Ulidia skrylniki, Kameneva & I., 2019

Kameneva, Elena P. & I., Valery A. Korneyev I., 2019, New species and synonymies in the genus Ulidia (Diptera: Ulidiidae) from the Middle East, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 49 (2), pp. 243-266 : 245-249

Key to world species of Ulidia

Shining black or uniformly matt species without lace-like microtrichose pattern on frons or mesonotum currently assigned to Timia are also included. Additional characters facilitating identification are given in parentheses. WL – wing length.

1 Mesonotum uniformly gray microtrichose, without shining black spots at bases of setae. Posterior half of frons, occiput, mediotergite, and abdominal tergites 1–3 also gray microtrichose. Face, anterior half of frons and gena yellow ......2

– Mesonotum entirely or mostly shining or subshining black, non-microtrichose (at most notopleuron and bordering part of mesonotal scutum narrowly microtrichose); head and body mostly shining black, if frons and parafacial widely silvery microtrichose (in U. metope ), then mesonotum shining black. Colouration of head variable .................................................................................................3

2 Head 1.1× longer than high. Frons in profile concave. Costa at pterostigma straight, unmodified.Antenna black. Palpus black in apical two-thirds, extending beyond anterior margin of oral cavity, long setulose only at base, with short, inconspicuous apical setae. Frons in posterior half uniformly gray microtrichose..................... ................................................................................................. U. skrylniki n. sp.

– Head higher than long. Frons in profile flat or convex. Costa at pterostigma convex, with erect setulae. Antenna yellow. Palpus yellow, short, not extending beyond oral cavity, uniformly setulose along whole length. Frons with gray microtrichose vertical plates, with bare spots at bases of setae and setulae, and bare or very sparsely microtrichose medial vitta anterior of ocellar triangle.............. .................................................................................. T. anomala (Becker, 1908)

3 Wing with pattern of brown apical spot and/or dark pterostigma.....................4

– Wing entirely hyaline or diffusely yellowish or brownish darkened, but without contrasting infuscated pterostigma or dark apical spot ...................................28

4 Head <1.2× as long as high, and usually shorter than high. Wing variable ......5

– Head>1.2× as long as high. Wing: costal cell and wing apex at most diffusely shaded..............................................................................................................26

5 Costal cell partly or entirely brown, basicostal cell and pterostigma entirely darkened; wing disc otherwise hyaline .............................................................6

– Costal cell hyaline or partly yellowish; pterostigma darkened, basicostal cell variable, from brown to hyaline. If sometimes costal cell brown, then whole wing also diffusely brown with darker parts ............................................................16

6 Postpronotal lobe with thickened and short postpronotal seta inserted into prominent tubercle. Frons, facial carina and gena predominantly shining brownish yellow; mesonotum elongate, mostly matt rugulose, acrostichal seta lacking; fore femur with thickened ventral and posterobasal setae............... U. amnoni n. sp.

– Postpronotal lobe unmodified. Other characters variable..................................7

7 Cell cup with brown streak ................................................................................8

– Cell cup entirely hyaline ....................................................................................9

8 Scutellum black................................................... U. nigricubitalis Zaitzev, 1982

– Scutellum yellow............................................ U. transcaspica Galinskaya, 2011

9 Costal margin of wing entirely black, including most of cell r 1. Femora with short thickened setae posteroventrally. Scutellum yellow........................................10

– Costal margin with wide hyaline gap between dark areas: cell r 1 hyaline except apex. Femoral setae and scutellum variable....................................................11

10 Gena entirely yellow. Notopleuron almost entirely shining................................ ............................................................................ T. erythrocephala Pallas, 1824

– Gena partly brown to black. Notopleuron entirely microtrichose....................... ................................................................................ T. sp. A near erythrocephala

11 Scutellum yellow. Orbits without silvery microtrichose cuneiform area towards base of antenna. Turkmenistan. (Mesonotum non-microtrichose, shagreened) ............................................................................... T. sp. B near erythrocephala

– Scutellum black. Orbits silvery microtrichose with solid cuneiform area towards base of antenna ................................................................................................12

12 Notopleuron and abdominal tergite 1 conspicuously white microtrichose......... .................................................................................. U. splendida Zaitzev, 1982

– Thorax and abdomen entirely shining.............................................................13

13 Mesonotum strongly rugose and wrinkled. (Frons deeply pitted. Frons, face and gena yellow except ocellar triangle and vertical plates shining black. Abdomen matt, densely shagreened. Cell cup with posteroapical lobe as long as transverse shoulder of the vein Cu 2)........................................ U. melampodia Loew, 1873

