Manota flavipes (Enderlein)

Hippa, Heikki, 2008, Notes on Afrotropical Manota Williston (Diptera: Mycetophilidae), with the description of seven new species, Zootaxa 1741, pp. 1-23 : 16-18

Notes on Manota flavipes (Enderlein)

( Figs 9 A, B)

Aphanizophleps flavipes Enderlein, 1910b: 68 .

The species was described from the Seychelles and was based on four specimens: one male from Silhouette, one male and one female from Cascade Estate, Mahé, and one male from near Morne Blanc, Mahé. The two specimens from Cascade Estate are nowadays in BMNH, and the one from Silhouette is in MIZ. In MIZ there is a wing mounted on a slide and labelled “ Aphanizophleps flavipes Enderl. , Seychellen, Mahé. H. Scott, Type ”. This must be the remains of the fourth syntype. Matile (1972) designated the male in BMNH as lectotype and the female as paralectotype. I have studied the lectotype and also the male in MIZ and consider them to be conspecific. Edwards (1928) gave a drawing of the hypopygium of the lectotype in both dorsal and in ventral aspects. Matile (1972) redescribed M. flavipes , including a drawing of the hypopygium of the lectotype in dorsal aspect. Because both Edwards’ (1928) and Matile’s (1972) drawings are rather superficial, and because the mount of the hypopygium of the lectotype is in poor condition (for details, see Matile 1972), I have illustrated the hypopygium of the male from Silhouette ( Figs 9 A, B) to serve as a better comparison with other Manota . The female terminalia are still undescribed. The pleural chaetotaxy has not been described. I have tried to study it in the male from Silhouette, but, except for the slide-mounted hypopygium, the specimen is dry and pinned through the pleura. All that I can see with certainty is that the laterotergite is setose.

M. flavipes is similar to M. phyllochaeta sp. n., M. clinochaeta sp. n. and M. teocchi Matile. It is distinguished from all these by having one, not two, megasetae at the dorsal mesial margin of the gonocoxa. The gonostylus is very similar to that of M. phyllochaeta , but the setae are weaker ( Figs 7 C, 9 B). The hypoproct resembles that of M. clinochaeta , M. phyllochaeta and M. uncinata sp. n. in having its setae separated into more anterior and a more posterior groups. In the latter respect, M. teocchi may be similar but the character cannot be clearly seen in the original description ( Matile 1972).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Manota phyllochaeta sp. n. (holotype). A. Antennal flagellomere 4, lateral view. B. Hypopygium, dorsal view. C. Hypopygium, ventral view. Scale for A 0.05 mm, for B and C 0.10 mm.

FIGURE 9. Manota flavipes (Enderlein) (syntype). A. Hypopygium, dorsal view. B. Hypopygium, ventral view. Scale 0.10 mm.