Pnyxiopalpus roslii Sutou and Maruyama, 2012

Sutou, Mitsuaki, Maruyama, Munetoshi, Komatsu, Takashi & Kanao, Taisuke, 2012, Discovery of a remarkable new species of black fungus gnat (Diptera, Sciaridae) from termite nests in Malaysia, Journal of Natural History 46 (15 - 16), pp. 969-978 : 971-975

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222933.2012.654478

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10526902

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/884387B9-FFA0-FFDC-FE76-FF41A0A2FC20

treatment provided by

Carolina

scientific name

Pnyxiopalpus roslii Sutou and Maruyama
status

sp. nov.

Pnyxiopalpus roslii Sutou and Maruyama View in CoL sp. nov.

( Figures 1–3 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 )

Materials studied

Holotype. female on a slide ( Figures 1B View Figure 1 , 3 View Figure 3 A–F), Malaysia, Selangor, Ulu Gombak, University of Malaya Field Studies Centre , 3 ◦ 19 ′ 29 ′′ N 101 ◦ 45 ′ 11 ′′ E, 260 m als., 7 April 2007, M. Maruyama and T. Komatsu (NSMT-I-Dip-6783) . Paratypes. Three females on slides and six in 80% ethanol, same data ( KUM); two females on slides and two in 99% ethanol, same data ( PCMS); two females in 99% ethanol as vouchers for DNA barcodes, same data (NSMT-I-Dip-6784 and 6785); one female on a slide and one female in 99% ethanol, same locality, 27 November 2010, T . Kanao (KUM).

Symbiotic host

Nasutitermes proatripennis ( Ahmad, 1965)

Etymology

Dedicated to Dr Rosli Hashim who supported our fieldwork in Ulu Gombak.

Female

Head. Polished dark brown. Compound eyes blackish, each eye very sparsely with a few interfacetal setae. Eye bridge constricted medially ( Figure 2C View Figure 2 ). Anterior ocellus smaller than posterior ones ( Figure 2C View Figure 2 ). Anterior vertex prominent in lateral and dorsal view without setae ( Figure 2C View Figure 2 ); clypeoprefrons with setae whose apex expanded apically ( Figure 2A View Figure 2 ). Antenna consists of dark brownish scape and brownish pedicel and flagellomeres; proximal part of 1st flagellomere yellowish; 4th flagellomere about 1.8 times longer than wide with short neck ( Figure 2D View Figure 2 ). Setae of antennae apically expanded ( Figure 2E View Figure 2 ). Palpus one-segmented with 6–8 setae whose apex expanded apically, and with deep hollow in which many sensillae present ( Figure 2B View Figure 2 ). Proboscis weakly developed ( Figure 2A View Figure 2 ). Thorax. Polished dark brown. Thoracic chaetotaxy is as shown in Figure 3A View Figure 3 : posterior pronotum, methothoracic epimeron and pleurotergite bare; scutum, scutellum, mediotergite, anterior pronotum, episternum 1, episternum 3, anepisternum and katepisternum with minute setae. Dorsal minute setae on scutum in two rows; minute setae on anepisternum and katepisternum weakly divided into two patches; short setae on episternum 3 clearly divided into two patches. All thoracic setae remarkably reduced: only sockets are visible at low magnification (<× 200), but minute setae are observed at high magnification ( Figure 2H View Figure 2 ); exceptionally short setae on episternum 3 visible at low magnification ( Figure 3A View Figure 3 ). Scutellum weakly developed ( Figure 3A View Figure 3 ). Wing stump normally truncate ( Figures 2G View Figure 2 , 3A View Figure 3 ). Halter long, knob covered by many short setae ( Figure 3A View Figure 3 ). Legs. Brown. Front tibia with a patch of 8–20 dark brownish prolateral enlarged setae on distal two-fifth or on distal half, and with 4–7 dark brownish enlarged setae on outer apex ( Figures 2F View Figure 2 , 3C View Figure 3 ); inner apex of front tibia with two dark brownish enlarged setae and a tibial spur, and without differentiated patch of setae ( Figure 3B View Figure 3 ). Front femur proximally with dense ventral setae. Middle tibia with 3–6 dark brownish enlarged setae and two spurs apically. Inner surface (outer surface depending on mounted angle) of middle femur with numerous setae proximally (similar to Figure 3F View Figure 3 ). Hind tibia with two dark brownish enlarged setae and two spurs apically, and posterior surface slightly undulating in lateral view ( Figure 3D View Figure 3 ); proapical setae of hind tibia apically expanded forming scalelike apex ( Figure 3E View Figure 3 ). Inner surface of hind femur with numerous setae proximally and nearly bare on middle and distal surface ( Figure 3F View Figure 3 ). All tibial spurs covered by scale-like appressed setae ( Figure 3B View Figure 3 ). All trochanters with dense ventral setae. Abdomen. Tergites and sternites dark brown. First–fifth tergites with minute setae similar to those on thoracic sclerites; sixth–ninth tergites and all sternites with short setae. Membranous parts of abdomen without setae but with microtrichia ventrally. Ovipositor bilobate ventrally with short setae ( Figure 2I View Figure 2 ). Body length. 3.3–4.4 mm, from base of antenna to apex of abdomen.

Male

Unknown.

Remarks

Vilkamaa and Hippa (1999) described the following eight unique diagnostic characters of the genus Pnyxiopalpus : (1) front tibiae with enlarged conical setae; (2) tibial spurs covered by scale-like appressed setae; (3) tarsi with a medial ventral keel and a row of tightly placed setae; (4) setae of female femora and tibiae apically expanded; (5) thorax and femora lacking vestiture of microtrichia; (6) female abdomen divided into a broad preabdomen and a narrow postabdomen, the former consisting of the first six segments; (7) wing veins r-m, R and R1 ventrally setose; and (8) female mesothoracic pleura richly setose. This new species also has these characters, except for (7) not being studied due to the lack of wings. This species is easily distinguished from the known congeners by the degeneration of all thoracic setae ( Figure 3A View Figure 3 ) and dense setosity on the inner proximal part of the middle and hind femora ( Figure 3F View Figure 3 ). Condition of the character (4) of this species is remarkable as follows: apically expanded setae are observed in various parts of the body, coxae, trochanters, femora, tibiae and basitarsomeres of the legs ( Figure 3E View Figure 3 ), clypeoprefrons ( Figure 2A View Figure 2 ), palpi ( Figure 2B View Figure 2 ), antennae ( Figure 2E View Figure 2 ) and haltere. See the Discussion for the biology of this species.

DNA barcodes

The DNA barcode sequences of two females were identical. They were deposited in DDBJ under the accession numbers AB638762 View Materials and AB638763 View Materials , and also in BOLD with barcode IDs JBOL053-11 and JBOL054-11.

T

Tavera, Department of Geology and Geophysics

KUM

Resource Management Support Center

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Sciaridae

Genus

Pnyxiopalpus

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