Teuchophorus pauper, 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 : 190-192

Species 27: Teuchophorus pauper sp. nov. (male and female) (figures 117–121)

Etymology. Lat. pauper , ‘poor’, alluding to the absence of acrostichal bristles.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized species with yellow antennae. No acrostichals. Bristles on head, thorax and legs usually yellow or brownish yellow. Legs poorly bristled. Face broad. Costa not thickened. Hypopygium moderately large, pear-shaped.

Material examined. Type material: Thailand: Phanga-Nga province, Phang-Nga, pools near waterfalls in Sa Nangmanora Park , 12 April 1996,    male and      seven males, six females (No. 96074, leg. P. Grootaert), 13 April 1996, three males, 14 females (No. 96075, leg. P. Grootaert), Thap Put , stream in secondary rain forest, 13 April 1996, five males, 15 females (No. 96076), one female (No. 96024). Indonesia: Sulawesi Utara, P.P. R. bungalow (P.M.) 8/ 18 November 1985, two males, Station : 099/ Project Wallace (leg. R. Bosmans and J. Van Stalle, I.G. No. 26.977). Dumoga-Bone Nat. Park , subcamp Hogg’s Back (660 m), October 1985. Station: 018/ Project Wallace, one female leg.: R. Bosmans and J. Van Stalle, I.G. No. 26.977 ).

Male

Body length 1.3–1.65 mm; wing length 1.2–1.5 mm.

Head. Frons and face with greenish black ground colour, feebly shining. Frons broad. Face at its narrowest point about as wide as the distance between the two ocellar bristles. Palpi yellow, each with a short brownish yellow, sometimes dark apical bristle. Rostrum yellow. Occiput greenish black, feebly shining. Chaetotaxy as usual, all bristles brownish yellow; two very short postocellars. Postocular cilia short, uniseriate, brownish yellow. Antenna (figure 117): short, yellow; second segment darkened on dorsal surface and narrowly along apical margin; third segment darkened on about apical third. Second segment with a circlet of very short bristlets. Third segment hardly as long as deep, with a short, blunt apex. Arista slightly more than thee times as long as antenna; basal aristal segment shorter than third antennal segment.

Thorax. Mesoscutum dark metallic green, shining, becoming brownish towards sides; humeri, lower part of notopleura, and a narrow border from wing root to scutellum brownish yellow. Scutellum brownish yellow, with a dark metallic green central area, or entirely dark metallic green. Pleurae brownish yellow, partly with a greenish metallic shine. Neck yellow. Chaetotaxy as usual, but there are no acr; all bristles brownish or brownish yellow. Scutellum with two marginals. No propleural bristle.

Legs. Legs, including coxae, yellow; mid and hind coxae more brownish yellow. Tip of front tibia narrowly browned.

Fore leg. Coxa with very short sparse hairlets and a row of short brownish bristlets towards apex. Femur with a very short hair-like preapical pv. Tibia about as long as femur, without bristles or serration. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.4:0.2: 0.09:0.07:0.06: 0.07.

Mid leg. Coxa anteriorly and exteriorly with very short hairlets. Femur with two minute preapical av and one minute preapical pv. Tibia a little longer than femur, with two small brown ad; one small pd near base; two small bristles in apical crown. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.65: 0.22: 0.13:0.1: 0.08:0.08.

Hind leg. Coxa with a very thin and short black exterior bristle. Femur (figure 118) with one or two preapical av and one preapical pv, all very short and weak. Tibia (figure 118) hardly longer than femur; two (sometimes three) weak yellowish brown or black dorsal bristles on apical half, and in between them a row of slightly lengthened hairs. First tarsal segment slightly thickened; on its anterior apical rim a fringe of very short brownish hairlets. Length of tibia and tarsal segments (in mm): 0.6:0.1: 0.2:0.1: 0.07:0.075.

Wing. Wing (figure 119) hyaline, slightly brownish tinged, with brownish yellow veins. Costa not thickened. r4+5 and m1+2 apically very feebly diverging. Tp short, straight, oblique, much shorter than apical part of m3+4 (about 2:5). Halters yellow. Squamae small, yellowish with darkened border, with few short brownish cilia.

Abdomen. Abdomen dorsally dark brown or brown, feebly shining, with yellowish incisions. Venter and sides yellowish. Hairs and hind-marginal bristles on terga extremely short, dark. Hypopygium (figures 120, 121) moderately large, dark brown, partly blackish, with partly yellow appendages.

Female

Body length 1.3–1.7 mm; wing length 1.2–1.5 mm.

Agrees in every aspect with the male. Face a little wider. Legs as in male. Oviscapt with four thin, yellow acanthae on each hemitergite.

Discussion

Up to now T. cteniuchus sp. nov. and T. amami (Bickel, 1999) are the only other species in the genus lacking the acrostichals.