Psilota aegeae Vujić, Ståhls et Smit, 2020

Radenković, Snežana, Likov, Laura, Ståhls, Gunilla, Rojo, Santos, Pérez-Bañón, Celeste, Smit, John, Petanidou, Theodora, Steenis, Wouter Van & Vujić, Ante, 2020, Three new hoverfly species from Greece (Diptera: Syrphidae), Zootaxa 4830 (1), pp. 103-124 : 114-119

Psilota aegeae Vujić, Ståhls et Smit sp. n.

ZooBank link: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C15AA253-D7AB-4BE7-BAAE-F7617409E9B6

Figs 9 , 10 , 11A, C

Type material. HOLOTYPE: Greece, ♂, pinned, in FSUNS. Original label: “Agiassos, 21.iv.2007, Sanatorio Site, leg. Pérez-Bañón C. & Vujić A.” . PARATYPES: Greece: 1♂ + 1♀, same locality as holotype, Lesvos , Agiassos, Sanatorio Site, 39°06’00.26”N 26°21’25.45”E, 21.iv.2007, leg. C. Pérez-Bañón, A. Vujić ( FSUNS) ; 1♂ + 2♀, Lesvos , Agiassos, 39°06’00.26”N 26°21’25.45”E, 13.iv.2013, leg. A. Vujić ( FSUNS) ; 1♂, Lesvos, Agiassos, 39°06’00.26”N 26°21’25.45”E, 8.v.2007, leg. G. Ståhls ( MZH; collection code http://id.luomus.fi/GJ.2051 ♀, Lesvos, Agiassos, 39°06’00.26”N 26°21’25.45”E, 9.v.2007, leg. G. Ståhls ( MZH; DNA voucher, collection code http://id.luomus. fi/GJ.2501 and http://id.luomus.fi/GJ.2052 1♂, Lesvos, Megali Limni, 28.iv.2008, 39°05’49”N 26°19’55”E, leg. G. Ståhls ( MZH; http://id.luomus.fi/GJ.2053 1♂, Lesvos, Megali Limni, 39°05’49”N 26°19’55”E, 9.v.2009, leg. G. Ståhls ( MZH; http://id.luomus.fi/GJ.2054 1♂, Lesvos, Megali Limni, 39°05’49”N 26°19’55”E, 9.v.2009, leg. G. Ståhls ( MZH; http://id.luomus.fi/GJ.2055 1♂, Lesvos, Megali Limni, 1.v.2008, 39°05’49”N 26°19’55”E, leg. G. Ståhls ( MZH; DNA voucher http://id.luomus.fi/GJ.2655 1♂, Lesvos, 30.iv.2008, leg. S. Radenković ( FSUNS).

Diagnosis. Psilota aegeae sp. n. belongs to the P. atra species group, with metafemur in male not swollen ( Fig. 9E ) and epandrium in male genitalia longer than broad, outer surstyle lobe shorter than inner surstyle lobe ( Fig. 11 A–B). Antenna in female implanted in the upper half of the face ( Fig. 10A ), basoflagellomere about 2 times longer than broad, with clearly brown elongated macula basoventrally ( Fig. 10A ); abdomen covered with predominantly whitish pile, while the scutellum covered with whitish pile intermixed with the black ones ( Fig. 10 C–D).

Based on male genitalia characters, Psilota aegeae sp. n. is the most similar to Psilota atra , but differs as follows: in P. aegeae sp. n. epandrium 1.2 times longer than broad, while in P. atra almost 2 times ( Fig. 11 A–B), furthermore there are differences in morphological characters of other body parts as well: basoflagellomere in P. aegeae sp. n. longer (about 2 times longer than broad) than in P. atra (1.5 times); cell R on wing in P. aegeae sp. n. is hyaline compared to P. atra where this cell is distinctly yellow; in P. aegeae sp. n. pile on tergum 2 mostly pale-yellow, and much longer on lateral margins of all terga with regard to P. atra (pile on all terga mostly black and much shorter on lateral margin); tergum 2 with less developed transverse grooves in P. aegeae sp. n. which are distinctively developed in P. atra .

The female of P. aegeae sp. n. can be separated from all other Psilota species by the combination of the following characters: antennae implanted in the upper half of the face; anepisternum covered with white pile and metafemur not swollen. From the related P. atra , it differs by the color of the pilosity: pale-yellow on frons in P. aegeae sp. n. (in some specimens the pile on frons are pale-yellow in anterior part and black in posterior part), while black in P. atra ; mostly pale-yellow on scutum in P. aegeae sp. n., while black in P. atra ; white on metathoracic pleuron in P. aegeae sp. n., while mixed black and pale-yellow in P. atra .

