Caloparyphus palaearcticus Rozkosny , Hauser & Gelhaus

Rozkosny, Rudolf, Hauser, Martin & Gelhaus, Jon K., 2016, Caloparyphuspalaearcticus sp. n. (Diptera, Stratiomyidae), the first record for the soldier fly genus in the Palaearctic, ZooKeys 594, pp. 111-122 : 113-118

Taxon classification Animalia Diptera Stratiomyidae

Caloparyphus palaearcticus Rozkosny, Hauser & Gelhaus sp. n. Figs 1, 2, 3-6, 7, 8, 10, 11

Type material.

Holotype male (Figs 1-6), Russia: Kamchatka, okrestnosti [=environs] ESSO, lesnaja doroga [=forest road], 4.vii.2008, V. Mutin (label in Cyrillic) (deposited in CSCA).

Paratypes: 1 male, Mongolia: Hövsgöl Aimag, Hövsgöl Nuur (lake), east shore area, Dalbay Gol (river) valley, 51°01'40.5"N, 100°45'60.0"E, 1670 m, 22.vii.2007, D. Song (ID 263) (deposited in ANSP). 3 females, Mongolia: 3 females, Mongolia: Arkhangai Aimag, 17 km SW Tsenher, 1820m, swamp along stream, ca. 47°21'N, 101°33'E [47T 698.051 5243.562], 21.vii.2014 A.v.Eck (deposited in CSCA and USNM).

Diagnosis.

Caloparyphus palaearcticus is the only species in the genus found in the Palaearctic Region. The males can be easily distinguished from all the other species of this genus by the two distinct brownish spots of denser microtrichia on the wing membrane (Fig. 1) in the lower distal corner of the basal medial cell and in the middle at the lower margin of the discal cell. In both sexes the antennae are as long as the head (Figs 2, 7), and in the wing, vein R4 is absent and the discal cell is completely covered with microtrichia and has denser microtrichia patches in the males (Fig. 10).

Description.

Male. (Figs 1-6) Head: rounded, 1.3 times higher than long in profile and 1.6 times broader than high in frontal view. Compound eyes touching in middle third of frons and consisting of larger facets on greater than lower half of its surface. Distinct border between differentially large facets and smaller facets at level of antennal insertion. Ocellar triangle slightly longer than wide, prominent in lateral view. Upper frons barely twice as wide as anterior ocellus. Lower frons somewhat broader than long, predominantly shining yellow but small upper corner black. Antenna (Fig. 3) about as long as head in profile, relative length of antennal segments scape: pedicel: flagellomere 1: flagellomere 2: flagellomere 3: flagellomere 4: flagellomere 5: flagellomere 6 as 2.7: 2.5: 2.4: 1.8: 1.8: 2.4: 1:0: 2.6. Face shining black with narrow whitish lateral stripes along inner eye margin reaching yellow frontal spots and dilated in lower half of face. Proboscis yellow with shining black theca, black palpus very short. Ventral part of head and postgenal area black but latter grayish dusted. Head pile mostly inconspicuous, pale yellowish to white, hairs on occipital margin black.

Thorax: Shining black with two pairs of bright yellow scutal vittae. Dorsal vittae dilated in anterior third and reaching beyond transverse suture. Each lateral vitta touching yellow postpronotal callus anteriorly and transverse suture posteriorly. Also postalar callus intensively yellow, with a pointed anterior projection. Scutellum yellow but its narrow base and lateral parts black, scutellar spines yellow but blackish distally. Pleural part of thorax predominantly shining black, yellow line along upper margin of anepisternum abruptly dilated in front of wing base. Katepimeron and upper posterior part of katepisternum contrastingly yellow. Thoracic pile moderately long, mainly whitish but black and upright on scutum though similar whitish hairs on anterior part and along notopleura also visible. Wing membrane hyaline, veins brownish to pale yellow, stigma yellowish. No vein arising from discal cell reaching wing margin. Wing microtrichia considerably reduced in basal half of wing membrane, limited to small distal areas in basal radial and basal medial cells, sparse microtrichia in central area of posterior cubital cell and distal half of anal cell. Apical half of wing membrane almost completely covered with dense microtrichia but anterior cubital cell bare along upper and inner margins. Especially dense microtrichia visible at distal part of basal medial cell and along anterior lower corner of discal cell as two distinct darkened microtrichial patches (cf. Figs 1 and 2). Calypters inconspicuous, dark, with long and upright whitish hairs. Halteres yellow, only the stem darkened basally. Legs black and yellow: coxae black, femora black with yellow tips, tibiae yellow with darkened ring on mid and hind pairs, tarsi predominantly darkened, only all basitarsi yellow. Pile on legs mainly short, whitish to yellow, often predominantly black on darkened parts, pile on basal halves of femora longer.

Abdomen: About as long as broad, sub-circular, black with yellow pattern (Fig. 1), venter black. Abdominal pile short, black and mostly semi-appressed, longer hairs visible in anterior corners, yellow spots bare. Ventral hairs whitish and mostly appressed.

Terminalia : Simple, without distinct modifications. Epandrium with a membranous incision before posterior corner on each side distally, proctiger subtriangular and cerci relatively short, oval (Fig. 4). Genital capsule (Fig. 5) with two rounded medial lobes distally and aedeagal complex (Fig. 6) simple, tripartite.

Length: body 6.5-6.7 mm, wing 5.7-5.8 mm.

Female. Similar to male, except for typical sexual dimorphism. Face yellow (Fig. 11) with a dark pentagonal mark on the frons widening from the ocellar triangular towards the antennal base, and narrowing on the lower frons before reaching the antennae. Area around the mouth black, and extending laterally upwards to the eye margin beyond antennae. Lower half of eye margin with a narrow vitta of dense silver pubescence. Hairs on lower face white, and black on frons. Gena and occiput mainly yellow, black around ocellar triangle, this black area extends to the upper eye margin and is also connected to the black pentagonal mark on the frons. The yellow spot on tergite one (Fig. 8) is more extant than in the male, also the lateral spots on tergite two are larger and more rounded (Fig. 7).

Length: body 7.9-8.0 mm, wing 6.9-7.0 mm.

Variability.

There are no doubts that the male holotype and paratypes are conspecific but some small differences in color pattern were found in the male paratype from Mongolia (e.g. dorsolateral vittae are separated from the yellow postpronotal calli and a spot at the katepisternum and a small yellow basal spot on the abdomen are missing). Similar variability is commonly known in many other Oxycerini . Differences in color pattern between the female and male adults are noted in the description.

Etymology.

The species epithet indicates the distribution of this species in the Palaearctic Region, i.e. in a different biogeographic realm in comparison with all other known species of this genus.

Distribution.

Eastern part of the Palaearctic Region from Mongolia to Russian Kamchatka (Fig. 14).

Ecology.

The male Mongolian specimen was collected in an area of mixed steppe grassland, riparian shrubs and Larix siberica forest (Fig. 13). Insects were collected visiting flowers on the south facing slope of the steppe dominated by a mixture of sedges (e.g. Carex sp.), grasses (e.g. Festuca lenensis , Poa attenuata ) and forbs (e.g. Aster alpinus , Potentilla spp., Artemisia commutata , Thymus gobicus ). Further information about the study site can be found in Song (2015).