Empis (Polyblepharis) nabucco Çiftçi, 2012

Çiftçi, Mustafa Cemal, Hasbenli, Abdullah & Canpolat, Derya, 2012, Two new species of Empis (Diptera: Empididae) from Turkey, Zootaxa 3408, pp. 47-53 : 48-49

Empis (Polyblepharis) nabucco Çiftçi sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–3 )

Diagnosis. Medium to large, body 5.7–7.6 mm long, legs and halteres black. Hairs on thorax and abdomen whitish, scutum with long dense hairs leaving only inner stripes bare, acrostichals and dorsocentrals mostly white, humeral bristle distinct. Female scutum with few short hairs, legs without pennation or flattened hairs.

Description. Male. Eyes meeting on frons for long distance, upper ommatidia enlarged. Face dull grey, lower edge shinning black. Pair of ocellar bristles as long as other occipital bristles. Occiput grey, upper occipital bristles black, lower part of occiput with thin whitish hairs. Antenna black, basal segments (scape and pedicel) with black bristly hairs as long as corresponding segments, stylus as long as half-length of 3rd antennal segment (postpedicel). Palpus yellow, basally black with sparse bristly hairs. Labrum 1.5X as long as height of head.

Thorax grey, scutum with 4 dull black stripes, 2 narrow inner stripes separating acrostichals and dorsocentrals, outer stripes 2X broader than inner stripes. Scutum with long dense whitish hairs as long as length of 1st (scape) and 2nd (pedicel) antennal segments leaving only inner stripes bare. Acrostichals and dorsocentrals whitish and as long as other hairs on scutum, acrostichals irregularly 3–5 serial, dorsocentrals multiserial also with row of black, slightly thicker bristles and ending with 2 pairs of long prescutellar bristles. Humeri (postpronotum) covered with whitish hairs, humeral bristle black anteriorly with 3–4 smaller bristles. Large thoracic bristles black, 1 intrahumeral, 3 notopleural, 1 supra-alar, 1 postalar, 2–4 scutellar bristles. Prothorax with whitish hairs. Metapleural fan (laterotergal bristles) long and whitish.

Wing almost clear, all veins dark and distinct, only wing base yellowish. Costal bristle absent. Squama yellow with white fringes. Haltere with black knob and brownish stem.

Legs long and slender, shinning black to blackish brown except for greyish dusted coxae. Coxae with long whitish hairs and 4–5 outer black bristles. Femora with short black hairs, mid and hind femora ventrally with row of spine-like bristles. Tibiae ventrally with short adpressed hairs, dorsal hairs bristle-like, slightly longer than ventral hairs. Mid tibia anteroventrally with row of short bristles. Tarsal segments with dense short hairs and apical circlet of bristles. Basitarsi (tarsomere 1) ventrally with spine-like bristles.

Abdomen grey, terga much darker and slightly brownish pollinose in dorsal view. Terga 5 and 6 black and brownish pollinose, sternum 8 and genitalia shinning black with slightly brownish dusting. Abdominal hairs whitish, lateral hairs on anterior segments long. Terga 2–4 and 6 laterally with 1, tergum 5 laterally with 2 marginal bristles. Sternum 8 with sparse hairs and long and thick hind marginal bristles. Genitalia (terminalia) ( Figs. 1–3 ) large and black with black marginal hairs, lower hind edge of lateral lamella (epandrium) brownish. Lateral lamella (epandrium) large, almost square, posterior edge oval ( Fig. 1 ). Dorsal lamella (cercus) with short black hairs, anteriorly bilobed; inner lobe very narrowed and finger-like in dorsal view; inner edge on apical half serrate in dorsal view ( Fig. 2 ).

Holotype male body length: 6.8 mm, wing length: 7.1 mm. Paratypes body length: male 5.7–7 mm; female 7–7.4 mm, wing length: male 6–7.2 mm; female 7.3–7.6 mm.