– Mesonotum smooth, shining or finely shagreened. Other characters variable ... .........................................................................................................................14

14 Frons, face and gena yellow (except ocellar triangle and vertical plates shining black), orbits non-microtrichose. Frons conspicuously pitted ........................15

– Frons satin brown to black, almost smooth, with shining orbits. Face and gena brown to black; orbits silvery microtrichose with cuneiform cape towards base of antenna. (Mesonotum smooth, shining, very finely shagreened. Abdominal tergites 2–5 shining black, only tergite 1 and sternites 5 and 6 partly shagreened. Cell cup with posteroapical shorter than transverse shoulder of the vein Cu 2) ................................................................................... U. sp. C near melampodia

15 Frons deeply pitted or wrinkled.Costal cell pale brown.Wing apex inconspicuously shaded. Tarsi entirely black. [ China: NE Xizang]... U. gongjuensis Chen, 2009

– Frons conspicuously dotted. Costal cell dark brown. Wing apex with brown spot between apices of vein R 2 +3 and M. Basal tarsomeres of all legs yellow. [ Iran: East Azerbaijan] ........................................................ U. sp. D near melampodia

16 Wing disk diffusely brown, with conspicuously darker pterostigma..............17

– Wing disk hyaline (or with very slight yellow or brown tinge), but with pterostigma and usually basicostal cell and wing apex darkened ...........................19

17 Basicostal cell, pterostigma and wing apex dark brown. Frons deeply pitted, parafacial usually wrinkled; mesonotum densely rugulose, matt; orbit with cuneiform white microtrichose area..................................... U. atrata Loew, 1845

– Only pterostigma dark brown; basicostal cell and wing apex diffusely pale brown. Frons sparsely pitted, parafacial smooth; mesonotum subshining; orbit without cuneiform white microtrichose area................................................................18

18 Basicostal cell and base of wing diffusely brownish yellow, only slightly paler than distal three quarters of wing. Cell r 4+5 subparallel at apex: section of costa between veins R 4+5 and M ≥0.6× as long as crossvein DM–Cu and ≥1.8× as long as crossvein R–M. Male: cerci deeply separated (Kameneva 2008: fig. 5, 6); phallus with short finger-like, spinulose caecum and conspicuous, sclerotized, blunt subbasal lobe of glans (Kameneva 2008: figs 5, 7–9). Female: aculeus with short, round cerci (Kameneva 2008: figs 5, 10); spermathecae short, globulose (Kameneva 2008: figs 5, 11) ........................................ U. parallela Loew, 1845

– Basicostal cell and base of wing hyaline or pale yellowish, contrasting with distal three-quarters of wing length. Cell r 4+5 conspicuously narrowed to apex: section of costa between veins R 4+5 and M ≤0.5× as long as crossvein DM–Cu and ≤1.5× as long as crossvein R–M. Phallus without finger-like spinulose caecum or conspicuous subbasal lobe of glans (Kameneva 2008: figs 4, 5–6). Female: aculeus with oval cerci (Kameneva 2008: fig. 4, 7); spermathecae elongate, pearlike (Kameneva 2008: fig. 4, 8)................................. U. nigripennis Loew, 1845

19 Postocular row with 2–3 setae almost as long as vertical setae. Larger species, WL ≥4.2. Mesonotum shining.........................................................................20

– Setae of postocular row uniformly short. Mesonotum and size variable........21

20 Haltere yellow ............................................................ U. apicalis Meigen, 1826

– Haltere black ......................................................... U. megacephala Loew, 1845

21 First flagellomere and scape red-orange, golden to gray microtrichose. Tarsi, at least partially, yellow. Wing with basal-cubital cell and basal half of cubital cell brown, and with apical brown spot, extending from costa at apices of cells r 1, r 2+3 and r 4+5; otherwise, wing often slightly infuscate .......................................... ............................................................... U. aurata Morgulis & Freidberg, 2014

– Different combination of characters................................................................22

22 Frons in profile usually concave, long and densely setulose; palp extending beyond anterior margin of oral cavity, long setulose only at base, with short, inconspicuous apical setae. (Face, frons and gena colouration variable: from mostly yellow or reddish to almost entirely black) ................. U. ruficeps Becker, 1913

