Pseudolycoriella dagae, Köhler, 2019

Köhler, Arne, 2019, The genus Pseudolycoriella Menzel & Mohrig, 1998 (Diptera, Sciaridae) in New Zealand, Zootaxa 4707 (1), pp. 1-69 : 32-33

Pseudolycoriella dagae sp. n.

( Figs 1 & 42 )

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Literature. Pseudolycoriella jejuna (Edwards, 1927) : Mohrig & Jaschhof (1999): 37 [misidentification].

Material studied. Holotype male. New Zealand: North Island, Western Bay of Plenty , Katikati , 449 Lund Road , Malaise trap, 25.07– 08.08.2016, leg. P.A. Maddison ( NZAC, SDEI-Dipt-0000679) . Paratypes. 3♂♂ same locality and same date as holotype (1x NZAC, SDEI-Dipt-0001249; 2x SDEI, SDEI-Dipt-0000628 & SDEI-Dipt-0000655) . 1♂ North Island, Western Bay of Plenty , Katikati , Te Mania catchment, Malaise trap, 19.09– 27.10.2016, leg. P.A. Maddison ( NZAC, SDEI-Dipt-0001367) . 1♂ North Island, Wairoa , Urewera National Park , Huiarau Range 30 km southeast of Murupara , altitude 600–1,000 m, Podocarpus - Nothofagus wood, sweep net, 23.12.1992, leg. M. Jaschhof ( SDEI [previously misidentified, published as Psl. jejuna in Mohrig & Jaschhof 1999]) . 1♂ South Island, Kaikoura , Blue Duck Reserve , altitude 300–400 m, mixed podocarp- Nothofagus solandri forest, Malaise trap, 12.05– 09.06.2001, leg M. & C. Jaschhof ( SDEI).

Description. Male. Head. Head capsule brown. Eye bridge three to four facets wide. Scape and pedicel yellow, strongly contrasting with the dark brown flagellomeres; fourth flagellomere ( Fig. 1 ) 2.8–3.3 times longer than wide; necks of flagellomeres well differentiated and pale; surface of flagellomeres rough with deep pits, sensilla of two different lengths, small ones and longer, curved sensilla; setae on the flagellomere longer than flagellomere width, slightly curved. Maxillary palp long and three-segmented, first and third palpomeres of equal length, second one shortest, oval; first palpomere with long sensilla and two to five long bristles, one bristle longer and more robust, located on the outer side. Prefrons and clypeus bulging. Thorax as brown as head, lateral and frontal parts brightened. Posterior pronotum bare.Anterior pronotum with two to three setae. Episternum 1 with four to ten setae. Mesonotum with five to seven robust lateral bristles. Scutellum with three to four robust bristles and several minor setae. Katepisternum as long as high.

Wing. Length 2.5–3.1 mm; width/length ratio 0.38–0.40. Membrane transparent, slightly shaded and without macrotrichia, anal area present; all posterior veins distinct, except faint stem of M, apical 40–67% of R 5 with macrotrichia on ventral and dorsal side (exceptionally: one paratype with macrotrichia only on the dorsal side); bM bare, the holotype and two paratypes bear one seta on r-m, the remaining three paratypes with a bare r-m; R 1 0.7–1.0 times as long as R; c/w ratio 0.70–0.74; r-m 1.0–1.4 as long as bM. Haltere long and sooty brown; head of haltere longer than shaft. Legs pale brown, paler than thorax, mid and hind coxae slightly darker than front coxae. Tibial organ surrounded by a circular border and slightly wider than half width of tibial apex; tibial organ consists of an irregular row of bristles. Front tibia without robust bristles among vestiture. Mid tibia with one to three robust bristles among vestiture. Posteriodorsal row of bristles inconspicuous. All tibial spurs equal in length. Claws with robust teeth. Abdomen brown, slightly paler than thorax, with long, dark setae. Hypopygium ( Fig. 42 ). Gonocoxites wider than long, inner side of gonocoxites with medium sized setae, outer side with long setae; ventral, inner side of gonocoxites basally separated. Gonostylus elongated and curved, 2.8–3.2 times longer than wide, apex not well differentiated, inner side strongly concave, apical cavity with some microtrichia, remaining inner side with several microtrichia, one spine (exceptionally one paratype [SDEI-Dipt-0000655] with two gonostylar spines on the right gonostylus) and one whip-lash hair present, inner base of gonostylus with a conspicuous angle (ba in Fig. 42 ). Tegmen of the typical ground plan of the Psl. jejuna complex, onion-shaped, apical contraction broad; dorsal folds present; parameral apodemes basally strongly sclerotized, median connected.Area of teeth absent. Ejaculatory apodeme dark, broad, and long; base of ejaculatory apodeme pale, long, in some specimens y-shaped. Posterior portion of gonocoxal apodeme medium sized and brown, medial joined. Anterior portion of gonocoxal apodeme long and dark brown.

