Pseudolycoriella skusei, Mohrig, Werner, Kauschke, Ellen & Broadley, Adam, 2016

Mohrig, Werner, Kauschke, Ellen & Broadley, Adam, 2016, Pseudolycoriella skusei sp. nov. (Diptera: Sciaridae), a new dark-winged fungus gnat from Norfolk Island and Australia, Zootaxa 4097 (1), pp. 139-142 : 141

Pseudolycoriella skusei sp. nov. ( Fig 1 )

Material examined. Holotype, male. NORFOLK ISLAND: Norfolk Island National Park , near Selwyn Pine Road entrance (29°0ʹ53ʺS, 167°56ʹ47ʺE), collected 25.xii.2012 by L. Mound & A. Wells from yellow pan trap set under Norfolk Island pine tree ( Araucaria heterophylla ) as part of Norfolk Island Quarantine Survey ( NI _053-11). The specimen will be lodged in the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia. Paratype, male. AUSTRALIA: collected 8.viii.1997 by J. Seymour from Malaise trap, Mt. Lewis, 37 km WSW of Port Douglas , Queensland (16°35ʹS, 145°16ʹE)( PWMP) .

Description. Male. Head: Dark brown, ovoid, mouth parts short, clypeus bulbous; eye bridge 3 – 4 facets wide; antenna rather long, with yellowish-brown scape and pedicel; flagellomeres blackish-brown; necks pale, with darker ends (bicoloured); 4th flagellomere with a l/w-index of 2.2, setae bristle-like and as long as half of the diameter of basal part. Palp long, three-segmented; basal segment with 3 – 4 bristles and without a deepened patch of sensillae; third segment longer than basal segment.

Thorax: Brown; scutum with short and fine pubescence and three darker stripes; scutellum without longer marginal setae; postpronotum bare; katepisternum with darker corner. Wing brownish, with distinct veins; R1 = 3/4 R; R5 with ventral macrotrichia in the distal third; C longer than 1/2 w; y longer than x, without macrotrichia; Cu-stem shorter than x; posterior wing veins without macrotrichia. Haltere brown. Fore coxa yellowish-brown, mid and hind coxa brown; femora yellowish-brown, tibiae and tarsal segments darker brown; inner apex of fore tibia with an irregular row-like patch of bristles, not distinctly bordered; spurs of middle and hind tibia of same size, brownish and as long as the diameter of apex; claws toothed.

Abdomen: Brownish; tergal and sternal setae moderately short and sparse; Hypopygium dark brown, intergonocoxal space bare, inner ventral margin of gonocoxite sparsely haired, with longer setae in the apical half; gonostylus elongate, narrow, apically curved; with three distinct sub-apical dark spines of the same size and three longer whiplash hairs; the inner dorsal side with rather long setae. Tegmen pyramid-like, much higher than broad, membranous at the end; aedeagus long. Body length: 4.5 mm.

Remarks. This large species is characterized by a long and narrow gonostylus with three subequal, long apical spines and two longer whiplash hairs; claws strongly toothed; antennal flagellomeres robust and blackish-brown, with rather long bicoloured necks; three dark stripes on mesonotum and a long pyramid-like tegmen with a membranous apex. Two species from New Caledonia ( P. trispicata Vilkamaa, Hippa & Mohrig and P. t e n ui s Vilkamaa, Hippa & Mohrig) also have three subapical spines, but differ significantly in having a shorter tegmen, shorter flagellomeres, and fewer whiplash hairs. The paratype from Queensland differs in having a lesser contrast-rich body colour: the scape and pedicel are brownish as are the flagellomeres, all the coxae are dark brown and the legs are uniformly brownish.

Etymology. We dedicate this new species to Frederick Arthur Askew Skuse (1866 – 1896), an English-Australian entomologist who was a pioneering worker on the Australian Sciaridae .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Male Pseudolycoriella skusei sp. nov. (holotype). (A) Gonostylus, (B) Hypopygium, ventral view. (C) antennal flagellomeres I – IV, (D) antennal flagellomere IV, (E) apical part of fore tibia, (F) apical tarsal segment with toothed claws (photobased drawings).