Apiformyia australis, Yeates, David K., 2008

Yeates, David K., 2008, Apiformyia, a new genus of Australian bee flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae, Bombyliinae) with affinities to the New World Heterostylum Macquart, Zootaxa 1714, pp. 31-36 : 32-35

Apiformyia australis sp. nov.

( Figs 1–4)

Holotype ɗ AUSTRALIA Northern Territory, Keep River National Park, Bail-Me-Up Cr., 23.7 km SSW Jarrnarm camp ground, dry creek bed hand net; 9.vi.2001, ME Irwin, FD Parker, CL Lambkin, 15° 57' 55"S 129° 01' 52"E (GPS). Deposited in Australian National Insect Collection ( ANIC).

Paratypes. 13ɗ 7&, same data as holotype ( ANIC); 3ɗ 3&, same data as holotype ( USNM).

Male. Head. Face, frons and genae with yellow hairs ( Fig. 2 ). Integumental colour of antennae dark brown-black; scape and pedicel with yellow hairs, pedicel bare. Pedicel twice as long as wide, widening slightly towards apex; pedicel ovoid, as long as wide; flagellum with two segments plus apical style; first flagellar segment elongate conical, as wide as pedicel but twice as long as scape and pedicel combined. Second flagellar segment small, 0.25 x length of first segment and width 0.5 x that of first segment. Occiput and ocellar triangle with yellow hairs. Posterior eye margin with shallow indentation, greatest at 0.3 x eye height ( Fig. 2 ). Palps small, approximately 1.25 times length of scape+pedicel, narrow, yellow with small black hairs on apical section. Mouthparts with labium elongate, as long as scutum, labellar lobes elongate, as long as antennae.

Thorax. Integumental colour of scutum black, except small area immediately anterior to scutellum brown, scutellum brown. Scutum clothed in yellow hairs, thicker and longer on post alar wall. Scutellum with admixed yellow and black hairs, the admixture of black hairs extending forward over brown integumental colour on scutum. Prealar bristles yellow brown. Pleura and coxae with yellow hairs, only proepimeron, meropleurite and laterotergite bare. Wing membrane hyaline towards apical and posterior margin, but brown towards basal third of wing ( Fig. 1). Legs with yellow scales, some black scales admixed on anterior face of femora and tibiae. Haltere stem and knob yellow.

Abdomen. Integumental colour of tergites brown except for small median triangular area of each tergite black, especially obvious on T2–4. Each tergite clothed in yellow hairs, admixed slightly stouter black hairs on posterior half of segments 1–4, black hairs becoming more dense and longer towards lateral margins. Sternites with brown integumental colour and yellow hairs, some black hairs admixed on S 4–6. Male and female genitalia as in description of genus and Figs 3–4 .

Female. Females differ from males in that they have admixed yellow and black hairs on the frons. The black hairs on the abdominal tergites are more extensive, extending from the posterior margin of tergite 2 to cover 50% of the tergite. Wings of females are more hyaline than males. The sinuous posterior eye margin is more pronounced in females than males.

Other Specimens Examined. Northern Territory. 1ɗ Nourlangie Ck., 8 km N of Mt Cahill, N.T. 17 June 1973 D.H. Colless (ANIC); 1ɗ Narbarlek Dam, 15km S by W of Nimbuwah Rock, N.T., 2 June 1973, M.S.

Upton & R.S. Mc Innes (ANIC); 1ɗ1& Birraduk Ck, 17 km WSW of Nimbuwah Rock, N.T., 4 June 1973, D.H. Colless (ANIC); 1& Cooper Ck, 11 km. S by W of Nimbuwah Rock, N.T. 4 June 1973, D.H. Colless (ANIC); 17&, same data as holotype except 8–9.vi.2001, Malaise in dry creekbed (ANIC); 15ɗ, same data as holotype except ground Malaise in dry creekbed 9/ 10.vi.2001 (ANIC); 21ɗ1&, same data as holotype except ground Malaise in dry creekbed 10/ 13.vi.2001; 2ɗ AUSTRALIA Northern Territory, Keep River National Park, 4 km SE Jarrnarm camp ground, hand netted, 1/ 3.vi.2001 FD Parker 15° 47' 49" S 129° 36' 31" E (ANIC); 25 ɗ same data as holotype except Malaise in dry creekbed, 31.v. –3.vi. 2001, T.Weir, K. Pullen, P. Bouchard (ANIC).

Western Australia. 1ɗ 114 km NW Meekatharra WA, 22.IX. [19]95, James O’Grady (ANIC); 1& 14.25S 126.38E CALM site 13/4 12 Km S OF Kalumburu Mission W.A. 7–11 June 1988 T.A. Weir, open forest (ANIC).

Comments. The holotype is a large male from a long series of specimens. There is a small degree of intraspecific variation in the development of the sinuous eye margin. There is also intraspecific variation in the colour of the prealar bristles, from golden brown to black. Males are more commonly collected in Malaise traps than females.

Discussion. Apiformyia has important similarities in the conformation of the posterior eye margin and wing venation to Heterostylum . It also has eleongate antennae and mouthparts in common with the New World genus. However, Apiformyia also exhibits important differences from Heterostylum , especially in the genitalia. The male genitalia of Apiformyia lack the large recurved epiphallus found in Heterostylum ( Hull 1973, Theodor 1983, Hall & Evenhuis 1981, Cunha et al. 2007), and the female genitalia of Apiformyia lacks a sand chamber that is found in Heterostylum and most other bombyliines (Yeates 1994). Tergite 8 of Apiformyia female genitalia is small and invaginated, and composed of three segments as found in other Bombyliinae (e.g. Yeates 1994 Figs 462, 464). However, tergite 8 is relatively small and lacks a long brush of hairs on the apical border, characteristic of the sand chamber. In addition, tergites 9 and 10 are small, fused together, and lack acanthoporite spines. The oviposition behaviour of Apiformyia is unknown, but it is presumably different from the complex sand gathering prior to oviposition of sand-coated eggs found in the majority of the subfamilies with a sand chamber (Yeates 1994).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Head in lateral view, male Apiformyia australis, eye height 4 mm.

FIGURE 3. Apiformyia australis male genitalia, epandrium removed. Left, dorsal view, vestiture not shown; Right, lateral view. Scale line = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 4. Apiformyia australis female genitalia and spermathecae. Scale line = 0.5 mm.