Drosophila (Sophophora) neolutea Katoh & Watada, 2025

Katoh, Takehiro K., Ting, Chau-Ti, Tsaur, Shun-Chern & Watada, Masayoshi, 2025, Discovery and descriptions of three cryptic species of the genus Drosophila Fallén (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from laboratory-maintained strains, Zootaxa 5661 (4), pp. 573-587 : 583-584

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5661.4.8
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:79E4289A-A7E8-407A-B5C7-B6FD5321E8E2
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039387D2-FF89-B077-21EA-FF412AA275BE
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Drosophila (Sophophora) neolutea Katoh & Watada
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Drosophila (Sophophora) neolutea Katoh & Watada , sp. nov.

( Figs 2G View FIGURE 2 , 3C View FIGURE 3 , 6 View FIGURE 6 )

Diagnosis: Abdominal tergites IV to VI black, laterally yellow in male ( Fig. 3C View FIGURE 3 ). Male fore-leg sex-combs 2–3 and 3–4 rows of black teeth on tarsomeres I and II, respectively ( Table 5). Postgonite as long as postgonal sheath, flat, finely serrated only on distal margin ( Fig. 6D View FIGURE 6 ). Aedeagus apically rounded and notched ( Fig. 2G View FIGURE 2 ).

Description (♂, ♀). Head: Eye red, with interfacetal setulae. Frons yellowish brown, somewhat pollinose. Fronto-orbital plate yellowish brown. Frontal triangle brown. Facial carina brown, high, narrow, laterally grayish. Clypeus brown. Gena pale brown. Palpus pale yellow, with a terminal prominent seta. Prementum and postgena pale brown. Occiput brown, marginally darker. Antennal pedicel grayish brown; first flagellomere yellowish white; arista with 4–5 dorsal and 3–4 ventral branches and moderate terminal bifurcation.

Thorax: Scutum and scutellum yellowish brown. Acrostichal setulae in 8 rows. Postpronotal lobe pale brown, with 2 setae. Anepisternum and anepimeron yellowish brown. Katepisternum pale brown.

Wing hyaline, somewhat fuscous in male. Veins brown. C 1 setae 2. R 2+3 straight; R 4+5 and M 1 nearly parallel. Halter pale brown.

Legs yellowish brown. Preapical dorsal setae present on tibiae of all legs, weak on fore- and hind-legs; apical ventral setae on fore- and mid-tibiae, weak on fore-leg. Male fore-leg with transverse sex-combs on 2 proximal tarsal segments: 2–3 rows of 0–2, 3–5 and 4–5 black teeth on tarsomere I; 3–4 rows of 0–2, 1–2, 1–2 and 2–3 teeth on tarsomere II ( Table 5). Fore-leg tarsomere I twice length of tarsomere II; tarsomere II half of rest together.

Abdomen ( Fig. 3C View FIGURE 3 ): Tergites yellowish brown with caudal dark brown band. Sternites pale brown.

Male terminalia ( Figs 2G View FIGURE 2 , 6A–D View FIGURE 6 ): Epandrium yellow, dorsally black, with 10–15 setae on dorsal to lateral part; ventral lobe elongated and apically rounded, with 3 long, stout and 17–20 moderate to small setae. Surstylus brown, with 12–l5 primary teeth in slightly convex row and 6–9 setae on ventrolateral margin, 3–5 small secondary teeth on dorsolateral margin, and 7–10 medial setae. Cercus grayish yellow, separated from epandrium, with 34–46 long setae, and dense, smaller setae on ventral portion. Subepandrial sclerite dark brown, T-shaped with lateral pieces dorso-apically projected. Hypandrium brown, somewhat longer than wide; postgonites pubescent, medially with a pair of long hypandrial setae. Pregonite large, apically pointed, black, with 3–4 lateral sensilla. Postgonite brown, long, basally fused to postgonal sheath; postgonal sheaths not fused to each other.Aedeagus basally broader; phallapodeme longer than aedeagus. Ejaculatory apodeme with rounded plate bearing 2 protrusions at apical sides; stem slender, somewhat sinuate.

Female terminalia ( Fig. 6E, F View FIGURE 6 ): Hypogynium pale brown, broad, apically rounded, with 4–5 lateral and 13–14 marginal teeth and 1 trichoid sensillum subapically. Spermathecal capsule broader than long, bell-shaped, strongly sclerotized.

Measurements: BL = 2.94 mm in holotype (paratypes: 2.78–2.97 in 10 ♂, 2.88–3.48 in 10 ♀); ThL = 1.19 mm (1.13–1.26 in ♂, 1.19–1.31 in ♀); WL = 2.09 mm (1.99–2.21 in ♂, 2.18–2.37 in ♀); WW = 1.04 mm (1.00– 1.08 in ♂, 1.09–1.20 in ♀).

Indices: FW/HW = 0.47 (0.39–0.47), ch/o = 0.10 (0.10–0.13), prorb = 0.88 (0.81–1.00), rcorb = 0.35 (0.26– 0.47), vb = 0.69 (0.59–0.81), dcl = 0.60 (0.52–0.74), sctl = 0.97 (0.77–1.06), sterno = 0.77 (0.65–0.81), sterno2 = 0.44 (0.35–0.47), orbito = 0.58 (0.43–0.64), dcp = 0.45 (0.38–0.50), sctlp = 1.07 (1.07–1.38), C = 2.80 (2.63–3.29), 4c = 0.96 (0.78–1.00), 4v = 1.92 (1.72–1.96), 5x = 1.60 (1.33–2.00), ac = 2.27 (1.91–2.60), M = 0.62 (0.50–0.66), C3F = 0.44 (0.38–0.52).

Holotype: ♂, from isofemale line (KO4) originated from a wild-caught female collected in Kota Kinabalu , Sabah, Malaysia, iii.2008, by H. Takamori ( BORN).

Paratypes: 9 ♂, 10 ♀, same data as holotype ( BORN, SEHU) .

Etymology: Morphological resemblance to D. paralutea .

Distribution: Malaysia (Sabah).

Relationships: This species belongs to the takahashii species subgroup of the melanogaster species group, because of having the sex-combs of transverse rows and characteristics of genitalia. This species resembles D. paralutea in having the apically notched aedeagus and the long, broad postgonite, but can be distinguished from it by the diagnostic characters: the numbers of rows and teeth of the sex combs ( Table 5) and the serrations of postgonite (in D. paralutea : serrations larger and on not only margin but also surfaces of distal portion). Although the strain (KO4) described here as D. neolutea sp. nov. was first identified as D. trilutea , these two species are clearly distinguished by the diagnosis ( Table 5; see “ Fig. 2D View FIGURE 2 ” in Mo et al., 2022 for the postgonite morphology of D. trilutea ). Combinations of some quantitative characters can be used to discriminate this species from D. trilutea and D. paralutea ( Table 4).