Prionolabis pjotri, Hancock, E. Geoffrey, Hewitt, Stephen M., Horsfield, David, Lyszkowsi, Richard M., Macgowan, Iain, Ricarte, Antonio, Rotheray, Graham E. & Watt, Kenneth, 2015

Hancock, E. Geoffrey, Hewitt, Stephen M., Horsfield, David, Lyszkowsi, Richard M., Macgowan, Iain, Ricarte, Antonio, Rotheray, Graham E. & Watt, Kenneth, 2015, Nematocera flies recorded in Serra do Courel, northwest Spain, May 2012 (Diptera: Anisopodidae, Blepharoceridae, Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae, Tipulidae and Trichoceridae) including descriptions of two new species of Limoniidae, Zootaxa 3911 (2), pp. 231-244 : 236

Prionolabis pjotri sp. nov. Hancock

Description. Head and entire body shining black, quite strongly dusted (pruinose) especially on the pleurae, less so on scutum and dorsally on abdomen, sparsely pale haired; apices of coxae, trochanters and bases of femora brown. Antennae 16 segmented. Wing membrane pale grey, stigma dark, wing veins yellow on basal third; medial vein four-branched (i.e., upper branch forked and so cell M1 present). Halteres yellow. Male wing length 8.00mm, ranging from 6.6 to 9.0mm (sample size = 19). Male genitalia ( Figure 15) with outer dististyle bifurcate at tip, inner one angled after swollen medial section resembling a bird’s beak. Parameres are flattened and only lightly sclerotised, expanding before a squared off truncated tip.

Female same colouration as male but with apex of 8th tergite, cerci and sternal valves of ovipositor yellowbrown; wing reduced ( Figure 16), length 2mm (sample size = 1).

Holotype: male, Alto do Couto, Lugo, Galicia, Spain, 25 May 2012, E.G. Hancock. Deposited in The Hunterian Zoology Museum, University of Glasgow (Accession number 150630).

Paratypes: five males swept on woodland edge, nr Moreda, 26 May 2012; eleven males and one female, nr Mercurin, 27 May 2012; one male by Rio Lor, Ferrería Nova, Seoane do Courel, 30 May 2012; E.G. Hancock, The Hunterian Zoology Museum, University of Glasgow (Entry No. 897). Three additional specimens also designated as paratypes in the collection of J. Starý, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic: one male, San Martin, Lugo, 22 March 1984, E. Eiroa; two males, 23 km south of Betanzos, A Coruna, in wet deciduous forest, 16 May 1994, P. Oosterbroek & C. Hartveld.

Details in the male genitalia are distinctive, particularly the inner dististyle with its strong resemblance to the profile of a bird and the truncate apex to the pale and flattened parameres ( Figure 15). The female’s wings are long enough to retain recognisable venation. The colouration seen in the live habitus photographs ( Figures 17 and 18 ) shows the strong contrast between the yellow wing bases and the rest of the insect in both sexes.

Etymology. The expertise of Pjotr Oosterbroek, managing the collections under his care and the creation and development of the Cranefly Catalog of the World is commemorated in naming this species.

Discussion. There is one other known Spanish species in this genus, Prionolabis hospes (Egger) , which is widespread in the western Palaearctic. It cannot be confused with P. pjotri in its lack of a branch to vein M 1 in the male, the female having even smaller wings with much reduced venation and is not black in colour. One other species Prionolabis longeantennata (Strobl) does have four branches to M but the antennae are almost as long as the body as does P. s c h m i d i Starý, but which has even longer antennae, as long as or longer than the body ( Starý, 2006).

Figures

FIGURE 17. Prionolabis pjotri n. sp., photograph of male, Galicia, 2012 (Courtesy of Belen, Diptera. Info website)

FIGURE 18. Prionolabis pjotri n. sp., photograph of female, Galicia, 2012 (Courtesy of Belen, Diptera. Info website).