Sciophila benjaminbottomi, Chandler, 2009

Chandler, Peter J., 2009, The fungus gnats (Diptera: Bolitophilidae, Keroplatidae, Mycetophilidae) of Sardinia, with description of six new species *, Zootaxa 2318 : -

118. Sciophila benjaminbottomi sp. nov.

( Figs 24–26)

Type material. Holotype ♂: I-Sardegna (Cagliari), Iglesias Marganai, 700 m, Plot Conecofor SAR1, UTM 32 S 462853 4355582, 20.V-16.VI.2005, Malaise trap, G. Chessa legit, Conecofor Programme CNBF ( CNBFVR).

Paratype: 1 ♂: I-Sardegna (Carbonia-Iglesias), Domusnovas, sa Duchessa, 371 m, UTM WGS84 32 S 0464990 4358384, 18.IV-2.V.2006, Malaise trap S2, G. Chessa legit, Progetto Sardegna – CNBF ( CNBFVR) .

Diagnosis. A small (for the genus) dark species with yellow legs, a uniform covering of both macrotrichia and microtrichia on the wing membrane, aedeagal apodeme simple without teeth, gonocoxites with a single small tooth on dorsal lobe, gonostylus with ventral lobe bearing three apical megasetae and tergite 9 short and broad with a small median emargination.

Description. Male. Head dark brown with dark bristling. Antenna brown except base of first flagellomere, about as long as head and thorax together; flagellomeres about 1.5 times as long as broad. Palpus yellow, slender.

Thorax dark brown with brown bristling on mesonotum and scutellum and some strong dark setae on prothorax. Pleura with a few setae on upper part of anepisternum. Laterotergite and mediotergite with long brown setae. Wing clear with a uniform covering of both macrotrichia and microtrichia on membrane. Vein Sc short, ending in costa well beyond level of base of Rs. Sc 2 at 0.6 its length and level with base of Rs. Vein R 4 close to and parallel with Rs, forming a small narrow radial cell. Costa extending 0.25 distance from R 5 to M 1. Crossvein r-m nearly vertical and a little longer than stem of median fork. Posterior fork beginning level with basal third of median fork. Vein A 1 reaching level of base of posterior fork. Veins setose except for Rs, R 4 and r-m except extreme base closest to radial cell. Haltere yellow. Wing length 2.4 mm. Legs yellow except apical third of hind femur which is brown (the holotype lacks hind legs, one mid leg and the other mid tarsus; the paratype has only mid legs and one hind leg); tibiae with irregular short dark setulae and bearing short bristles little more than half tibial width, distributed as follows: mid tibia with 3 anterodorsal, 3 short posteroventral on apical half and 2 posterior setae on apical third; hind tibia with 5 anterodorsal, 3 dorsal on apical half and 6 posterior setae. Fore metatarsus 0.7 length of its tibia. Tibial spurs long, yellow, 1:2:2, the anterior 0.75 as long as posterior on mid and hind legs.

Abdomen including genitalia brown with short dark bristling. Genitalia ( Figs 24–26) with gonocoxites only narrowly articulating basally, distally linked to aedeagal apodemes, which are simple but dorsal gonocoxal lobe with a single narrow apically pointed medially directed tooth; gonostylus with ventral lobe bearing three blunt tipped long slender megasetae and internal lobe bearing short blunt megasetae. Tergite 9 ( Fig. 26) short and broad, blunt edged apically, with a small median emargination, with only fine irregular setae on apical margin and enclosing cerci.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is named for my friend Benjamin Bottom to acknowledge his feline support during the preparation of this paper.

Chorotype. Type 6 [3.02 of Vigna Taglianti et al. (1999)]. Mediterranean

Italian distribution. Sardinia only.

Notes. This species has the gonostylus structurally similar to several other small dark species of the genus, including Sciophila insolita Santos Abreu, 1920 , but it differs from other species by the simple structure of tergite 9.