Gondwanodromia lutea, Sinclair & Saigusa, 2022

Sinclair, Bradley J. & Saigusa, Toyohei, 2022, A New Aquatic Associated Genus of Trichopezinae from the Southern Hemisphere (Diptera: Empidoidea: Brachystomatidae), Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 74 (3), pp. 75-98 : 83-84

Gondwanodromia lutea sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C1839E02-29C6-4001-A3FC-FD9AA735CCF4

Figs 18 , 50

Holotype ♂, labelled: “Ben Cairn [37°43'N 145°37'E], 12 mls./ SE. of Healesville,/ Vic[toria]./ 31 Aug. 1966 / N. Dobrotworsky ”; “ HOLOTYPE / Gondwanodromia / lutea/ Sinclair & Saigusa” ( ANIC).

Diagnosis. The species is readily distinguished by the bright yellow legs and halteres and elongate postpedicel clothed in long microtrichia.

Description. Wing length 3.9 mm. Male. Head. Eye with ommatrichia. Frons brown. Face broad; broad, subequal to width of antennal sockets. Ocellar setae long and divergent, inserted anteromedial to lateral ocelli; one shorter posterior seta; 2 vertical setae, outer seta erect above eye, shorter than ocellar seta; occipital setae shorter and thinner than vertical setae. Antenna with scape longer than pedicel; postpedicel more than 2× height of eye, with long microtrichia. Proboscis withdrawn into cranium, full length unknown; palpus pale brown.

Thorax. Dark brown, with greasy file obscuring pruinescence; apex of postpronotal lobe, postalar callus and wall yellow. Antepronotum not visible. Acrostichal setae uniserial, about half length of dorsocentral setae; 6–8 uniserial dorsocentral setae, anterior seta set off laterally from row; 1 long postpronotal seta and 1 shorter anterior 84 Records of the Australian Museum (2022) Vol. 74 seta; 1 presutural supra-alar seta; 3 notopleural setae, middle seta stronger and nearly twice length of other setae; 2–3 postsutural supra-alar setae; 1 postalar seta; 2 pairs of scutellar setae, outer pair more than half length of inner pair. Laterotergite without setae. Wing. Clear with extreme base yellowish; basal costal seta long and slender. Halter bright yellow. Legs. Coxae yellow, apical setae pale brown; femora and base of tibiae yellow, remaining leg segments increasingly darker apically. Femora long and slender; fore femur without distinct rows of ventral setae; mid femur with row of long posteroventral setae, setae at mid-length longer than width of femur; hind femur with erect dorsal setae near base. Tibiae and tarsi long and slender, without distinct setae.

Abdomen. Base yellowish brown. Tergites 5 and 6 with patch of dense lateral setae on posterior half; upper setae elongate and silky, lower setae very short. Tergite 6 with long dorsal setae on posterior half, nearly as long as tergite, setae longer than on other tergites. Sternite 7 not prolonged posterolaterally into narrow lobe. Tergite 8 trapezoidal, half-length of sternite 8; anterior and posterior margins deeply concave, bearing setae, denser on expanded lateral margin; sternite 8 trapezoidal, with setae longer than anterior sternites, prolonged posterolaterally to articulate with hypandrium. Terminalia ( Fig. 18 ). Cercus thinly sclerotized, setose, tapered apically; base expanded laterally, bearing several long setae directed anterodorsally. Epandrium narrow, subrectangular, not divided, anterior and posterior halves equally narrow; without dorsal bridge. Surstylus sickle-shaped, narrow and arched upright. Hypandrium tubular, arched; thin gonocoxal apodeme on anterior margin; apex with subapical sickle-shaped process flanking phallus. Phallus narrow, arched within hypandrium; ejaculatory apodeme elongate and narrow.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The species is named from the Latin luteus (yellow), in reference to the pale legs, halteres and base of the wing.

Distribution. This species is currently known only from the type locality in Victoria, Australia ( Fig. 50 ).

Figures

Figures 17–18. Male terminalia of New Zealand andAustralian species of Gondwanodromia, lateral view: (17) G. elongata sp. nov.; (18) G. lutea sp. nov. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.Abbreviations: cerc – cercus; epand – epandrium; hypd – hypandrium; ph – phallus; sur – surstylus.

Figures 50–52. Distribution of Gondwanodromia: (50) Australian species; (51) New Zealand species; (52) South American species.