Mormotomyia hirsuta, Austen, 1936

Austen, E. E., 1936, A Remarkable Semi-Apterous Fly (Diptera) found in a Cave in East Africa, and representing a new Family, Genus, and Species., Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 106 (2), pp. 425-431 : 429-430

Mormotomyia hirsuta , sp. n. ( Text-figs. 1-5 .)

♂.- Length (two specimens) 7.5 to 8 mm.; width of head 1.6 mm.; length.of eye just over 0.5 mm.; length of wing 2.5 mm.; approximate length of hind leg 15 to 15.5 mm.

Head, thorax, wings, and legs raw-sienna-coloured, abdomen somewhat darker (Dresden brown) *, entire insect (head,body, wings, and legs),except tarsi, densely clothed with long and exceedingly f i n e, ochraceous-buff or ochraceous-orange hair, which in places i s somewhat darker.

He& ( text-fig. 2 ) somewhat square in profile, with basioccipital region rounded off, and epistoma and facial angles prominent, latter blunt a t tips, and clothed with fine, long and upwardly curved, dark brown vibrisss; vertical triangle swollen and markedly convex, with its lateral margins sharply defined; erect hair clothing anterior extremity of vertical triangle, like that on a longitudinal, eyebrow-like ridge above and in front of each eye, and like hair above

Thorax: scutellum short, convex above; hair on scutellum and on upper surface of posterior half of scutum sometimes dark brown.

Abdomen: hypopygium of d as described in diagnosis of genus and shown in text-fig. 3 .

Wings as described in generic diagnosis and shown in text-fig. 1 and 4 .

Legs (text-figs. 1 and 5): extreme tips of femora, a t least middle and hind pairs, narrowly mummy-brown above, tips of all tibiae mummy-brown below, those of hind pair on out, er side with a row of six short, curved, black spines; first segment of front tarsi clothed below with short mummy-brown or golden-brown hair, longer and more conspicuous a t base; first segment of middle tarsi excavated below in such a way that its base and tip are prominent, while former is clothed with short, stiff, blackish hairs; first segment of hind tarsi a little longer than second and third segments taken together, narrow and tapering, and clothed below with short, stiff, mummy-brown hairs, which are longer a t base of segment, and in certain lights have an ochraceous-buff or golden sheen; tips of all segments of hind tarsi mummy-brown.

East Africa, Kenya Colony. Holotype 3 and one paratype, Garissa District, Ukazzi, v. 1933 (22. B. Sharpe, 1). C.: in coll. British Museum (Natural History),presented by the Imperial Institute of Entomology), taken in a cave inhabited by bats and swifts. When the collector entered the cave a number of these extraordinary insects ‘‘ came floating down from above like feathers. ”

Figures

Text-figure 1. Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen, 3. Greatly enlarged.

Text-figure 2. Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen, 6. Head in profile. Greatly enlarged

Text-figure 3. Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen, d. Distal extromity of abdomen: lateral view, showing hypopygium. (:reatly riilargetl.

Text-figure 4. Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen, 8. Wing. Greatly enlarged.

Text-figure 5. Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen, d. Hind leg. Greatly enlarged.

Text-figure 2. Mormotoinyia hirsuta Austen, 6. Head in profile. Greatly enlarged

Text-figure 3. Miirinotomylte hirsuta Austen, d. Distal extromity of abdomen: lateral view, showing hypopygium. (:reatly riilargetl.