–2 longer prescutellar pairs; notopleuron with 2–3 long setae: 2 on posterior part (lower one shorter than upper) and 1 strong anterior notopleural seta; 1 postalar and 1 pair of scutellar setae (with 2 additional smaller hairs). Wing clear, with yellow veins. R4+5 and M1 slightly bowed and convergent at apex. Crossveins widely separated. Cu almost perpendicular and straight or slightly S-shaped. Costal seta yellow, long. Squama yellow with yellow fringes, halter pale yellow. Legs yellow, mid and hind coxae, mid leg knees and distal half of hind femur brown; all tarsi faintly brownish annulated, last segment almost entirely dark. All setae pale (except ventral spines on mid femur and tibia). Fore femur thickened on basal third, with row of rather long posteroventral setae. Fore tibia almost not thickened, short setose. Mid femur slightly deeper than fore femur, with several long, pale posteroventral setae. Mid tibia with long, sharply pointed apical spur. Hind legs thin, short setose. Abdomen blackish-brown, lustrous, only lateral parts of tergite 1 and narrow base of tergite 2 microtrichose; sparsely covered with short pale setae, somewhat longer setae on lateral and ventral parts of terminal segments. Genitalia ( Figs 22–24 ) with right cercus short, club-shaped; left cercus digitiform, narrow, with pointed submediate internal process; left epandrial lamella subtriangular, with rounded apex, ventral margin somewhat convex on basal part, with some more or less evenly distributed 35 setae (partly illustrated in Fig. 24 ); right epandrial lamella elongate ovate, with row of several long subapical setae; right surstylus small ( Fig. 22 ). Female. Unknown. Length: body 1.9–2.1 mm, wing 2.1–2.3 mm.

Etymology. The specific name stresses the similarity with P. infectus (Collin) .

Distribution. Uzbekistan.

Remarks. In fundamental characters the species described above is similar to P. infectus , which is widely distributed in Europe, sharing a single pair of vertical setae, dark antennae, microtrichose clypeus, microtrichose mesoscutum with yellow setae and biserial acrostichals, presence of anterior notopleural seta, long posteroventrals on mid femur, dark mid leg knees, long mid tibial spur, and lustrous abdomen ( Chvála 1989). But the new species differs from P. infectus in the following characters: smaller species with postpedicel much narrower and longer, stylus thickened (as in P. aristatus (Collin) known from Egypt (Grootaert & Chvála 1992)), hind femur bicolorous (with yellow proximal part and brown distal part) and different genitalia (left epandrial lamella without dorsointernal carina, with much narrower tip and with subdorsal rib-like structure).

Figures

FIGURES 22 – 24. Platypalpus subinfectus sp. nov., male terminalia. 22. right epandrial lamella, lateral view. 23. cerci, dorsal view. 24. left epandrial lamella, lateral view. Scale bars = 0.10 mm.