Protomedetera ubinensis, Grootaert & Velde & Isabella Van de, 2024

Grootaert, Patrick, Velde, & Isabella Van de, 2024, New long-legged flies from mangroves on Pulau Ubin (Singapore) (Insecta: Diptera: Dolichopodidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 72, pp. 303-323 : 318-319

Protomedetera ubinensis , new species

( Fig. 15 )

Diagnosis. Small species with shiny metallic green head and thorax. Antenna yellowish brown. Pedicel with 3 long inner marginal bristles bent over the darkened spheroid postpedicel. Palpus brown with a single brown bristle twice as long as palpus. Fore tibia much shorter than fore femur with a long pale ventral preapical bristle. Acr quadriserial, close to but distinctly separated from dorsocentrals. Anterior dorsocentrals very short, biserial, only the 2 prescutellar bristles long. Basal tarsomere of the hind leg that is contrastingly dark in comparison with the tibia and the following tarsomeres.

Etymology. The name of the new species refers to the type locality, Pulau Ubin.

Type material. Holotype female. Singapore, Pulau Ubin , 7 April 2016, MT, PU04 (1°25′11.35″N 103°56′49.39″E), back mangrove ( ZRCBDP0085237 _ PU04 _ 07Apr2016 _20170417, extracted for barcode and mitogenome by Darren Yeo; LKCNHM) GenBank accession code: PP893310.

Paratype. SINGAPORE: female, Pulau Ubin , 29 March 2018, MT, PU19 (1°24′58.44″N 103°56′46.18″E) back mangrove ( ZRCBDP0285052 _ PU19 _ 29Mar2018; imaged; LKCNHM). GenBank accession code: PP893311 .

Female. Length: body 2 mm; wing 1.63 mm. Habitus similar to P. uncinata , new species, in having quadriserial acrostichal bristles and only 2 long dorsocentral bristles. Antenna dusky yellow with postpedicel brown. Palpus brown with a single brown bristle twice as long as palpus and a few short hairs. Legs with coxae and femora black. Tibia and tarsi yellow. Only the apical tarsomere of all tarsi dusky (not brown) and tarsomere 1 of hind leg contrastingly darkened. Fore tibia much shorter than fore femur with a long pale ventral preapical bristle. Ratio of fore femur, tibia and tarsomeres: 0.43: 0.33: 0.14: 0.06: 0.048: 0.032: 0.06 (in mm). Hind leg with tibia longer than femur. Ratio of hind femur, tibia and tarsomeres: 0.51: 0.55: 0.12: 0.17: 0.13: 0.06: 0.07 (in mm).

Male. Unknown.

Comments. Protomedetera ubinensis , new species, is described from two female specimens only because their identical barcodes differ more than 10% from all other known Protomedetera species. In addition, both specimens have the contrastingly darkened hind tarsomere 1, a character not present in other Protomedetera . The new species most resembles P. uncinata , new species, in having quadriserial acrostichal bristles and 2 long dorsocentrals, while P. squamata , new species, has biserial acrostichal bristles and 4 long dorsocentrals.

Figures

Fig. 15. Protomedetera ubinensis, new species, holotype female (ZRCBDP0085237). Photograph by Rene Ong.