Female. All main differential characters as in male but hairs and bristles shorter. Frons grey and wide. Whitish thin hairs on thorax and head considerably reduced. Dense whitish hairs on mesonotum in male reduced to few short hairs in female. Acrostichals and dorsocentral bristles black, very short and spine-like. Large thoracic bristles as in male but shorter. Wings clearly brownish. Legs long, slender and shinning black, without pennation and flattened hairs. Hairs and bristles on coxae short, ventral spine-like bristles on mid femur very shortened. Abdomen dull light grey with very short and sparse hairs, no hind marginal bristles. Last segments shinning black.

Remarks. Empis nabucco is closely related to a small group of species ( E. syriaca Collin , E. dedecor Loew and E. engeli Chvála ) within E. haemorrhoica -group due to the densely haired mesonotum, black legs and halteres, whitish abdominal hairs and metapleural fan (laterotergal bristles). Empis nabucco mostly resembles E. dedecor and E. syriaca having long and dense pale hair-like acrostichals and dorsocentrals, but the latter two species have the humeral bristle not differentiated. Empis nabucco shares distinct humeral bristles as in E. engeli , but with additional 3–4 smaller anterior bristles. Female legs of E. nabucco are similar to E. dedecor in lacking pennate setae, but the female of E. nabucco is clearly differentiated from the female of E. dedecor by the short and reduced mesonotal hairs, spine-like acrostichals and dorsocentrals and completely grey abdomen except for the last shinning black segments.

Type material. HOLOTYPE 3 (spn13685): TURKEY. Ankara, Bala, northwest of Bahçekaradalak village, 1212 m, 04.vi.2011. PARATYPES (spn12648, 13649, 13686-13759): TURKEY. 3Ƥ, Ankara, Bala, S of Abazlı village, 1133 m, 04.vi.2011; 33, 20Ƥ, Ankara, Bala, NW of Bahçekaradalak village, 1212 m, 04.vi.2011; 4Ƥ, Ankara, Bala, N of Bahçekaradalak village, 1216 m, 04.vi.2011; 1Ƥ, Yozgat, Akdaġmadeni, W of Bozhüyük village, 1785 m, 07.vi.2011; 3Ƥ, Sivas, Şarkışla, S of Hocabey village, 1453 m, 07.vi.2011; 13, 3Ƥ, Sivas, Şarkışla, NW of Gaziköy village, 1389 m, 07.vi.2011; 23, 8Ƥ, Sivas, Merkez, N of Büyükyüreġil village, 1441 m, 08.vi.2011; 2Ƥ, Sivas, Merkez, N of Kartalca village, 1366 m, 08.vi.2011; 4Ƥ, Sivas, Zara, W of Mahmutaġaçiftliġi village, 1412 m, 09.vi.2011; 33, Sivas, Hafik, W of Topçuyeniköy village, 1438 m, 09.vi.2011; 13, 2Ƥ, Sivas, Hafik, N of Bakımlı village, 1374 m, 09.vi.2011; 23, Sivas, Merkez, SE of Karayün village, 1477 m, 09.06.2011; 1Ƥ, Sivas, Merkez, E of Yeniboġazkesen village, 1399 m, 09.06.2011; 1Ƥ, Sivas, Hafik, E of Akpınar village, 1481 m, 10.vi.2011; 2Ƥ, Sivas, İmranlı, W of Kılıçköy, 1577 m, 10.vi.2011; 1Ƥ, Sivas, İmranlı, SE of Yaylacık village, 1623 m, 10.vi.2011; 4Ƥ, Sivas, İmranlı, W of Piredede village, 1727 m, 10.vi.2011; 13, 2Ƥ, Erzincan, Refahiye, NW of Kandilköy village, 2138 m, 11.vi.2011; 13, Sivas, İmranlı, S of Toklucak village, 1700 m, 11.vi.2011; 1Ƥ, Erzincan, Refahiye, SE of Yurtbaşı village, 1728 m, 21.vi.2011.

Derivatio nominis. This species is named after the Nabucco Gas Pipeline Project, the environmental baseline field studies for which provided the opportunity and financial support for the collection of the type materials.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Empis (Polyblepharis) nabucco 1. Genitalia; 2. Dorsal lamella (cercus) in dorsal view; 3. Aedeagus (phallus). Scale = 0.3 mm.