Tachydromia malaysiensis, Shamshev & Grootaert, 2009

Shamshev, Igor & Grootaert, Patrick, 2009, Two New Species Of The Genus Tachydromia Meigen (Diptera: Hybotidae) From Malaysia, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 57 (2), pp. 251-254 : 251-253

Tachydromia malaysiensis , new species

( Figs. 1–3 )

Material examined. – Holotype – male, MALAYSIA: Pahang, Tanah Rata , 1,460 m, 7 Jan.1990, coll. J. R. Vockeroth [ CNC].

Diagnosis. – Recognised by yellow body, small palpus bearing very long subapical seta, entirely tomentose thorax, almost entirely yellow legs, wings with faint bands and yellow halters.

Description. – Male. Body about 1.6 mm, wing 1.8 mm. Head brown. Eyes extending beyond ocellar tubercle and almost touching on vertex. Frons short, narrow, pollinose, almost parallel-sided. Ocellar tubercle pollinose, ocellars minute. Occiput entirely pollinose, bearing 2 short closely set brownish vertical setae, covered with scattered short pale setae longer near mouth-opening. Antenna with scape, pedicel and postpedicel yellow, stylus brown; postpedicel short, subtriangular; stylus apical, very long, short pubescent. Proboscis yellow. Palpus small, truncate, yellow, bearing very long black subapical seta, with scattered pale yellow setulae.

Thorax almost entirely yellow, subshining, finely tomentose, prescutellar depression, scutellum and mediotergite somewhat darker. Postpronotal lobe very large, lacking conspicuous setae. Mesonotum with 2 notopleurals (posterior seta much longer and stronger) and 2 short closely set scutellars (shorter than posterior notopleural seta); acrostichal and dorsocentral setae minute, the former arranged in 1–2 irregular rows, lacking on prescutellar depression; the latter uniserial, 1 prescutellar pair somewhat longer.

Legs long, slender, almost entirely yellow, hind femur brownish yellow apically, hind tibia with brown ring on apical 1/6. Fore coxa subshining, with numerous unmodified setae anteriorly. Fore femur thickened, with rows of short anteroventral and posteroventral yellowish setae. Fore tibia spindle-shaped. Mid femur rather slender, with rows of brownish yellow anteroventral and posteroventral spinule-like setae becoming longer basally, bearing 1 long posteroventral seta near base. Mid tibia with hardly prominent ventral spinules (more distinct subapically) but with 2 black apical spinules. Hind leg unmodified, without prominent setae. Tarsi of all legs unmodified.

Wing normally developed, with two very faint infuscate broad bands separated throughout. Costal seta absent. Vein R 1 meeting costa near wing midway. Proximal section of vein R 4+5 considerably longer than Rs. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 parallel toward wing-apex. Crossveins r-m and bmcu separated. Cells br and bm extending to wing midway. Halter yellow.

Abdomen almost entirely yellow, subshining, mostly with short yellowish setulae, tergites broadly brownish yellow dorsally, sternite 8 with long posteromarginal setae.

Terminalia ( Figs. 1–3 ) large, brownish, subshining. Right cercus with deep apical excision, bearing several moderately long unmodified setae. Left cercus shorter than right cercus, slightly concave apically, with several unmodified setae of different lengths. Right epandrial lamella conical, with several long unmodified setae, bearing large subglobular ventral projection. Right surstylus differentiated from epandrium, long, narrow, with several spines on inner face. Left epandrial lamella small, with several short unmodified setae. Left surstylus differentiated from epandrium, with several unmodified subapical setae.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. – The new species is named after Malaysia.

Distribution and seasonal occurrence. – Malaysia. Known from a single locality in mountains of Pahang Province. The record is from the beginning of January.

Remarks. – The relationships of T. malaysiensis are unclear beyond inclusion within the T. luang species group. In the key to Tachydromia species of the Oriental Region the new species runs to T. luang , which is known from Singapore and Thailand (Shamshev & Grootaert, 2008). Besides distinctive differences in the male terminalia T. malaysiensis can be readily distinguished from T. luang by entirely yellow fore tibiae (vs. contrastingly black on apical third in T. luang ).

Figures

Figs. 1–3. Tachydromia malaysiensis, new species, male. 1, right epandrial lamella, lateral view, 2, hypopygium, dorsal view, 3, left epandrial lamella, lateral view. Scale 0.1 mm.