– Frons in profile flat or convex, at most short setulose; palp shorter, not projecting beyond anterior margin of oral cavity, uniformly setulose along whole its length...............................................................................................................23

23 At least basal tarsomeres yellow.....................................................................24

– All tarsi entirely black.....................................................................................25

24 Anterior half of frons, face, parafacial, anterior half of gena, and whole antenna yellow. Tibiae and apices of femora often partly yellow. Prescutellar acrostichal seta lacking. Cell cup with very short posteroapical lobe, half as long as transverse shoulder of vein Cu 2. [ Mongolia; Russia: Siberia; China: Alashan Mts]............ ............................................................................... U. kandybinae Zaitzev, 1982

– Frons, face, parafacial, gena, and antenna black or dark brown. Tibiae and femora entirely black. Prescutellar acrostichal seta present. Cell cup with posteroapical lobe as long as transverse shoulder of vein Cu 2. [ Israel]..................................... .............................................................. U. hirsuta Morgulis & Freidberg, 2014

25 Haltere black. Mesonotum shining. Prescutellar acrostichal seta present. (Male genitalia: preglans with 3–4 spines)..... U. wasimi Morgulis & Freidberg, 2014

– Haltere yellow. Mesonotum conspicuously shagreened .................................26

26 Smaller, WL <4.1. Distance between apices of veins R 4+5 and M ≤0.33× as long as crossvein DM–Cu. Male genitalia: Surstylus angulate, with 3–5 prensisetae. Cerci short oval, not produced. Phallus with poorly sclerotized glans ............... ...................................................................................... U. facialis Hendel, 1931

– Larger, WL>4.1. Distance between apices of veins R 4+5 and M ≥0.33× as long as DM–Cu. Male genitalia: Surstylus with elongate, rounded apex, setulose, but bearing no prensisetae. Cerci elongate, ventrally produced. Phallus with well sclerotized glans, bearing one blunt hook-like lobe.................. U. bartaki n. sp.

27 Frons deeply pitted or wrinkled. Head>1.6× as long as high. Frons, face and gena yellow except ocellar triangle and vertical plates shining black. [ China: NE Xizang] .................................................................... U. gongjuensis Chen, 2009

– Frons almost smooth, satin brown to black, with shining orbits. Head <1.4× as long as high. Face and gena brown to black; orbits silvery microtrichose with cuneiform cape towards base of antenna. Mesonotum smooth, shining, very finely shagreened....................................................... U. sp. C near melampodia

28 Parafacial entirely silvery shining white microtrichose (see Kameneva 2010: fig. 1, 1–7), with pale yellow cuticle hidden by microtrichia; frons almost entirely silvery microtrichose in male, shining black to yellow in female. Mesonotum shining .................................................................... U. metope Kameneva, 2010

– Parafacial and frons shining black to brown, at most with narrow stripe of white microtrichia at eye margin (in U. wadicola ). Mesonotum variable, shining to shagreened or rugulose....................................................................................29

29 Orbits narrowly white microtrichose at anterior eye margin. Male hind femur strongly swollen medially (Kameneva 2008: fig. 3, 5). Female hind femur unmodified. Wing hyaline ........................................... U. wadicola Steyskal, 1968

– Orbits entirely bare, subshining to shining brown or brownish yellow. Hind femur of both sexes at most slightly thickened. Wing hyaline or infuscate ..............30

30 Wing diffusely brownish infuscate, basal quarter yellowish ..........................31

– Wing uniformly yellowish or hyaline .............................................................32

31 Basicostal cell and base of wing diffusely brownish yellow, only slightly paler than distal three quarters of wing. Cell r 4+5 subparallel at apex (see also couplet 18 for more characters)................... U. parallela Loew, 1845 (paler specimens)

– Basicostal cell and base of wing hyaline or pale yellowish, contrasting with distal three-quarters of wing length. Cell r 4+5 conspicuously narrowed to apex (see also anticouplet 18 for more characters) ..................................................... ..................................................... U. nigripennis Loew, 1845 (paler specimens)

32 Abdominal tergites shagreened, matt. [ France] ........ U. semiopaca Loew, 1845

– Abdominal tergites shining .............................................................................32

33 Wing hyaline, without yellowish tinge. Glans with sharply pointed, claw-like projections and less conspicuous rasper-like structures ...................................... ................................................................................ U. albidipennis Loew, 1845

– Wing with yellowish tinge. Phallus glans with blunt sclerotized projections and rasper-like structures. .................................. U. erythrophthalma Meigen, 1826