Metopina cindybrownae, DISNEY, 2003

DISNEY, R. H. L., 2003, Tasmanian Phoridae (Diptera) and some additional Australasian species, Journal of Natural History 37 (5), pp. 505-639 : 607-608

Metopina cindybrownae sp. nov.

(figure 51A)

Material

H  : female, Western Australia, 34°24∞S, 116°10∞E, 14–15 September 1996 (Cindy Brown —25-10) (West Australian Museum, Perth ) .

Etymology Named after the collector Cindy Brown.

Diagnosis

Abdominal tergite 5 with large anterior flap that is longer than wide; T 3 wider than long; T 4 almost as long as wide; wing veins brown with four to six distinct at low magnifcations; membrane lightly tinged brown; antial, anterolateral and pre-ocellars bristles well developed.

Female

Frons dark brown. A pair of ocellars and a pair of well-developed bristles on vertex each side. Third antennal segment brown with 6–10 SPS vesicles, which are at most as large as sockets of SA bristles, and arista long haired. Distal half of palp brown, not greatly enlarged, with six bristles and at least twice as many hairs. Labrum brown and large. Labella mainly pale, short and with conspicuous teeth on inner faces. Thorax brown. Humeral bristles small. Three bristles on notopleuron. Scutellum with anterior pair of short, hair like, bristles and a posterior pair of long bristles. Abdominal tergites brown, small and with minute hairs, which are a little longer on T 5. T 2 only 1.5× as wide as long. T 3– T 5 as figure 51A. T 6 similar to figure 52C but with hairs. Anterior margin of T 10, between the apodemes, almost straight. Venter pale grey, with paler intersegmental bands; with numerous hairs below segments 3–6, on flanks of 5–6 and dorsally on 2–6. Brown cerci>3× as long as broad and with several fine hairs, of which none are as long as a cercus. Furca an irregular yellowish brown hoop. Legs brown. Front basitarsus not swollen, only segments 1–3 with posterodorsal hair palisade, and segment 5 slightly longer than 4. Posterior face of hind femur with conspicuous microsculpture of chickenwire polygos. Posterior face of hind basitarsus with six transverse combs and row of three apical setae. Wing 1.2–1.3 mm long. Costal index 0.52. Costal ratios 0.65:1. Costal cilia 0.04 mm long. Thickness of costa subequal to vein 3. Haltere brown.