Epicnemis linguiformis, Chu & Liu, 2020

Chu, Meng-Ying & Liu, Guang-Chun, 2020, First record of genus Epicnemis Borgmeier, 1962 (Aenigmatiinae: Phoridae: Diptera) from China, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4772 (3), pp. 593-596 : 593-595

Epicnemis linguiformis sp. n.

Diagnosis. Frons convergent upward; pulpus with 6 setae apically and without hairs ventrally; vein costal index about 0.6, vein M 1 curved rewards; longitudinal hair palisade of mid tibia extending to 2/3 of its length; anal tube as long as upside of epandrium; left side of epandrium with a spherical, tongue-like process; right side of epandrium with a long finger-like process; penis complex long.

Description. Male. Frons ( Fig. 3 ) brown, higher than broad, convergent upward, with 75–85 hairs. Supra-antennal setae close together, as long as other frontal setae. Lower interfrontal setae about mid way between supra-antennals and lower fronto-orbital setae, but latter higher on frons. Upper interfrontal setae further apart than lower interfrontal setae. Ocellar triangle with many hairs, the ocelli globular, raised. Outer vertical setae short. Flagellomere 1 globular, but slightly pointed apically, and light brown. Arista pre-apical in position. Palpus as broad as diameter of Flagellomere 1, light yellow with six small setae at apex. Proboscis small, with small labrum.

Thorax ( Fig. 1 ) yellow brown with darker rear margins of scutum and scutellum. Anepisternum with about 25 hairs on upper half. Notopleuron with 2 setae. Scutellum with four equally developed setae.

Legs ( Figs. 4–6 ) dusky yellow. Fore tibia with a row of 7–8 short dorsal setae. Mid tibia with a longitudinal hair palisade extending to 2/3 of its length and with a set of transverse antero-dorsal hair combs below its tip. A short anterodorsal seta and a postero-dorsal seta in basal quarter; another antero-dorsal seta in half length. Hind tibia with a complete longitudinal hair palisade and a row of 4 short antero-dorsal setae.

Wing ( Fig. 2 ) length 2.96–3.05 mm. Costal index 0.58–0.60. Costal ratios 2.18–2.19: 1. Costal cilia minute, 0.018 – 0.020 mm long, the posterior row incomplete, and not reaching end of costal section 1. Vein Rs with 1 small hairs at its base. Vein Sc obscure, except at extreme base. Vein M 1 concaved and curved backward at apex. Vein M 2 a little S-formed, and curved forward apically. All veins brown, but vein A1 pale. Membrane tinged light brown. With two well developed axillary setae. Halter with brown knob and paler stem.

Abdominal tergites ( Fig. 1 ) mainly yellow brown, with dark brown sides. Rear of tergite VI pale yellow. All tergites covered with robust short hairs, which are a little longer on tergite VI. Venter dusky yellow, almost bare apart from some short robust hairs adjacent to tergite VI.

Terminalia ( Figs. 7–8, 9–10 ) yellow brown, with greyish yellow anal tube. The penis complex is generally brown to dark brown. Left side of epandrium rounded, with 8–10 hairs along apical margin and with a tongue-like process ventrally, which covered with minute agnails. A deep crack at the base of the process. Right side of epandrium with three processes: the upper one rounded apically, with about 7–8 seta-like hairs; the mid one triangular, with a long seta on its base; the lower one long, finger-like, with a lot of hairs apically. Penis complex long and extending downward. Anal tube relative long, as long as dorsal length of epandrium.

Female: unknown.

Etymology. The ethnic name refers to the tongue-like process of left side of epandrium.

Materials examined. Holotype ♂, China: Jiangxi, Jian (26°54′01.56″N, 114°21′34.71″E; 174m), 24 May 2009, Tao Li; papatypes. 9 ♂, same data as holoty; 1 ♂, same locality and collector, 10 May 2009; 3 ♂, same locality and collector, 8 Jun 2009; 2 ♂, China: Jiangxi, Quannan, Mt. Jiulian (24°40′35.83″N, 114°35′03.96″E; 545m), 12 Jun 2011, Tao Li.

Remarks. The new species is different from all other species of the genus by its tongue-like process of the left side on epandrium and a long finger-like hairy process of the right side of epandrium. Comparing to other described species of the genus the new species is similar to E. namkyensis Mostovski, 2000 , in terms of long anal tube and penis complex, but it directly distinguished by the characters of epandrium. In addition, it is also different from latter by palpus with 6 apical setae and without hairs ventrally, longitudinal hair palisade of mid tibia extending 2/3 of its length and with a longer costa.

Figures

FIGURES 1–10. Epicnemis linguiformis, sp. n. 1. body, left view; 2. wing; 3. head; 4. fore tibia; 5. mid tibia; 6. hind tibia; 7. left side of epandrium; 8. right side of epandrium; 9. process of left epandrium; 10. process of right ependrium. Scale bar = 0.5mm (Figs. 1–2); scale bare = 0.2mm (Figs. 3–8); scale bare = 0.1mm (Figs. 9–10).