Bradysia pernitida ( Skuse, 1888 )

Broadley, Adam, Kauschke, Ellen & Mohrig, Werner, 2016, Revision of the types of male Sciaridae (Diptera) described from Australia by F. A. A. Skuse, Zootaxa 4193 (3), pp. 401-450 : 432

Bradysia pernitida ( Skuse, 1888) comb. n.

( Fig. 19 A‒C)

Sciara pernitida Skuse, 1888 [ Skuse (1888): 685 ‒686].

Type locality. Australia, New South Wales, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney & Blue Mountains .

Lectotype (here designated): Male. Slide bears original label data verbatim ‘ Sc. pernitida / Ƌ (ink) TYPE./ F. A. A. Skuse’ (print), ‘Eliz: Bay/ +B. MS’ (ink). Mounted in Canada balsam Dec. 2015. ( ANIC; Slide No. 040-1).

Paralectotype. Female (not studied).

Remarks. Original description states “ Hab.—Elizabeth Bay (Masters and Skuse); Glenbrook, Blue Mountains (Masters). November.

Preservation. Thorax somewhat deformed, gonostylus missing.

Additional description. Male. Head. Brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Antenna brown, very long and thin, necks rather short, brownish; 4th flagellomere with a l/w-index of 5.0, with dense, bristle-like hairs that are barely longer than the width of the basal node; palpus 3-segmented, basal segment with a flat sensory area and 2‒3 bristles. Thorax. Brown, scutum with three darker stripes, short hairs, and a few longer lateral bristles; scutellum with 2 longer marginal bristles; postpronotum bare. Wings brownish; R1 = 2/3 R; R5 with dorsal macrotrichia only; C = 3/4 w; y somewhat shorter than x, without macrotrichia; posterior veins distinct, without macrotrichia. Haltere short, brown. Legs brown; fore tibia with a broad comb of pale bristles; spurs of middle and hind tibia equal in size, somewhat longer than the width of the apex of tibia; claws without teeth. Abdomen. Brownish, with short, sparse, pale hairs. Hypopygium brown, with v-shaped ventral base, without lobe or patch of bristles; gonocoxite with rather long hairs on the inner ventral margin, with 2 megasetae at the ventral apex; gonostylus lost; tegmen apically rounded, with a large area of rather strong teeth and with strong ventral parameral apodeme. Body length: 3.0 mm.

Comments. This species belongs to the genus Bradysia . It is characterized by the brown body colour, unusually long and thin flagellomeres, a flat sensory area on the basal segment of the palpus, the v-shaped ventral base of the hypopygium, an apically rounded tegmen and 2 megasetae on the ventral apex of the gonocoxite. This combination of characters could allow an identification to species even though the gonostyles are missing.

Distribution. Australia ( New South Wales).

Figures

FIGURE 19. Bradysia pernitida (Skuse, 1888). A. Base of hypopygium; B. Head and thorax in part; C. Flagellomeres 4 ‒ 6.