Afrocamilla Barraclough, 1992

Barraclough, D. A., 2008, Modified fore femora in a new species of Afrocamilla Barraclough: a morphological innovation in the Camillidae (Diptera), African Invertebrates 49 (2), pp. 127-127 : 127-129

Genus Afrocamilla Barraclough, 1992

Type species: Afrocamilla stuckenbergi Barraclough, 1992 (Afrotropical) , by original designation.

Afrocamilla femorata sp. n.

Figs 1, 2

Etymology: The species name refers to the modified fore femora.

Description:

Female. Colour/Pollinosity: Head mainly brown to black, but anterior half of occiput (sometimes only slightly so), antenna (arista excepted) and part of gena yellow to yellow-brown; pollinosity silver to brown, relatively dense and mainly restricted to occiput. Thorax mainly dark brown, but humeral callus and adjacent cuticle (dorsally and ventrally) yellow-brown; pollinosity dense and brown on scutellum, more difficult to discern but visible along posteroventral margin of sternopleuron (silver) and between hypopleuron and scutellum (ranging from silver below to pale brown above). Legs entirely pale yellow. Wing membrane hyaline; transverse basal fascia not evident. Abdomen black with indistinct purple metallic reflections; T 2 with brown pollinosity.

Head: Eye margin smoothly rounded anterodorsally in profile. Frons moderately short and broad in dorsal view, length at midline about 3/4 maximum width. Width of face and parafacials together, at mid-height, 0.8–1.3× length of antenna. Antenna with short ventral rays along apical 1/2 to 3/4 of arista, longest dorsal rays 0.8–1.0× length of third antennal segment. Upper orbital plate obviously developed anteriorly (ending coincident with anterior reclinate bristle), here falling short of ptilinal suture by about 1.5× length of ocellar triangle, maximum width (near vertex) 0.7–0.8× width of ocellar triangle. Postocellar bristles moderately developed, length about 0.9–1.2× that of ocellar triangle. Ocellar triangle moderately raised above upper eye margin in profile, distance 0.7– 0.8× length of third antennal segment. Proclinate fronto-orbital bristle absent, anterior reclinate fronto-orbital present, being 1/8 to 1/10 length of posterior bristle.Two vibrissae present. Gena height in profile 0.4–0.7× length of third antennal segment.

Thorax: Apical scutellar marginal bristles well developed, 0.9–1.1× length of basal marginals. Fore femur markedly swollen relative to other femora (most prominently so along posterior face), maximum width and depth about twice that of other femora; slender, ventrally directed cone-like protrusion of tubercle evident posteroventrally at about mid-length or just beyond, protrusion 1/4 to 1/3 femur depth in length; apex of protrusion bearing a stout dagger-like spine (length 1/2 to 3/4 depth of femur), which is anterolaterally directed beneath and well beyond ventral margin of femur such that it is obvious beyond anterior femoral face in dorsal view ( Figs 1, 2 ). Mid tibia without dorsal pre-apical bristle; apicoventral bristle present. Wing not markedly slender.

Abdomen: T 2 median marginal bristles moderately developed, 1.2–1.5× length of T 1+ T 2. Measurements (in mm): Body length 2.7–3.8, wing length 2.5–3.8.

Holotype: ETHIOPIA: ^“ Bale / Bale Mountains / Harena [= Harenna] Forest / 2800m 2.ii.2000 / A. FRIEDBERG / & I. YAROM ” (Tel Aviv University Museum).

Note: The Harenna Forest is an Afromontane ecosystem on the southern slopes of the Bale Mtns in southeastern Ethiopia.

Paratypes: 10^same data as holotype, except one in Natal Museum , South Africa .

Comparison: A. femorata is immediately distinguished from all other congeners, and indeed all Camillidae , by the swollen fore femora and the armature thereon. Head profile and wing shape are unremarkable and are consequently not figured; reference should be made to the morphological detail presented in Barraclough (1997).

The absence of the transverse basal fascia on the wing is a noteworthy character state. In the well-studied South African fauna it is absent in only one of the nine described species ( A. confusa Barraclough, 1997 ), although A. femorata and A. confusa are not closely related. A. confusa differs in having a proclinate fronto-orbital bristle and largely pallid thoracic colouration.

Figures

Figs 1, 2. Detail of fore femur in Afrocamilla femorata sp. n.: (1)Anterior face showing position of cuticular protrusion with spine; (2) Slender, cone-like protrusion with stout dagger-like spine (same leg).