Platypalpus arzanovi, Kustov, Semen, Shamshev, Igor & Grootaert, Patrick, 2014

Kustov, Semen, Shamshev, Igor & Grootaert, Patrick, 2014, Six new species of the Platypalpus pallidiventris-cursitans group (Diptera: Hybotidae) from the Caucasus, Zootaxa 3779 (5), pp. 529-539 : 531-533

Platypalpus arzanovi sp. nov.

( Figs 4–7 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE, ♂ labelled [printed in Cyrillic], [ RUSSIA], Rostovskaya oblast' [= province]/ Orlovskiy r-on [= district]/ bereg ozera [= shore of lake] Manych-Gudilo/ 46º27'480"N, 42º35'528"E, 29.iv.2013, Kustov S.Yu. ( ZIN). PARATYPES: RUSSIA: same data as holotype (5 ♂, 7 ♀, ZIN; 5 ♂, 7 ♀, KSU; 5 ♂, 7 ♀, RBINS); Rostov Province, Orlovskiy District, vicinity of village Runny, Starikovskaya gully, 46º30'786"N, 42º57'080"E, 30.iv.2013, coll. Kustov S.Yu. (9 ♂, 3 ♀, ZIN; 10 ♂, 3 ♀, KSU); Rostov Province, Orlovskiy District, village Volochaevsky, Rostov Nature Reserve, 46º32'756"N, 42º38'147"E, 1.v.2013, coll. Kustov S.Yu. (8 ♂, 2 ♀, KSU); Krasnodarskiy Territory, Korenovskiy District, 8 km SE of Korenovsk, shore of river Levy Beysuzhek, 22.v.2013, coll. Kustov S.Yu. (1 ♂, KSU).

Recognition. Medium-sized greyish species of the P. pallidiventris-cursitans group; 1 pair of pale vertical bristles; antenna black, postpedicel about 2.5X longer than wide; mesonotum with pale to yellowish bristles; katepisternum almost entirely shining; legs with black coxae, all femora with broad black ring, tarsomeres of all legs broadly sharply black annulated, mid tibia with long pointed apical spur; abdomen black, entirely shining.

Description. Male. Body length 2.6–2.8 mm; wing length 2.7–2.9 mm. Head black. Occiput greyish pollinose, bearing 1 pair of moderately long pale inclinate verticals, clothed with rather long pale hairs. Ocellar tubercle greyish pollinose, with moderately long anterior and minute posterior setae. Frons broad, somewhat broadened toward ocellar tubercle, greyish pollinose. Face narrower than frons, almost parallel-sided, densely silvery grey pollinose; clypeus polished black. Antenna black; postpedicel conical, almost 2.5X longer than wide; stylus black, nearly 1.3X longer than postpedicel. Proboscis dark brown, about half as head is high. Palpus brown to black, elongate ovate, densely silvery pubescent, with several short pale hairs and 1 longer subapical seta.

Thorax rather thinly light greyish pollinose (mesonotum in some view with slight yellowish tinge), somewhat denser on pleura, with pale to yellowish bristles; katepisternum (= sternopleuron) almost entirely shining. Postpronotal lobe with 1 long and several minute setae. Mesonotum with 2 notopleurals (anterior seta shorter, posterior seta long), 1 long postalar and 4 scutellars (apical pair long, cruciate, lateral pair short); acrostichals short, arranged in 2 broad irregular rows; dorsocentrals 1–2-serial, short, 2 prescutellar pairs long; some setulae present just behind postpronotal lobe and on notopleuron.

Legs with black coxae (except apex of fore coxa) and hind trochanter, all femora with broad black ring, hind tibia brownish near apex and near extreme base, all tarsomeres broadly sharply black annulated apically (tarsomere 5 almost entirely black), otherwise legs yellow. Fore coxa densely silvery-grey pollinose anteriorly, covered with dense long whitish hairs becoming longer beneath. Fore femur strongly thickened, clothed with rather long whitish hairs dorsally and bearing 2 rows of long whitish bristly hairs ventrally. Fore tibia slender, covered with rather long setulae. Mid femur slightly stouter than fore femur; with double row of black ventral spinules, with very long pale yellow posteroventral setae as long as femur is wide. Mid tibia bearing row of black ventral spinules; with very long sharply pointed apical spur blackish at tip. Hind femur slender, with moderately long anteroventral setae. Hind tibia slender, clothed with ordinary setulae. Tarsi of all legs unmodified.

Wing almost hyaline, with brown veins becoming yellow on basal part. One moderately long pale costal seta. Veins R4+5 and M1+2 straight and parallel near wing margin; CuA2 perpendicular. Crossveins m-cu and r-m slightly separated. Calypter yellow, with yellow setae. Halter yellow.

Abdomen entirely polished black, covered with faint moderately long whitish setae; segment 8 with numerous long yellowish posteromarginal setae. Terminalia ( Figs 4–7 ) rather large, black, subglobular. Right cercus ( Figs 4, 6 ) rather digitiform, somewhat broadened on about apical third, not extending beyond apex of left epandrial lamella, covered with short ordinary setae; left cercus digitiform, slightly longer than right cercus, nearly as broad as right cercus on middle, slightly attenuated apically, covered with short ordinary setae. Right epandrial lamella ( Figs 5, 6 ) elongate oval, with short setae along lower margin and subapically; right surstylus rather long, digitiform, with some short ordinary setae. Left epandrial lamella as in Figure 7 , rather elongate oval, narrowed apically, with several moderately long setae on lower margin.

Female. Resembling male but acrostichals and dorsocentrals slightly shorter; abdomen with shorter and sparser setation; cercus black, greyish pollinose, moderately long, slender, with pale hairs.

Etymology. This species is named after the Russian Coleoptera specialist Dr. Yu.G. Arzanov (Rostov-na-Donu [= Rostov-on-Don]), who made great contributions to investigations on insects from the Caucasus.

Distribution. PALAEARCTIC: Russia (Krasnodarskiy Territory, Rostov Province). Known from steppe landscapes, locally very common on grass and trees, often near lakes and rivers.

Remarks. The new species is very similar to P. clypeatus Kovalev, 1973 known from Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany and Slovakia ( Chvála 2013). Platypalpus arzanovi sp. nov. differs from P. clypeatus primarily by shorter postpedicel, which is about 2.5 times longer than wide (3.5 times in P. clypeatus ) and by sharply black annulated tarsomeres of all legs. In P. clypeatus tip of tarsomere 1, at least apical half of tarsomere 2 and almost entire tarsomeres 3–5 brownish black.

Figures

FIGURES 4 – 7. Platypalpus arzanovi sp. nov., male. 4. cerci, dorsal view. 5. right epandrial lamella and surstylus, lateral view. 6. terminalia, dorsal view. 7. left epandrial lamella, lateral view. Scale bar is 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: ej apod—ejaculatory apodeme, hypd—hypandrium, v apod—ventral apodeme.