Pouebo, Bickel, 2008

Bickel, Daniel J., 2008, Pouebo (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), a remarkable new genus from New Caledonia, with secondary symmetry in the male postabdomen, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 49-56 : 50-51

Genus POUEBO n. gen.

Type species: Pouebo symmetricauda n. sp.

ETYMOLOGY. — Pouebo is a place name of indigenous origin, Pouébo , in northeastern New Caledonia, near a collecting site for the genus. The gender is feminine.

DIAGNOSIS. — This generic diagnosis is based on a single included species and emphasizes characters considered to be of generic importance.

Length <2.0 mm; vertex not excavated between ocellar tubercle; male face and clypeus wide, male anterior eye facets enlarged; scape bare; first flagellomere subrectangular; arista dorsoapical; thorax rather short, rounded; mesonotum not flattened; single pair ac present; male with 2 strong posterior dc setae, and 2-3 weak hair-like setae anteriad, female with 4 strong dc; scutellum with single pair setae only; legs gracile; femora and tibiae bare of major setae; wing vein M unbranched and with gentle bend towards R 4+5 beyond dm-cu; tergum 7 forming short hypopygial peduncle, and tergum 7 setose; sternum 8 spatulate, with long basal extension, hypopygial foramen basal, not left lateral; epandrium rather short, dark brown; hypandrium with hood, and with left lateral arm crossing under phallus; phallus (= aedeagus) much longer than hypandrium; surstylus enlarged with modified setae; cercus narrow and elongate; female oviscapt with each hemitergite (formed from tergum 10) separate and with 2 strong apical setae; female cercus elongate, digitiform, extending beyond tergum 10.

REMARKS. — Pouebo comprises a single species P. symmetricauda , known only from recent Malaise trap samples taken at two mid-elevation sites in northern New Caledonia.

It is perhaps surprising that the genus is not known from southern New Caledonia, especially the well-sampled Mt. Koghis and Rivière Bleue sites near Nouméa. These two sites combined have more than 50 % of the New Caledonian fauna in both Sciapodinae and Dolichopodinae (for discussion on relative collecting intensity of New Caledonia sites, see Bickel 2002). Possibly Pouebo is restricted to northern New Caledonia.