Wyattella

Jaschhof, Mathias, 2016, A review of world Diallactiini (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae, Winnertziinae), with the description of six new genera and seventeen new species, Zootaxa 4127 (2), pp. 201-244 : 239-240

Species of Wyattella :

fungicola Mamaev, 1976 . Palearctic.

japonica Jaschhof sp. nov., described below. Palearctic. sinica ( Yang, 1998) [ Thaumacecidomyia ]. Oriental. ussuriensis Mamaev, 1966 . Palearctic.

Two unnamed species from the Palearctic region.

Wyattella is a small, well-defined genus with a distinctly eastern Palearctic / Oriental distribution. Wyattella japonica is newly described here with the reservation that it cannot be compared character-by-character with Mamaev’s (1966, 1976) and Yang’s (1998) species, whose original descriptions lack specificity. Especially problematic is the fact that the male genitalia of none of these species were adequately illustrated. Wyattella lobata Yukawa, 1968 is here excluded from Wyattella and newly combined with Johnsonomyia (see there). Two unnamed Wyattella are known to me from Japan.

Diagnosis. The genus Wyattella contains conspicuously large, black-brown species, with male body lengths of 6.0–7.0 mm. The venation of Wyattella , characterized by presence of a furcate M1+2 and (single-branched) M4, is the most generalized vein pattern in the subfamily Winnertziinae, including Diallactiini ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 20). Antennal sensory hairs with hooded alveoli are scattered, not arranged in whorls or lines, and palpi lack translucent sensilla; both these conditions are not met in other Diallactiini . Basitarsi have spines and claws are usually toothed (untoothed in W. fungicola ), which are character states seldom found in diallactiines other than Wyattella . Male genitalia are peculiar for the presence of a thick, densely microtrichose membrane, apparently a medial outgrowth of the gonocoxites, which covers much of the ejaculatory apodeme and tegmen. The apex of the slender, telescopic ovipositor bears a number of characteristic large, sawtooth-shaped spines dorsally.