Tachydromia freidbergi, Shamshev & Grootaert, 2010

Shamshev, Igor & Grootaert, Patrick, 2010, The genus Tachydromia Meigen (Diptera: Hybotidae) from the Afrotropics, African Invertebrates 51 (1), pp. 207-207 : 208-210

Tachydromia freidbergi sp. n.

Figs 1–4 , 12

Etymology:The new species is dedicated to Dr Amnon Freidberg of Tel Aviv University ( Israel), who collected it and many other interesting empidoids.

Diagnosis: Recognised by a combination of the following characters: occiput largely shining; prothoracic sclerites shining; legs almost entirely blackish brown; wing with entirely separated bands; male mid femur with cluster of several short black ventral setae basally.

Description:

Male:

Length: Body 1.7 mm, wing 1.6 mm.

Head: Black in ground colour. Eyes with posterior margin slightly produced beyond ocellar tubercle; vertex broader than frons in front of ocellar tubercle. Occiput largely shining, finely pollinose just above neck, narrowly behind eyes and mouth-opening; vertex entirely shining; 2 inclinate, short, dark, wide-apart postvertical setae, some setulae round neck and near mouth-opening and row of minute postoculars. Ocellar tubercle shining, with 2 minute, dark, lateroclinate setulae. Frons shining, parallel-sided, nearly 3× broader than anterior ocellus. Antenna brownish. Postpedicel nearly globular with somewhat subapical, very long, brownish stylus, which is about 5× as long as pedicel and postpedicel combined.Palpus unmodified, slender, nearly as long as proboscis, brownish; clothed in dense, long, silvery, adpressed setae, bearing moderately long (shorter than palpus) black apical seta.

Thorax: Black in ground colour, almost entirely shining, scutellum and mediotergite (= metanotum) greyish pollinose. Postpronotal lobe large, lacking conspicuous setae. Mesonotum with 1 moderately long brownish notopleural, 1 postalar and 4 subequally long scutellar setae (apical pair cruciate); some minute setulae present behind postpronotal lobe; mesosternum and metasternum between posterior four coxae bare. Acrostichals lacking. Dorsocentrals in 1 row, hair-like, minute, prescutellar pair somewhat longer.

Legs: Long, slender; fore coxa entirely, hind coxa apically, trochanters, knees, tarsomere 1 (except narrow subapical part) and basal half of tarsomere 2 yellowish, fore femur yellowish brown, paler basally and darker dorsally, otherwise legs blackish brown. Coxae with short, pale, scattered hair-like setulae, fore coxa anteriorly and hind coxa laterally silvery pollinose. Fore femur slightly thickened, pale pubescent ventrally, with minute pale anteroventral and posteroventral setulae. Fore tibia slightly spindle-shaped. Mid femur slender, with cluster of several short black ventral setae basally and rows of shorter anteroventral and posteroventral setae. Mid tibia with rather long subapical projection and deep subapical excavation, bearing black short ventral spinule-like setulae stronger prominent before excavation. Hind leg unmodified, lacking prominent setae.

Wing: Normally developed, rounded at apex, with typical venation for the genus, with two broad brown bands, which are separated by narrow hyaline mid-stripe along the whole length. One moderately long costal bristle present. Vein R 2+3 slightly arched about middle toward costa. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel toward wing apex. Cell r 1 very narrow, cells r 2+3 and r 4+5 of subequal width. Squama brownish coloured and fringed. Haltere with whitish knob and brownish stem.

Abdomen: Entirely blackish brown, shining, with scattered minute dark setulae; segments 1–7 unmodified. Terminalia ( Figs 1–4 ) rather large, elongate oval, blackish brown; epandrium greyish pollinose, with numerous moderately long setulae. Right cercus digitiform, with several unmodified long setae on apical part. Left cercus digitiform, nearly as long as right cercus, with several unmodified long setae on apical part. Right epandrial lamella subglobular (viewed laterally), lacking ventral subapical process, with numerous unmodified setae of different lengths. Right surstylus differentiated from epandrium, bent inward, subtriangular, with several subapical spinules on inner side. Left surstylus undifferentiated from epandrium, digitiform, with several unmodified setae of different lengths; dorsal lobe of left epandrial lamella subtriangular, with several unmodified setae dorsally and some spinule-like setulae on upper margin. Hypandrium with 4 very short setae. Phallus short.

Female:

Similar to male but mid tibia slender, lacking subapical projection and excavation, with unmodified ventral setation; mid femur with pale ventral setulae; abdominal segments 1–6 brownish, segments 7 and 8 blackish brown; cercus brownish, long, slender, with scattered minute setulae.

Holotype: ơ ETHIOPIA: Oromia Region: Kefa, Jimma , 55 km S [7°08'N: 36°50'E], forest & river, 2000 m, 12.ii.2000, A. Freidberg & I. Yarom ( TAUI).

Paratype: ^ETHIOPIA: Oromia Region: Bale, Adaba , 12 km E [6°59'N: 39°30'E], river, 30.i.2000, A. Freidberg & I. Yarom ( TAUI) .

Distribution and seasonal occurrence: Currently this species is only known from two localities in Ethiopia.According to labels it was collected on Ethiopian Plateau (2000 m) in the middle of February and at the end of January.

Remarks: The new species is similar to T. latifascipennis Brunetti, 1917 described from India (East Himalayas) and re-described by Chvála (1970). However, in T. latifascipennis the occiput is almost entirely densely grey-dusted and the mid femora of the male has a tuft of long yellow ventral hairs near the base. Additionally, T. freidbergi sp. n. can be distinguished from other African species using the characters given in the key.

Figures

Figs 1–4. Tachydromia freidbergi sp. n., ơ holotype, Ethiopia: (1) right epandrial lamella, lateral; (2) right surstylus, dorsal; (3) terminalia, dorsal; (4) left epandrial lamella, lateral. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 12. Known distribution of Tachydromia species: • – T. freidbergi sp. n., 9 – T. lilaniensis, 0 – T. petrabilis,: – T. stuckenbergi sp. n., ♦ – Tachydromia sp.