Phyllolabis martinhalli, Mederos & Martín-Vega & Baz, 2021

Mederos, Jorge, Martín-Vega, Daniel & Baz, Arturo, 2021, When unexpected guests come to eat: two new species of Phyllolabis Osten Sacken (Diptera: Limoniidae) collected with carrion-baited traps in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, Zootaxa 5039 (2), pp. 222-240 : 231-235

Phyllolabis martinhalli sp. nov.

( Figs 6–9 )

Diagnosis. General body coloration light brown to pale yellow (specimens from 2006-2007 killed with an ethylene glycol solution and preserved in 80% ethanol). Male gonostylus with ventral lobe (vl) complex, with two projections towards the apical end, deeply excavated between them (in some specimens this depression is more or less conspicuous) and a shorter, obtuse projection in its ventral edge. Female with two rounded, medium-sized, spermathecae and tergite 10 longer than wide in dorsal view.

Type material. HOLOTYPE 1♂ Villa del Prado , Madrid, España. 00/02/ 2007, 603.8 m a.s.l, UTM: 386567, 4459281; MZB 2021-0166 [ MCNB] . PARATYPES: 1♂ 1♀ same data as for holotype, IG : 34297 [ RBINS]. 3♂♂ 1♀ idem, MZB 2021-0167 , MZB 2021-0169 , MZB 2021-0170 MZB 2021-0171 [ MCNB] . 1♂ ibidem, 00/01/2007, MZB 2021-0168 [ MCNB] . 3♀♀ San Martín de la Vega, Madrid, España. 00/02/ 2007, 600.6 m a.s.l., UTM: 456182, 4453188; MZB 2021-0172 [ MCNB] . 2♂♂ Hoyo de Manzanares , Madrid, España. 00/01/ 2007, 964.8 m a.s.l., UTM: 424771, 4497334; MZB 2021-0173 , MZB 2021-0174 [ MCNB] . 1♂ 4♀♀ ibidem, 00/02/2007, MZB 2021-0175 [ MCNB] .

Other material examined. 1♂ Villanueva de Perales , Madrid, España. 00/01/ 2007, 594.9 m a.s.l., UTM: 406526, 4467450; MZB 2021-0176 [ MCNB] . 3♂♂ Hoyo de Manzanares , Madrid, España. 00/01/ 2007, 964.8 m a.s.l., UTM: 424771, 4497334; MZB 2021-0177 [ MCNB] . 3♂♂ 1♀ ibidem, 00/02/2007, MZB 2021-0178 [ MCNB] . 1♂ 2♀♀ idem, MZB 2021-0179 , MZB 2021-0180 , MZB 2021-0181 [ MCNB] .

Description. Medium-sized species.

Male. Body length 8.0– 8.9 mm, wing length 7.5–8.6 mm.

Head. Brown to pale brown. Palpus paler, covered with dense and short whitish pubescence ( Fig. 6c ). Antenna 2.8–3.2 mm, pale yellowish throughout, 16 segmented, not extending beyond the wing base. Scape cylindrical, approximately one and a half times as long as wide, thicker than the pedicel. Flagellomeres elongated, decreasing in size towards apex of antenna. First flagellomere as long as scape and pedicel combined. Flagellomere 14 conspicuously smaller than the previous ones, subglobular to oval shape ( Figs 6c, d ). Verticils short, about at base of their respective flagellomeres. Dense, short, suberect, whitish pubescence apparent on all flagellomeres.

Thorax. Yellow to yellowish brown, dull, prescutum and scutellum pale yellow ( Fig. 6b ). Pleuron yellow to pale yellow, darker in the katepisternum and upper half of the anepimeron. Wing subhyaline, pale, without macrotrichia in cells with very pale stigma, almost imperceptible. Venation as usual for the genus, with the following significant details: Sc ending beyond fork of R 3 –R 4; Rs angulated proximally, with a long spur vein ( Fig. 6a ); R 2+3+4 approximately about two thirds of Rs; veins R 4, R 5, M 1+2 and M 3 straight, nearly parallel to each other; cell r 3 long, more than 2.5 times R 2+3+4; cell dm pentagonal, about 2.5 times as long as high; bt CuA 1 joining cell dm slightly distal to its apical margin; A 2 slightly sinuous; anal angle well developed. Halter pale. Fore, mid and hind coxa pale to yellowish. Legs yellowish to pale throughout, covered with short, semi-erect, pale hairs.

