Polyteloptera Hendel, 1909

Kovac, Damir, Kameneva, Elena P., Korneyev, Severyn V., Araújo, Alexandre Santos, Savaris, Marcoandre, Smit, John T., Schneider, Alexander, Schreiber, Robert & Korneyev, Valery A., 2024, Revision of the Aspistomella group of genera (Diptera: Ulidiidae: Pterocallinae: Lipsanini), Zootaxa 5530 (1), pp. 1-117 : 81-83

Polyteloptera Hendel, 1909

Polyteloptera Hendel 1909b: 263 .

Type species: Polyteloptera apotropa Hendel, 1909 , by monotypy.

Polyteloptera : Hendel 1910: 11, 44, 45; Steyskal 1968: 54.22.

Diagnosis. As in most other Lipsanini , head and thorax with greenish or bluish metallic sheen, ocellar setae strong;

phallus bare or covered with fine microtrichia, apically without glans; hypandrium symmetrical, with deep phallic guide, two areas of trichoid sensilla (corresponding to the pregonites and postgonites), female abdominal tergites

4–6 without anteromedial apodemes, and only two spermathecae present. Within the tribe Lipsanini , Polyteloptera belongs to the Aspistomella group of genera described above because of the combination of short parafrontal setulae, long frontal and interfrontal setae, elongated epistome and low clypeus. Species of Polyteloptera can be distinguished by the combination of the ultimate section of the vein M 1 being shorter than the penultimate, club-like outline of the wing and the almost claw-like pointed postpedicel.

Description

Adult. Body mostly dark brown or black, with faint cyan metallic sheen, partly hidden by sparse whitish or silvery microtrichia ( Figs 48 A, B ).

Head conspicuously higher than long. Frons ( Fig. 48 C ) as in Aspistomella ; frontal vitta finely and sparsely microtrichose, frontal plates with short pro- or lateroclinate parafrontal setulae on each side, one row of frontal setae and usually one pair of interfrontal setae; vertex and orbits with dense white microtrichia. Vertical plates with 1 long orbital seta, and second vestigial reclinate seta anterior of it; ocellar triangle with ocelli forming elongate acute triangle and a pair of very long ocellar setae. Outer vertical setae ca. 0.3× longer than inner vertical seta. Face in dorsal portion flat, covered with white microtrichia, and with ventral portion moderately produced antero-ventrally, forming high metallic shining epistome covered with sparse, thin, erect whitish microtrichia. Parafacial brownish yellow, densely white microtrichose. Gena widened posteriorly, brownish, sparsely white microtrichose, bearing 1–2 strong genal setae and 4–6 moderately long, pro- or partly lateroclinate peristomal setulae. Occiput black or dorsomedially and lateroventrally brown to yellow, densely white microtrichose. Antenna with stipe very short, pedicel normal, with strong setulae; postpedicel twice as long as wide, dorsally concave, strongly convex ventrally, claw-like apically pointed; arista bare, somewhat thickened at base; in profile, antenna inserted below middle of eye; palp widened, ventrally setulose. Clypeus 0.3–0.4× higher than epistome, convex, densely microtrichose. Proboscis as described for Aspistomella .

Thorax shining black or brown, with faint cyan sheen and moderately dense, thin, semierect white microtrichia not hiding entirely shining cuticle. Postpronotal lobe with 1 seta and 7–11 setulae; proepisternum with 1 short proepiesternal seta (sometimes indistinct) and 4–7 fine subequal setulae on proepiesternal ridge. Prosternum not examined. Mesonotal scutum setulose, including prescutellar area posterior of dorsocentral setae; dorsocentral setulae forming distinct row, with 10–12 rows of setulae between them; 1 postpronotal, 2 notopleural, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 intra-alar and 1 postalar, 2 dorsocentral setae present; acrostichal prescutellar seta absent.Anepisternum, katepisternum, scutellum, subscutellum and mediotergite as in Aspistomella .

Wing moderately wide oval, widest in apical third, narrowing towards base. Costa almost straight up to middle, then strongly curved. Vein R 1 bare, reaching costa basally from middle of wing, gradually curved towards costa. Venation as in Fig. 4 H . Cell r 4+5 slightly widened and then tapering to tip; crossvein r-m shorter than crossvein dm-m, distal to cell dm mid; latter straight, very long and narrow. Ultimate section of vein M 1 shorter than its penultimate section and only almost twice as long as crossvein dm-m. Postero-apical lobe of cell cup conspicuous, but shorter than width of cell. Vein CuA+CuP bent away from posterior wing margin and not reaching it even as a fold. Alula at least twice as long as wide and calypters normal.

Legs. Fore femur dorsally with 2 posterodorsal rows of setae, without posteroventral setae. Mid femur anteriorly in middle part with suberect setae. Mid tibia apicoventrally with strong spur-like seta. Hind femur with usual subapical setae on dorsal surface.

Abdomen subshining brown to black, with metallic blue sheen ( Fig. 48 B ). Male and female abdomen with 5 visible tergites, of which tergites 3–5 subequal in length; female tergite 6 hidden underneath posterior margin of tergite 5. Sternites 3–5 unmodified, subrectangular, tergite 5 of ♂ slightly elongated.

Postabdomen: see description of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Ulivellia, Polyteloptera and similar genera, wing. A, U. amnoni sp. nov.; B, U. inversa Speiser; C, U. laetitiae sp. nov.; D–E, U. arcuata sp. nov. (D—male, E—female); F, U. tenoris sp. nov.; G, U. pseudinsolita sp. nov.; H, P. apotropa Hendel; I, “Euxesta” insolita Hendel; J, Gen. sp. near insolita; K, Axiologina ferrumequinum Hendel. Abbreviations. Veins and cells: bm—basal medial cell; br—basal radial cell; c—costal cell; C—costal vein; cua—anterior cubital cell; CuA+CuP— anterior branch of cubital vein + posterior branch of cubital vein; dm—discal medial cell; dm-m—discal medial crossvein; h—humeral crossvein; M1—first branch of media; m1—first medial cell; M4—fourth branch of media; m4—fourth medial cell; ptstg—pterostigma; R1—anterior branch of radius; r1—first radial cell; r2+3—second + third radial cell; R2+3—second branch of radius; R 4+5 —third branch of radius; r 4+5 —fourth + fifth radial cell; r-m—radial-medial crossvein; Sc—subcostal vein. Wing pattern: DB = discal band; HB = humeral band; AAB = anterior apical band; SAB = subapical band; SCB = subcostal band. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURE 48. Polyteloptera apotropa Hendel. A, ♂ habitus, left; B, ♀, same; C, head, anterior; D, head and mesonotum, dorsal; E, head, left; F, head and mesonotum, left; G, wing, basal part. Scale bars: 1 mm. (A–D photographs by Marcoandre Savaris; E—redrawn from Hendel, 1910.)