Lissimas australis (Ricardo)

Mackerras, I. M., Spratt, D. M. & Yeates, D. K., 2008, Revision of the horse fly genera Lissimas and Cydistomyia (Diptera: Tabanidae: Diachlorini) of Australia, Zootaxa 1886 (1), pp. 1-80 : 10-11

Lissimas australis (Ricardo)

* Acanthocera australis Ricardo, 1915 b: 16 ; Surcouf 1921: 90 (as? Acanthocera ). Holotype female, N Qld, Kuranda (stated to be in ZMHB, but in BEI; specimen in BMNH is mis-labelled as type but probably a paratype).

Paracanthocera australis ; Enderlein 1923: 545, 1925: 333; Oldroyd 1949: 331; Mackerras 1959: 165. [Subsequent more detailed study of the New Guinea and island species ( Mackerras 1964: 101–104) has shown that allocation of australis to Paracanthocera was not justified].

Udenocera australis ; Taylor 1926: 193 (transferred on advice from Austen).

Lissimas australis ; Mackerras 1964: 103, fig. 42; Daniels, 1989: 291; Bickel & Elliot, 1998 -2005: 11.

Other material examined. 5 ♀, 3 ♂.

Diagnosis. The only member of the genus found in Australia, this is a striking, slender, dark brown species, with sharply defined dark brown pattern on wing, narrow white apical bands on 1 st and 2 nd abdominal tergites, and brown to yellowish brown legs.

Body length 14 mm, antennae 3.5 mm.

Female. Head. Eyes (relaxed) purple-brown with 2 oblique green bands, bare. Frons slightly divergent, index 4.3, covered with dark grey tomentum; no ocellar tubercle; callus brownish black, raised, bulbous, almost full width of frons at base and with narrowly ridged extension nearly to vertex. Subcallus slightly shiny, brown, more yellowish around antennae and in mid-line, and with greyish overlay laterally; parafacials blackish grey, with thin paler grey overlay, and with scattered inconspicuous brown hairs; face polished, dark brown, with short inconspicuous brown hairs, tentorial pits large and deep; beard sparse, brown to yellowish brown. Antennal scape and pedicel brownish yellow, with brown and black hairs; flagellum brownish yellow at extreme base, becoming darker brown distally, with some thin yellowish tomentum on basal annulus, and with little group of short spine-like dark brown hairs at basal angle dorsally. Palpi with second segment markedly swollen on basal half, dark brown, with greyish overlay and dark brown hairs. Proboscis very short; labella large.

Thorax. Scutum brown, with greyish tomentum on dorsocentral vittae and notopleural lobes; hairs dark brown, inconspicuous, mixed with some paler ones at sides; scutellum brighter brown than scutum, with dark brown hairs. Pleura brown, with propleura grey and some greyish overlay elsewhere; hairs fine, not conspicuous, mostly brown, with creamy white zone along posterior margin of upper mesopleural convexity, conspicuous white squamal tuft and some creamy white hairs between coxae.

Legs. Coxae brown (like pleura), fore with brown hairs, mid and hind with mainly whitish hairs; femora brown, fore paler than others; tibiae and tarsi brownish yellow, those of hind legs darker than others; hairs on all segments mainly dark brown.

Wings. Deep brown from base to apex, clear posteriorly, dividing line quite sharply marked along R 4, in nearly a straight line from fork of R 4+5 to apex of A 1 + CuA 2, and straight back to base along A 1. The following clear areas occur within the dark colour: a small one at extreme base, one at base of basal radial cell, and one between sc and R 1 near tip of sc, one between R 1 and Rs, and a keyhole-shaped area across the basal cells just basal to fork of M. Less definite, elongate, clearer areas occur in cell r 2+3, the discal medial cell, and cells cua 1 and cup. Stigma dark brown, veins darker basally, paler distally; R 4 angulate, with short inconstant appendix.

Abdomen. Dark cinnamon brown, covered with dark brown hairs, 1 st tergite somewhat paler and with greyish cream hairs; narrow but conspicuous pale greyish apical bands with white hairs on 1 st and 2 nd tergites. Venter similar to dorsum, pale apical band present only on 2 nd sternite.

Male. Closely similar to female in colouration and pattern. Eyes (relaxed) moderately large, bare, upper enlarged facets reddish brown, lower and posterior small ones brown, with green band across middle, widening and turning greenish blue posteriorly and in upward extension behind large facets; ocellar tubercle not visible. Frontal triangle greyish black; subcallus darker than in female, parafacials similar, face polished only at sides, tomentose and apparently membranous in middle. Palpi short, plump, almost globular, dark brown with brown-black hairs. Posterior fringe on mesopleural convexity with mixed brown and white hairs, relatively inconspicuous.

Distribution. From Atherton Tableland N QLD to near Gordonvale.

Kuranda, Mar., W.D. Dodd, I.F.B. Common, M.S. Upton, Nov., D.H. Colless (at light); F.H. Taylor; Mt Misery SW Cooktown, G.A. Daniels; Windsor Tablelands, Dec., J.S.P. Hasenpusch; Meringa, on Eugenia .