Molecular data: The clustering of the mtDNA COI barcode sequences of the included Psilota species and specimens is shown in Fig. 12 . The uncorrected sequence divergences between Psilota aegeae sp. n. and included Psilota spp. ranged between 3.3–4.4%.

Description. MALE. Head ( Fig. 9 A–B). Antennae elongated, basoflagellomere about 2 times longer than broad, rounded at the tip, mostly dark-brown, except small light-brown basoventral inner area; face and frons black, mostly shiny, with scarce, indistinct dark-brown/gray microtrichia, covered with black pile, as well as vertex; face with a bare vitta, from the base of antenna to upper margin of mouth; genae and ventral part of mouth edge without pile; eyes densely covered with long yellowish pile; eye contiguity about as 2 times longer than ocellar triangle; ocellar triangle isosceles, covered with very long black pile; occiput very narrow, covered with short black pile. Thorax ( Fig. 9C, E ). Entirely black, with fine punctuation, covered with black pile somewhat wavy at the top; pile on scutum and scutellum clearly of two different lengths ( Fig. 9C ); scutellum with a row of long pile-like bristles at the posterior margin; subscutellar fringe composed of short black pile; metathoracic pleuron mostly shiny, predominantly covered with black pile (except whitish ones at grey microtrichose anterior end of anterior anepisternum), the longer pile somewhat wavy at the top; wings hyaline, veins clearly yellow at the base; pterostigma yellow; wing covered with microtrichia, except basal half of the cell R almost bare; calypteres yellowish, with some brown pile at the posterodistal margin of fringe, the rest yellow; halteres yellow-brown; legs entirely black, except apex of femora and base of the tibiae slightly lighter; all legs covered with mixed pale and black pile; metafemur thin, about 4.7 times longer than wide; the apical half of the metafemur ventrally with a shallow groove, formed by two rows of mixed short and long black spines ( Fig. 9E ); the ventral surface of the tarsi with the short yellow pile. Abdomen ( Fig. 9D ). Entirely black, predominantly shining; tergum 2 mostly covered with yellowish pile, only the posterior half with some black pile; terga 3 and 4 usually almost entirely covered with black pile, except some yellowish pile on lateral margins of both terga and anterior end of tergum 4 (area with yellowish pile on tergum 4 can be larger); all pile on the abdomen erect; sterna black, shiny, covered with long and erect whitish pile wavy at the top. Male genitalia ( Fig. 11A, C ). Epandrium compactly built, rectangular, longer than broad; inner surstyle lobe elongated, broad apically; outer surstyle lobe narrow and curved, shorter than inner surstyle lobe; cercus very elongated, rectangular ( Fig. 11A ); height of narrowest part of epandrium in dorsal view small ( Fig. 11C ). Superior lobe fused with hypandrium, narrow with tapering tip; aedeagus with a serrate ventral margin and pointed apex ( Fig. 11A ).

FEMALE ( Fig. 10 ). Similar to the male except for the following characters: face, frons and larger part of occiput covered with pale-yellow/whitish pile ( Fig. 10 A–B); basoflagellomere with a clear elongated brown to reddish macula basoventrally, developed on both sides of basoflagellomere, inner and outer ( Fig. 10A ); pile on the eyes much shorter than in males; pile on scutum all pale-yellow, except at the wing basis, postalar callus and on posterior margin of scutellum mixed white and black pile ( Fig. 10C ); the metathoracic pleuron entirely covered with pale-yellow pile; legs and abdomen predominantly covered with whitish pile ( Fig. 10D, E ).

Etymology. The specific epithet is the genitive case of the Greek name Aegea (to which the Aegean Sea owes its name) and refers to its origin, an island in the Aegean Sea.

Distribution. Only known from Lesvos Island ( Greece) ( Fig. 6 ). Probably local endemic.

Biology. Adults were collected in open areas within Mediterranean pine forest Pinus brutia Tenore (255–355m above sea level). They were visiting flowers of Smirnium perfoliatum L. Flight period is from April to beginning of May.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Distribution map of newly described species.

FIGURE 9. Male of Psilota aegeae sp. n. A head, lateral view, B head, dorsal view, C thorax, lateral view, D abdomen, dorsal view, E metafemur, ventral view. Scale bar, 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 10. Female of Psilota aegeae sp. n. A head, lateral view, B head, dorsal view, C thorax, lateral view, D abdomen, dorsal view, E hind femur, lateral view. Scale bar, 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 11. Male genitalia A, C Psilota aegeae sp. n., B, D Psilota atra, E Psilota anthracina. A–B lateral view, C–E dorsal view. ae—aedeagus, ce—cercus, ep—epandrium, ist—inner surstyle lobe, hp—hypandrium, ost—outer surstyle lobe, sl—superior lobe. Scale bar, 1 mm.

FIGURE 12. Gene tree of 5’- fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI).