Piezura pardalina shanxiensis Xue, Wang & Wu, 1999

Moores, Amy & Savage, Jade, 2005, A taxonomic revision of Piezura Rondani (Diptera: Fanniidae), Zootaxa 1096 (1), pp. 41-59 : 56-57

5. Piezura pardalina shanxiensis Xue, Wang & Wu, 1999

Figs.5 A–B

Piezura graminicola shanxiensis Wang, Wu, Cheng, Xue & Liu, 1992: 2 . Unavailable name.

Piezura graminicola shanxiensis Xue, Wang & Wu in Xue & Wang, 1999: 811 [832, English description]. The 1992 publication by Wang et al. was issued as an 8­page separate that included the full description and illustrations of two muscid taxa. This separate was only distributed to participants of the XIX International Congress of Entomology or by personal requests directed to the authors. Consequently, it does not constitute a published work under Article 9.9 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999) and P. graminicola shanxiensis Wang et al. described therein is therefore an unavailable name.

Diagnosis: Male frons relatively broad, 1.5–2.0x width of first flagellomere; first flagellomere with yellow base and black apex, postpronotum yellow; hind tibia with 1 av, apex of mesolobus weakly bifurcate ( Fig. 5A ).

Material examined: none.

Description (adapted from Xue & Wang 1999)

Head: Frons 1.5–2.0x width of first flagellomere; fronto­orbital plate with 4–5 medioclinate fr; 1 upper orb; antenna with scape and pedicel yellow, first flagellomere black with yellow base; arista short plumose, with longest hair 0.5–0.6x width of first flagellomere.

Thorax: Background color dark with grayish­brown pollinosity; three dark brown dorsal vittae present, with median one broader than lateral ones; acr in four rows; postpronotum yellow.

Legs: All femora with a dark spot near apex; t2 with 1 ad and 1 pd; t3 with 1 av on middle section, 2–3 ad,1 d on middle section and 1 preapical d; f3 with 1 row of av on apical half, 2 much stronger av near apex.

Wings: Costal spine inconspicuous.

Abdomen: Tergites 3 to 5 laterally darkened with dark median vitta.

Postabdomen: Mesolobus 2x as high as wide with apex slightly bifurcate ( Fig. 5A ); sternite 5 4x as wide as long ( Fig. 5B ).

Female: unknown.

Distribution: PALAEARCTIC – Asia: China (Shanxi).

Remarks: Xue & Wang (1999) mentioned that P. pardalina shanxiensis (as P. graminicola shanxiensis ) can be differentiated from the nominal species by a broad frons, first flagellomere mostly black, presence of dark median vittae on the abdominal tergites, and shape of the cerci. We find this list of differences puzzling because P. pardalina pardalina does have dark median vittae present on tergites 3–5 and the first flagellomere is weakly to moderately infuscated on the apical half. The weakly cleft mesolobus ( Fig. 5A ) is a feature that we have observed in a few specimens of P. pardalina pardalina ( Fig. 4A ). Consequently, the only features that differentiate this subspecies from P. pardalina pardalina are the width of the frontal vitta and the infuscation pattern of the first flagellomere. As no material of this subspecies was available for examination, we do not feel that there is sufficient evidence at this time to synonymize this taxon with the nominal species.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Piezura pardalina ssp. pardalina Rondani. A. Male genitalia external structures, posterior. B. Male mesolobus, variant form. C. Female spermatheca. D. Female genitalia, ventral. E. Male sternite 5, ventral.

FIGURE 5. Piezura pardalina ssp. shanxiensis Xue, Wang & Wu. A. Male genitalia external structures, posterior. B. Male sternite 5, ventral. (adapted from Xue & Wang, 1999).