Platypalpus xiaowutaiensis, Yang, Ding & Li, Weihai, 2005

Yang, Ding & Li, Weihai, 2005, New species of Platypalpus from Hebei province, China (Diptera: Empididae), Zootaxa 1054, pp. 43-50 : 47-49

3. Platypalpus xiaowutaiensis n. sp.

( Figs. 8–10 )

Diagnosis. 1 weak vt. Antenna black; first flagellomere 2.3 times longer than wide. 6–8 serial acr mostly separated from lateral hairs by a bare area. Mid tibia without apical spur. 2nd costal section (between R1 and R2+3) dark basally.

Description. Male. Body length 4.3 mm, wing length 3.4 mm.

Head black with pale gray pollen. Eyes very narrowly separated on face; frons wider than face. Hairs and bristles on head black, but postero­ventral hairs pale. Ocellar tubercle with 2 oc and 4 posterior hairs; 1 weak vt. Antenna black; pedicel with circlet of subapical bristles; first flagellomere long conical, 2.3 times longer than wide, short pubescent; arista 1.8 times as long as first flagellomere, short pubescent. Proboscis subshining black with pale hairs; palpus yellow with pale hairs and 1 pale apical bristle.

Thorax black with pale gray pollen except mesonotum, mesopleuron and sternopleuron polished. Hairs on thorax pale, bristles brownish yellow; mesonotum evenly covered with hairs; humerus with 3 hairs, without distinct h; 6–8 serial acr separated from lateral hairs by a bare area narrowing backward but not separated posteriorly, 2 npl, dc absent, 1 presc, 1 psa; scutellum with 2 pairs of sc, outer pair short. Legs dark brown, except coxae, trochanters and bases of mid and hind femora brownish yellow. Hairs on legs pale or blackish; coxae with pale hairs and bristles. Fore and mid femora thickened, fore femur 1.2 times and mid femur 1.4 times as wide as hind femur; mid femur only with two rows of black v (bristles of anterior row very short, bristles of posterior row 3–4 times as long as those of anterior row); mid tibia with a row of weak black v, without distinct apical spur. Wing hyaline; veins dark brown, second costal section (between R1 and R2+3) darker basally; first basal cell shorter than 2nd basal cell, distance between r­m and m­m 1/ 3 length of m­m; R4+5 and M parallel apically. Squama brown with pale hairs. Halter yellow with brownish yellow base.

Abdomen black with pale gray pollen except dorsum subshining. Hairs on abdomen pale. Male genitalia ( Figs. 8–10 ): Left and right epandrial lamellae widely connected basally; left epandrial lamella with long finger­like surstylus curved inward; right epandrial lamella with short wide surstylus incised apically; left cercus long with wide base and slightly bent, right cercus shorter than left cercus and nearly straight.

Female. Body length 2.4–3.2 mm, wing length 4.5–4.6 mm.

Holotype male, Hebei: Yuxian, Xiaowutai National Nature Reserve, Huichuan, 2004. V. 31, Xingyue Liu (CAU). Paratypes 2 females, same data as holotype (CAU).

Etymology. The species is named after the region of its origin, Xiaowutai.

Remarks. The new species is similar to P. hui Yang, An and Gao from Henan, but can be separated from the latter by the mid femur slightly thickened (1.4 times as wide as hind femur) and mid tibia without distinct apical spur. In P. hui , the mid femur is distinctly thickened (2.0 times as wide as hind femur), and the mid tibia has the short acute spur (Yang, An & Gao, 2003). The new species belongs to the P. pallipes species group.

Figures

FIGURES 8 – 10. Platypalpus xiaowutaiensis sp. n., male. 8. Genitalia, dorsal view; 9. right epandrial lamella; 10. left epandrial lamella.