Tomosvaryella peronensis Földvari, Skevington & Motamedinia, 2023

Motamedinia, Behnam, Földvari, Mihaly, Skevington, Jeffrey H. & Kelso, Scott, 2023, Revision of Australian Tomosvaryella Aczél (Diptera: Pipunculidae) with description of 100 new species, Zootaxa 5599 (1), pp. 1-271 : 169-171

Tomosvaryella peronensis Földvari, Skevington & Motamedinia sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:708F029D-A018-485F-B404-80A42CC38D28

Figs 76A–E , 132

Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the two stronger dark bristles and some soft short bristles on the hind trochanter; elongated surstyli with a protruding along inner margin in dorsal view ( Fig. 76A ); unequal gonopods, left is longer than right one, right with an inward triangle-shaped projection on inner margin ( Fig. 76B ); phallic guide with 6–7 dorsolateral spines; subepandrial sclerite distinct with dense spine-like bristles in ventral view ( Fig. 76B ).

Description: MALE: Body length: 2.6–2.8 mm. Head. Flagellum acuminate; yellow-brown. Face silvery pollinose. Frons, upper part shining black, lower part distinctly silver pollinose; eyes touching for distance equal to 1.5–2 times the length of ocellar triangle. Occiput silvery pollinose, less so on upper 1/3. Thorax. Postpronotum pale, with 2–3 pale bristles. Mesonotum (viewed obliquely from front) brownish pollinose, anterior part more gray, grayish also from the side. Scutellum silvery brown pollinose and with 3–4 bristles along distal edge. Dorsocentral bristles indistinct, dark, more visible in frontal half, a few pale bristles around postpronotum present. Halter, knob pale, stem brown. Legs. Mid coxa with 1–2 long dark bristles (1 very long). Trochanters and femora brown, shining ventrally, silvery pollinose posteriorly except shiny hind femur; knees and basal 1/5 of tibiae yellow (tibiae otherwise brown), tarsal segments brown dorsally, yellow ventrally, last segment darker. Hind trochanter with slight keel, 2 stronger dark bristles, sometimes with soft short bristles as well; ventrobasal spines absent on fore and mid femur. Ventroapical row of spines on fore femur missing; 6–8 distinct, black spines on mid femur; hind femur without ventroapical spines, with 12–14 equally spaced bristles posteroventrally, longer and more frequent on distal half, longest up to 1/3 the width of hind tibia at distal end. Subapical (distal) spines on first four tibiae absent. Hind tarsomeres slightly flattened, hind metatarsus as long as 2–5 combined. Pulvilli shorter than last tarsal segment. Wing. Length: 2.5–2.6 mm. Fourth costal section 3 times as long as third costal section. Cross-vein r-m at middle of discal cell. 2–3 short dark setulae on tegula. Abdomen. Viewed obliquely from front tergites subshiny brown, tergite 1 silvery grey, silvery pollinose spots on tergites 4 and 5 (spot on tergite 5 larger). Dispersed strong dark bristles on all tergites present, longest on tergite 5 in length up to 1/4 the width of hind tibia at distal end. Lateral bristles on first tergite present, 4–5 dark bristles up to as long as ¾ of hind femur’s width at base. Postabdomen in dorsal view: T6, S7 invisible; T5 2–2.3 times as long as ST8. Genitalia without dissection: ST8 small, short, rounded in dorsal view, brown and with a few distinct bristles, otherwise with velvet-like coverage; membranous rounded, mostly directed posterodorsally; epandrium brown, surstyli yellow. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium longer than wide (MLE:MWE = 1.3). Surstyli elongated, symmetrical, left surstylus longer than right one, both surstyli with a narrow edge along inner margin, pointed at apex ( Fig. 76A ). Genital capsule in ventral view: both gonopods extended towards surstyli, left is longer than right one, right one with an inward projection on inner margin; phallic guide with 6–7 dorso- dorsolateral spines, one spine longer than others; subepandrial sclerite distinct with condensed spine-like hairs ( Fig. 76B ); Genital capsule in lateral view: left surstylus straight in basal two thirds, curved towards sternite apically, right surstylus slightly curved towards sternite ( Fig. 76D–E ). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent in the middle ( Fig. 76C ).

FEMALE: Unknown.

Etymology: This species is named after François Péron National Park in the hope that it will increase the profile of the terrestrial biodiversity of this park. The park is famous for Shark Bay and Monkey Mia, where tourists go to feed and interact with dolphins. The terrestrial habitats are largely ignored though as it is a harsh desert with apparently low diversity at first glance. JHS and Angela Skevington walked a short trail that provided an overlook of Shark Bay and the surrounding habitat and were stunned to find an abundance of insects hilltopping around a bench and canopy at the top of the small rise. Ten species of Tomosvaryella were collected in less than two hours at this location, all of them undescribed. Many have been found nowhere else. See more information about the habitat under T. minychoma .

Examined material: HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: ~ 3 km N[orth] of Denham , 25°55’S, 113°32’E, hilltop, 12.XII.1999, J. Skevington, JSS7369 (1♂, WAM) ; PARATYPES: AUSTRALIA: same data as holotype, JSS7320 , JSS7324 , JSS7338–9 , JSS7376 , JSS7386 , JSS7397–8 , JSS7402 , JSS7406 (1♂, CNC 9♂, QM) .

Distribution: Australia (Western Australia) ( Fig. 132 ).

Note. Intraspecific genetic distance ranges from 0.2% to 0.5%. This species is genetically similar to T. patula sp. nov. (7.6–8.5% pairwise divergence) (Supplementary file 3).

Figures

FIGURE 76. Male genitalia of Tomosvaryella peronensi sp. nov. (JSS7369, WAM) A) dorsal view, B) ventral view, C) ejaculatory apodeme, D, E) lateral view.

FIGURE 132. Distribution of Tomosvaryella novaezealandiae, T. paxilla sp. nov., T. peronensis sp. nov. in Australia.