Protothereva grisea Malloch

Webb, Donald W. & Metz, Mark A., 2003, The South American genus Protothereva Malloch (Diptera: Therevidae: Therevinae) with description of two new species, Zootaxa 234, pp. 1-12 : 4-5

Protothereva grisea Malloch

grisea Malloch (1932:239 orig. desc.) ( Protothereva ). Type locality Argentina, Patagonia, Chubut [Provincia], Valle del Lago Blanco. HT female in BMNH [BMNH(E) 242005].

This species is only known from the holotype female which is easily separated from Protothereva ecuadorensis and P. peruensis by the presence of brown maculations on the wing veins, the parafacial pruinescence being entirely white, and the cuticle of maxillary palpus dark yellow. Malloch (1932) provided an extensive description of this species. The following notes are additions to his description of the holotype female.

Head. Length 0.73 mm. Ocellar tubercle dark reddish brown, pruinescence whitish gray; slightly elevated above vertex; setae dark reddish brown, elongate. Eyes reddish brown, dichoptic, separated by distance 2.1 times width of ocellar tubercle; ommatidia of equal size. Frons with setae on dorsal half. Antenna dark brown, scape with dense white pruinescence, 0.86 times length of head; scape length 0.20 mm, width 0.18 mm, 1.1 times longer than wide, 2.2 times length of pedicel, 1.1 times width of flagellum, setae dark reddish brown, grading in thickness into macrosetae; pedicel length 0.09 mm, width 0.16 mm, setae dark reddish brown, short; first flagellomere with basal two­thirds spherical, apical third narrow, attenuated apically, length 0.26 mm, 0.16 mm wide, setae dark brown, short, second flagellomere length 0.04 mm, 0.04 mm wide, third flagellomere length 0.04 mm, width 0.04 mm; flagellum length 0.34 mm, 2.1 times longer than wide, 1.7 times length of scape. Parafacial broad, subequal to width of clypeus, pruinescence whitish gray. Cuticle of maxillary palpus dark yellow, length 0.40 mm, width 0.06 mm, 6.7 times longer than wide; setae white, elongate. Occiput with pruinescence whitish gray; setae white, elongate, becoming sparse on dorsal half.

Thorax. Mesonotum dark reddish brown, pruinescence whitish gray; setae black, elongate, intermixed with whitish yellow appressed setae. Pleuron with setae white, elongate on propleuron and anepisternum, whitish yellow on katepisternum, laterotergite, metanepisternum, and scutellum. Wing. Length 5.0 mm, width 1.5 mm, 3.3 times longer than wide. Membrane opaque, veins brown with brown maculation across apex of br, at fork of R2+3/R4+5, at fork of R4+5, and across apex of dc; pterostigma dark brown; cell m3 open widely. Legs. Femora dark brown, pruinescence gray; setae white, elongate, filiform ventrally, becoming appressed lanceolate dorsally; av macrosetae 0:0:5, pv macrosetae 0:0:1.

Abdomen. Cuticle dark reddish brown, pruinescence gray over entire abdomen; dorsal setae dark reddish brown, erect with whitish yellow appressed setae on tergites 1­3; lateral setae dark reddish brown. Terminalia . Because this is a unique specimen, the female terminalia was not cleared for dissection.