Pherbellia jalili Mortelmans & Kazerani, 2020

Kazerani, Farzaneh, Mortelmans, Jonas, Farashiani, Mohammad Ebrahim & Thorn, Simon, 2020, A new species of Pherbellia (Diptera: Sciomyzidae) from Iran, Zootaxa 4772 (2), pp. 361-370 : 363-366

Pherbellia jalili Mortelmans & Kazerani sp. nov.

(Figs. 2 – 5)

Holotype: ♂ Iran, Golestan Province, Shast-Kola forests, 36°44’12’’N, 54°24’15’’E, 814 m, pan trap, 10.vi.2017, Farzaneh Kazerani leg., [ IMBGI].

Paratypes: 2♂, Iran, Golestan Province, Shast-Kola forests, 36°43’10”N, 54°24’17”E, 817 m, net-sweeping, 10.vi.2017, Farzaneh Kazerani leg [one was completely crushed for barcoding; the other is in the personal collection of the second author]; 2♀, Iran, Golestan Province, Shast-Kola forests, 36°43’10’’N, 54°24’17’’E, 817 m, net-sweeping, 10.vi.2017, Farzaneh Kazerani leg [ IMBGI] ; 2♂, Iran, Golestan Province, Shast-Kola forests, 36°43’00.7”N, 54°23’13.7’’E, 1271 m, pan traps, 12.vi.2017, Farzaneh Kazerani leg [ IMBGI] ; 2♀, Iran: Mazanda- ran Province, Neka forests, 36°21ʹ43.03”N, 53°32ʹ56.7’’E, 1495 m, net-sweeping, 15.vii.2018, Farzaneh Kazerani leg [ IMBGI] .

Diagnosis: This new species of Pherbellia is similar to P. annulipes but differs in the color of the femora, black in P. annulipes , yellow in P. jalili . Especially in the shape of the surstyli is characteristic: rounded in P. annulipes , blunt in P. jalili .

FIG 2. Lateral view of a male paratype of Pherbellia jalili . FIG 3. Detailed lateral view of a male paratype of Pherbellia jalili , showing especially the setulation on the pleura. FIG 4. Lateral view of andrium of a male paratype of P. jalili . Scale bar = 0.5 mm.

FIG 5. Ventral view of andrium of a male paratype of P. jalili . Scale bar = 0.5 mm.

Description: Body length 4.21 mm (excluding antennae); wing length 4.17 mm. Head: Ground color yellow except upper 2/3 of occiput, frontal vitta, ocellar triangle, eye margins, and orbital plates dark brown with grayish pubescence (Fig. 2). Frontal vitta subshining, nearly as broad as ocellar triangle and pointed anteriorly, not reaching half the distance from anteriormost point of ocellar triangle to anterior margin of frons. Face concave in lateral view. Oral margin slightly protruding. Two orbital setae, anterior seta about 2/3 the length of posterior seta. Antennae yellowish. Scape short, yellowish. Pedicel oval, yellow with short black seta, darkened in the apical half. Arista implanted at basodorsal margin of flagellomere. Arista yellow, twice as long as height of yellow flagellomere, with uniformly short, sparse setulae to apex, setulae barely longer than arista at base. Face and gena silvery white, gena about 1/4 height of the eye. Palpus entirely yellow. Proboscis yellow. Thorax and abdomen: Scutum dark brown, dusted gray, covered by hairlike black setulae and with a grayish median stripe and a pair of broad, grayish, pruinose dorsocentral stripes; scutellum uniformly grayish pubescent with broad median brown stripe. Pleura dark brown, dusted grayish golden; proepisternum yellow with one ventral seta; anepisternum yellow with brown stripe on upper margin, bare except for 2–3 setulae ventral to the anterior spiracle; anepimeron with two strong setae and a cluster of 4–5 short setulae; katepisternum setulose (Fig. 3). Mesonotal chaetotaxy: two strong humeral, four notopleurals, two presutural supra-alar, four postsutural supra-alars, four dorsocentrals, two acrostichal, and four scutellars (two basal, two apical). Halter base and stem yellowish with knob slightly infuscated. Calypter small and dark, its margin yellow, with several long yellow setae. All pleura with slight yellowish pubescence. Abdomen yellow except for brown anterior margins of each tergite, these brown bands covered with gray pubescence. All sternites dull grayish, without distinct markings, covered with hairlike black setulae. Legs: Fore coxa yellow with shiny silvery pubescence and a few strong setae, mid and hind coxa yellow with dull white pubescence. Fore femur yellow in anterior and posterior lateral view, dorsal side and apex slightly black, mid- and hind femur yellow, apex darkened. Fore tibia mainly black, slightly yellowish at the base, mid tibia yellow and slightly darkened apically, hind tibia yellow, darkened at the base and apex; fore tarsus black, basitarsus white, mid and hind tarsomeres white. Wing: heavily darkened along costal margin and crossveins, apex slightly darkened. Vein A 1 +CuA 2 reaching wing margin. All veins black except vein Sc yellow. Genital apparatus: Epandrium rounded. Cerci small, yellow. Posterior surstyli large, broader in apical half, triangular with blunt apex, covered with dense black setae, anterior surstyli small, triangular, apex with several short black setae. Both pairs of surstyli protruded ventrally below the andrium (Fig. 3, 4).

Female: Similar to male except for more extensively black forefemur and foretarsus.

Etymology: The species is named after Prof. Adel Jalili (Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands) for his prominent supporting role in biodiversity studies in Iran.

Distribution: Pherbellia jalili is known only from the Hyrcanean forest in Iran, (Fig. 1).

Ecology: Nothing is known of the biology of P. jalili except that adults dwell in the Hyrcanean deciduous forests and is probably a typical representative of deciduous forests. This ecoregion in northern Iran lies in a mountainous humid zone and is covered with temperate deciduous forests, known to hold high degrees of endemism ( Kazerani et al. 2016).