Teuchophorus miles, Meuffels & Grootaert, 2004

Meuffels, Henk & Grootaert, Patrick, 2004, The genus Teuchophorus in South-East Asia and New Guinea, description of new species, species-groups and their phylogeny (Insecta, Diptera, Dolichopodidae), Journal of Natural History 38 (2), pp. 143-258 : 164-166

Species 9: Teuchophorus miles sp. nov. (male)

(figures 48–53)

Etymology. Lat. miles , ‘soldier’, alluding to its heavily ‘armed’ legs.

Diagnosis. Rather large species, without stigma. Hind tibia ventrally at basal third with a protuberance, bearing a tuft of deep black, coagulated hairs. Mid femur on basal fourth with two long, rigid bristles, and at apical fourth with a long, thin, pale av. Mid tibia ventrally with three long bristles of unequal strength.

Material examined. H   male: Indonesia, Irian Jaya: Nabire, Idojaga river km 80, 26 April 1997 (No. 970047, leg. P. Grootaert and Ph. Hoyois) .

Male

Body length 1.6 mm; wing length 1.35 mm.

Head. Frons and face with shining dark metallic green ground colour. Face narrowing downwards; eyes nearly touching each other on lower half of face. Palpi dark brown, with short, thin hairs, each with a small, black apical bristlet. Rostrum brownish yellow. Occiput shining blackish green. Chaetotaxy as usual; two tiny postocellars. Postoculars uniseriate, black. Antenna (figure 48): brown; third segment lighter coloured on apical half. Marginal bristlets on second segment short, longest above. Third segment triangular, with rounded basal angles and rather blunt apex, about as long as deep. Arista about three times as long as antenna, shortly pubescent; basal aristal segment more than half as long as third antennal segment.

Thorax. Mesoscutum and scutellum shining dark metallic green, brownish towards sides; pleurae brown, with a faint greenish gloss on mesopleura. Chaetotaxy as usual; acr uniseriate, rather long. One minute propleural hairlet.

Fore leg. Coxa anteriorly with short, pale bristly hairs. Femur with a short preapical pv. Tibia slightly shorter than femur, without bristles or serration. First tarsal segment with two minute, black spinules at ventral base. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.4:0.2: 0.1:0.08: 0.06:0.07.

Mid leg. Coxa anteriorly with short, pale bristly hairs. Femur (figure 49) on basal fourth with two long, rigid bristles, the first of which is thin and slightly longer than depth of femur, the second is stout and nearly twice as long as greatest depth of femur; ventrally on apical two-thirds a row of very thin hairs, more than half as long as greatest depth of femur; at apical fourth a very long, but thin av, nearly twice as long as depth of femur; a thin preapical av, and a thin preapical pv. Tibia (figure 49) about as long as femur; ventrally three remarkable, long bristles (a thin, pale, hair-like bristle at basal third, a very stout, spine-like black bristle at middle, and a weaker black bristle at apical fourth); one ad and one pd at basal fourth; a long, but thin ad at apical fourth, preceded by a much smaller, yet weaker anterior bristle; at apex some relatively long, thin bristles. First tarsal segment ventrally with a comb of short, bristle-like hairs. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.5:0.25:0.15: 0.11:0.06:0.07.

Hind leg. Coxa with a long, thin exterior bristle. Femur (figure 50) posteroventrally on apical third with a row of close-set bristle-like hairs, increasing in length towards tip of femur, the longest being longer than greatest depth of femur; a long, thin preapical av, preceded by one or two lengthened hairs. Tibia about as long as femur, gently bent at middle; ventrally at basal third a protuberance, bearing a tuft of deep black, coagulated hairs (figure 51); between this protuberance and base of tibia a row of about six ventral bristles, slightly longer than diameter of tibia, and a row of about five shorter anterior bristly hairs; beyond the protuberance on the ventral median concavity of tibia three short, bristle-like hairs; dorsally on apical half an irregular row of five or six bristles of unequal length, only one of which is longer than diameter of tibia; anteroventrally ob apical half a row of very short bristle-like hairs. Length of tibia and first two tarsal segments (segments 3–5 broken off) (in mm): 0.55: 0.15:0.2.

Wing. Wing (figure 52) hyaline, very feebly brownish tinged. No stigma; costa slightly thickened between tips of r1 and r2+3. r4+5 and m1+2 parallel. Length ratio of basal and apical parts of m1+2 about 1:2. Halters with pale yellow stalk and brownish yellow knob. Squamae yellow, with black cilia.

Abdomen. Terga and sterna brown, dull. Hairs and hind-marginal bristles on terga short, brown; on first tergum hind-marginal bristles longer, black. Hypopygium (figure 53) rather small, yellowish brown; tips of surstyli black; aedeagus with six finger-like protuberances; cerci small, brownish yellow.

Female Unknown.