Abdomen. Pale to white, tergite eighth pale brown. Whole abdomen covered with sparse, short, pale hairs. Male terminalia complex ( Figs 7 , 8 ), as usual in the genus, voluminous, as large as thorax. Epandrium fused with hypandrium forming a brown, dilated genital chamber, larger than preceding segments. Dorsum of epandrium bearing long, erect, pale hairs ( Fig. 7a ). Gonostylus extremely complicated, apparent single articulated; dorsal lobe (dl) very elongated and projecting upwards, with long pale hairs curving inward; inner projection of dorsal lobe (ipr dl) also covered with long hairs dorso-laterally. Lower part of gonostylus interpreted here as having three lobes: inner, middle and ventral. Ventral lobe with three projections, the ventral being the smallest and projecting directly downward, with the apex covered by short, fine hairs ( Fig. 8c ); the other two projections, much more elongated and massive than ventral projection, curved inward, the one located dorsally covered with fine and short hairs. Middle lobe (ml) protruding, fleshy and slightly angulated, covered with fine and short hairs. Inter lobe (il) projected, straight, with the apex slightly broader and truncated, blunt ( Fig. 8d ). Aedeagal guide straight and projecting above aedeagus, at an almost right angle ( Fig. 8e ), slightly wavy at the apex; aedeagus bifid.

Female. Body length 6.8–8.5 mm, wing length 5.7–7.7 mm. Similar to male, both in dimensions and body coloration. Antenna shorter than in male, with shorter, ovoid flagellomeres. Wing well developed, wing venation as in male. Abdomen pale to white throughout, covered with sparse, short, pale hairs. Sternites slightly grayish.

Ovipositor ( Fig. 9 ). Hypogynial valve pale brown, cercus brownish yellow to brown. Tergite 10 brownish yellow, covered with sparse pale hairs and longer than wide in dorsal view. Apices of cercus pointy. Hypogynial valve paler toward apex, weakly sclerotised and ending slightly before tip of cercus. Spermathecae two, rounded, medium-sized.

Distribution. Spain (centre of the Iberian Peninsula).

Etymology. This species is named after Dr. Martin J. R. Hall, acknowledged world specialist in the fields of forensic, medical and veterinary entomology. Name in genitive, invariable.

Remarks. P. martinhalli sp. nov. has such remarkable male genitalia that it is easily distinguished from the rest of the species present in the Palaeartic, close only to P. tjederi Savtshenko ( Georgia) , with whom it shares a great resemblance in this structure. However, both species show differences not only in the dorsal and ventral lobe of the male genitalia, but also in the wing pattern and venation, the general form of the female genitalia, and due to the larger body dimensions that P. tjederi specimens have compared to those of P. martinhalli sp. nov. As P. eiroae sp. nov., P. martinhalli sp. nov. females have the hypoginial valve shorter than the cercus, a characteristic shared with P. hemmingseni , P. mannheimsiana and P. macroura but not shared with P. parvihalterata , P. peniculifer and P. golanensis . As mentioned in the remarks of P. eiroae sp. nov., the most remarkable characteristic that separates its females from those of P. martinhalli sp. nov. is the shape of tergite 10, as long as wide in P. eiroae sp. nov. but longer than wide in P. martinhalli sp. nov. Also, the spermatheca of P. martinhalli sp. nov. is slightly larger and rounder compared to P. eiroae sp. nov., which are smaller and slightly oval.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Holotype male of Phyllolabis martinhalli sp. nov. A. wing venation; B. thorax, lateral view; C. head and first segments of antenna; D. antenna of male and female.

FIGURE 7. Male terminalia of Phyllolabis martinhalli sp. nov. A. lateral view; B. dorsal view; C. ventral view.

FIGURE 8. Male terminalia of Phyllolabis martinhalli sp. nov. showing aedeagal complex, after cleared in KOH. A. dorsal view; B. lateral view; C. gonocoxite and gonostylus, lateral view; D. gonocoxite and gonostylus, dorsal view; E. aedeagal complex, lateral view; F. aedeagal complex, dorsal view.

FIGURE 9. Ovipositor of Phyllolabis martinhalli sp. nov. A. lateral view; B. dorsal view; C. ovipositor after cleared in KOH, indicating the spermathecae, lateral view; D. ovipositor after cleared in KOH, indicating the spermathecae, ventral view.