Mesembrius copelandi Jordaens, Goergen & De Meyer, 2021

Jordaens, Kurt, Goergen, Georg, Skevington, Jeffrey H., Kelso, Scott & Meyer, Marc De, 2021, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the hover fly genus Mesembrius Rondani (Diptera, Syrphidae) using morphological and molecular data, ZooKeys 1046, pp. 1-141 : 1

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1046.57052
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:66E61C4E-FAFE-45DE-9145-DB38199BDEC3
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/9383F227-89B2-4F37-889F-080B3327C04D
taxon LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:act:9383F227-89B2-4F37-889F-080B3327C04D
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Mesembrius copelandi Jordaens, Goergen & De Meyer
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Mesembrius copelandi Jordaens, Goergen & De Meyer sp. nov. Figs 9 View Figures 9, 10 , 52 View Figures 52–57 , 89 View Figures 89–94 , 131 View Figures 131–134 , 199 View Figures 197–200 , 211 View Figures 205–216

Differential diagnosis.

Males of Mesembrius copelandi sp. nov. lack an apical pile brush on the profemur and have an unmodified metatibia. The ventral 1/4 of the profemur is black pilose with some longer yellow pile antero- and posteroventrally. The metaleg has long, yellow pile which becomes darker on the tarsi; the pile is much shorter on the posterior side. The metafemur has a patch of conspicuous black pile on the proximal 1/5 ventrally. The metabasitarsus is very long and almost as long as the metatibia; in all other species, the metabasitarsus is much shorter than the metatibia. The female is unknown.

Examined material.

Mesembrius copelandi Jordaens, Goergen & De Meyer: Holotype, male, “HOLOTYPUS” " Kenya // Nairobi Prov. // ICIPE campus // Kasarani, 1.22296°S, // 36.89704°E, 1600 m " " 6 m Malaise trap, near // stream, woodland // remnant, 17-25 JAN // 2017, R. Copeland " " Mesembrius copelandi // Det. K. Jordaens, 2019" "DNA 1301F04 // K. Jordaens // RMCA 2020" "ICIPE 1180" [KMMA] GoogleMaps

Paratype: Kenya • 1♂; Sosoma area ; 30 Jun-6 Jul 2018; R. Copeland leg.; ICIPE 9544; ICIPE .

Description male

(Fig. 9 View Figures 9, 10 ). Body length: 13.7-14.7 mm. Wing length: 9-10.5 mm.

Head (Fig. 52 View Figures 52–57 ). Eyes bare; slightly dichoptic, distance between eyes approx. 1/2 width of ocellus. Face white-yellow with dark medial vitta; white pollinose; white pilose. Vertical triangle black pilose, with some yellow pile near vertex; yellow pollinose until just before anterior ocellus. Distance between lateral ocellus and eye margin 1/2 width of ocellus. Occiput yellow; yellow pilose; yellow and white pollinose. Frontal triangle brownish; yellow pilose with a few black pile near antenna; yellow pollinose. Frontal prominence shiny black, dark brown at apex. Antenna, scape and pedicel reddish-brown; postpedicel black; antennal arista reddish-brown.

Thorax. Scutum black; with a pair of well-demarcated yellow vittae and a yellow medial line dorsally, vitta and medial line are broadly connected posteriorly; with lateral, yellow vitta; yellow pilose with some black pile in the posterolateral corners. Scutellum uniformly yellow; yellow pilose.

Legs. Tibia and tarsi entirely rufous, but metatarsi black dorsally. Proleg: Femur black, distal end rufous; without apical pile brush; pile ventrally black on distal 1/4, otherwise rufous. Tibia rufous; black and yellow pilose which is longer on posterior side. Basitarsus black and rufous pilose. Other tarsi black pilose. Mesoleg: Femur black, distal end rufous; yellow and black pilose. Tibia similar as in proleg, but black and yellow pile in proximal 1/4 of markedly longer than on remainder of tibia. Tarsi similar as in proleg. Metaleg (Fig. 199 View Figures 197–200 ): Femur black, distal end rufous; with long, thin yellow pile, but shorter and less dense ventrally and posteroventrally; with a band of black pile on extreme proximal end ventrally. Tibia rufous; unmodified; long yellowish pilose, except for the posterior side where pile shorter and black; with a patch of posteroventral longer black pile. Basitarsus black dorsally, rufous ventrally; very long, almost as long as tibia; very long yellow pilose with some long black pile at distal end. Other tarsi black dorsally, rufous ventrally; very long yellow pilose with some long black pile at distal end.

Wing (Fig. 131 View Figures 131–134 ). Entire wing uniformly dense microtrichose.

Abdomen (Fig. 89 View Figures 89–94 ). Tergite II with a pair of large, yellow rectangular maculae; black marking hourglass-shaped; posterior black marking equal in size or somewhat narrower than anterior black marking. Posterior black part with short, stiff black setulae which to not extend to the lateral tergal sides. Tergite III and IV with yellow fascia of variable size, often occupying almost the entire tergite with mostly posterior, triangular black marking. Tergite V strongly white pollinose, except for a black medial zone; with short, black stiff setulae at posteriorly which do not reach the lateral tergal sides, these setulae are absent in specimens where the posterior black marking is strongly reduced.

Genitalia (Fig. 211 View Figures 205–216 ). Epandrium: Dorsal lobe of surstylus elongated, distally rounded, with characteristic small tooth-like projection; dorsally long yellow pilose, short black pilose at distal end. Ventral lobe of surstylus with one large black setula in middle section and a row of approximately ten long black setulae.

Female.

unknown.

Distribution.

Kenya.

Comments.

This is a new species to the Afrotropical Region. The species is only known from two males from Kenya. Two DNA barcodes are available (Fig. 229 View Figure 229 ) and the species is strongly differentiated from others.

Etymology.

Named in honour of Robert Copeland (ICIPE) who collected both males. The specific epithet should be treated as a noun in the genitive case.