A Revision of the Drosophila spinipes Species Group (Diptera: Drosophilidae)
Author
Grimaldi, David A.
Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79 St., New York, NY 1002 & grimaldi @ amnh. org; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 2271 - 0172
Author
Jones, Lance E.
Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79 St., New York, NY 1002 & ljones 1 @ amnh. org https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 6368 - 9720
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-07-06
4809
1
1
28
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4809.1.1
1175-5326
3933799
263939A4-E63E-4EE9-9AB6-0549794F9F24
Drosophila spinipes
Lamb
Figs. 3
F–G, 4G, 5F, 7G
Drosophila spinipes
Lamb, 1914: 336
.
Drosophila
(
Hirtodrosophila
)
spinipes
Lamb
:
Tsacas, 1990
.
Drosophila
(
Hirtodrosophila
)
suma
Burla, 1954
:
Tsacas, 2006
(as junior synonym).
Diagnosis:
Thorax and head entirely light colored, a dark, dull, yellowish ochre, not dark black-brown or contrasting with legs and ventral pleura. Anterior reclinate midway between other two ipsilateral orbital setae; protarsomere 1 with 3 black, sclerotized spines (if present, spine no. 7 minute, unsclerotized), protarsomere 2 with 4 spines. Oviscapt uniquely with large terminal pegs and only 3 smaller pegs in ventral series. Male unknown.
Description:
Coloration unique in group: light bodied, frons, face, mouthparts, scutum, scutellum, all of pleura dull, dark yellowish-ochre; abdominal tergites 2–5 with diffuse, darker markings, darkest on posterior margin of tergites, laterally diffuse. Setae, acrostichals reflect lighter than cuticle. Halter entirely light yellow. Costal spinules end ~0.3x distance from tips of R
2+3
and R
4+5
. Protarsus with segment 1 slightly shorter than segment 2; with 7 black, heavily sclerotized spines, 4 on tarsomere 2, 3 spines on tarsomere 1 (spine 7 either absent or minute and not sclerotized), spine 8 slightly stouter than in other species. Oviscapt unique: apex truncate, pegs in dorsal triad and ventral pair in nearly a vertical row, these pegs significantly larger than ones in ventral series; apical notch deep, slight notch between ventral pair and ventral series, latter with only 3 small pegs.
Measurements
:
Head:
HD/HW 0.82; FL/LFW 1.41; EW/ED 0.71; OR2/OR1 0.81–0.88; OR3/OR1 1.09–0.94; OC/POC 1.50; FW/FD 0.62; ODB/ODA 0.52;
Thorax:
ThL mm.; UPS/LHS; LHS/ThL; ADC/PDC; AKE/PKE; LF1/LF2.
Holotype
:
None was designated by
Lamb (1914)
, though specimen
NHMUK 014335955
(described below) bears a small, round, red label “Type H.T.”, which may refer to “
holotype
”.
Evenhuis
(2007) gives a history of the BMNH practice of labeling specimens from an original
syntype
series, one as “
holotype
” and the others as “
paratype
”, as a wartime effort to sequester
holotypes
in a safe location outside
London
.
Lectotype
designations ideally should be made in the context of a revision. Regrettably, many entomologists studying the BM collections have mistakenly interpreted these
syntypes
as original
holotypes
and
paratypes
, as Evenhuis (2007) explains.
NHMUK 014335955
is designated here as the
lectotype
.
Specimens Examined:
Two specimens from the
NHMUK
were examined, both females and coming from two of the three localities in the
Seychelles
listed by
Lamb (1914)
:
One, mounted with a minuten through a papered cork (handwritten “Praslin.48”) and through side of the thorax; minuten is corroded with crystalline raphides, otherwise the specimen is in relatively good condition with orbital and thoracic setae intact (
Figs. 3F
,
4G
). Six labels, from top to bottom: a small, circular, blue-rimmed “
syntype
” label / a small, circular red-rimmed “Type H.T.” [?
Holotype
] label / “
Praslin
‘08,
Seychelles
Exp.” / “
Seychelles
Is.,
Prof. J. S. Gardiner
1914-537” / small ID label “
D. spinipes Lamb
[handwritten] TYPE” [the latter blue, printed, and glued onto it / dot matrix label: “
NHMUK 014335955
”. Not dissected.
FIGURE 3.
Lateral and dorsal habitus of several
Drosophila spinipes
-group species.
A
.
D. freidbergi
n. sp.
(HS-06).
B
.
D. malagasy
n. sp.
(HS-18).
C
.
D. nigrospinipes
n. sp.
(HS-24).
D
.
D. phalloserra
n. sp.
(HS-08).
E
. Dorsal thorax, sp. C (HS-13).
F
.
D. spinipes
Lamb
(NHMUK 014335955), dorsum.
G
.
D.
s
pinipes
Lamb (NHMUK 014335956), lateral.
Second specimen is glued to its right side on small paper card (handwritten “36”), left wing missing, orbital setae intact but thoracic ones lost (
Fig. 3G
). Left tibia+tarsus and portion of abdomen removed and macerated by DG, stored in microvial on pin with specimen. Four labels from top to bottom: small, circular, blue-rimmed “
syntype
” / “Mahe 1908-9,
Seychelles
Exp.” / “
Seychelles
Is.,
Prof. J. S. Gardiner
, 1914-537, [handwritten]
D. spinipes Lamb
” / dot matrix label: “
NHMUK 014335956
”
.
Comments:
Lamb (1914)
provided a description of the species that was far ahead of its time in detail. It was based on a series of
5 females
that he reported had the head, palpi, thorax [scutum] and scutellum “orange”, and an arista with 3 dorsal branches (vs. the typical 2) plus the terminal fork. These features deviate from all continental Africa specimens, presumably why
Burla (1954)
decided that
suma
represented a different species. Our examination of two specimens from the series reveals that Lamb erred only with the number of aristal branches, which have the typical 2 dorsal ones.
Lamb (1914)
mentioned specimens from three localities in the
Seychelles
: “Mahé, near Morne Blanc,
X.1908
”, “Silhouette: Mare aux Cochons,
IX.1908
”, and “Praslin: Côtes d’Or Estate,
XI.1908
.”
Mahé
is the largest, main island; the other two are considerably smaller, Silhouette ~
25 km
NW and Praslin ~
35 km
NE of Mahé. For geographical coordinates see the Appendix table
.
In his identification of specimens from Natal,
South Africa
,
Tsacas (1990)
did not indicate how he distinguished
D. spinipes
from
D. suma
, and he later formally synonymized
D. suma
under
D. spinipes
(
Tsacas, 2006
)
. He must not have seen the NHMUK
type
series, which are immediately recognizable as distinct from the flies from
Madagascar
and continental Africa. Specimens in the Kwazulu-Natal Museum bear Tsacas’ identification labels, indicating that he dissected a male and female specimen from these (
Tsacas, 1990
). Our study of these specimens and dissections and the undissected ones from Natal finds that they are
D. phalloserra
,
n.sp.