Body size: 2.5–3.2 mm.

Female. Unknown.

Genetic distances. All five available COI sequences are identical and do not show any pairwise distance. The nearest neighbour is Psl. tuakana , diverging by a minimum of 5.93%. The p-distance between both available 28S sequences is 0.06%. The nearest neighbour is Psl. tuakana , diverging by a minimum of 0.11%.

Etymology. The epithet dagae is an anagram of the German abbreviation of the German Society of general and applied Entomology (DGaaE).

Distribution. New Zealand.

Discussion. Pseudolycoriella dagae is one of three species of this complex which have a yellowish scape and pedicel strongly contrasting with a dark flagellum. Another of those— Psl. porotaka —has a much shorter length/ width ratio of the fourth flagellomere (2.3–2.4 vs. 2.8–3.3 in Psl. dagae ) and a much narrower ejaculatory apodeme. The remaining species— Psl. raki —can be distinguished by a more slender gonostylus shape, which manifests itself in a larger length to width ratio of the gonostylus (2.8–3.2 vs. 2.4–2.6 in Psl. dagae ). In practice, however, discrimination between these two species can be as challenging as in Psl. jejuna and Psl. tuakana . In particular, preparations in which the gonostylus has not been mounted in a perfect ventral view can lead to misidentifications. A helpful additional character is a bulging basal angle at the inner base of gonostylus, which is well developed in Psl. dagae ( Fig. 42 ) and absent or less conspicuous in Psl. raki . With respect to the wing, there are two other slight differences: Psl. dagae has macrotricha on both the dorsal and ventral side for more than the apical half of vein R 5, while in Psl. raki this double-sided setosity is limited to a maximum of the apical two-fifths of R 5. The c/w ratio of Psl. dagae is equal to or less than 0.74, while in Psl. raki it is equal to or greater than 0.74. Another slight difference, which should be treated with caution: the antepronotum of Psl. dagae bears 2–3 setae while that of Psl. raki bears 3–8 setae. One paratype of Psl. dagae has two gonostylar spines on the right gonostylus, which is regarded as an atavism (see Psl. jejuna complex discussion).

Figures

FIGURES 1–9. Various body parts of Pseudolycoriella spp., in lateral view. 1. Pseudolycoriella dagae sp. n., fourth flagellomere. 2. Pseudolycoriella jejunella sp. n., fourth flagellomere. 3. Pseudolycoriella aotearoa sp. n., fourth flagellomere. 4. Pseudolycoriella bispina Mohrig, fourth flagellomere. 5. Pseudolycoriella puhihi sp. n., fourth flagellomere. 6. Pseudolycoriella jejunella sp. n., palp. 7. Pseudolycoriella robustotegmenta sp. n., head. 8. Pseudolycoriella jejunella sp. n., tibial organ. 9. Pseudolycoriella hauta sp. n., wing. Abbreviations: aa = anal area; bM = base of the medial vein; c = distance between intersection of vein R5 and radial vein and the end of costal vein; CuA1/CuA2 = first and second branch of the anterior branch of the cubital vein; M1/M2 = first and second branch of the medial vein (“M-fork”); R = radial vein; R1/R5 = first and fifth branch of the radial vein; r-m = crossvein between radial and median veins; w = distance between intersection of vein R5 and radial vein and intersection of vein M1 and wing margin.

FIGURES 37–42. Pseudolycoriella jejuna complex, hypopygia. 37. Pseudolycoriella sudhausi sp. n. 38. Pseudolycoriella whena sp. n. 39. Pseudolycoriella porotaka sp. n. 40. Pseudolycoriella nahenahe sp. n. 41. Pseudolycoriella raki sp. n. 42. Pseudolycoriella dagae sp. n. Abbreviation: ba = basal angle.