Tomosvaryella kooncheraensis Motamedinia, Skevington & Földvari, 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 : 113

Tomosvaryella kooncheraensis Motamedinia, Skevington & Földvari sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A4D00570-EDA1-4ED8-9B4A-7C399F7E4884

Figs 50A–E , 125

Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the hind femur being broadened at the base; surstyli with a hump-like projection in the dorsomedial margin, covered by long and distinct bristles along outer margin in dorsal view; gonopods extended towards surstyli, pointed at apex; phallic guide with at least two distinct spines in ventral view ( Fig. 50B ); both surstyli straight in lateral view ( Fig. 50D–E ).

Description: MALE: Body length: 2.4 mm. Head. (damaged). Thorax. Postpronotum pale, with 3–4 short pale bristles. Mesonotum (viewed obliquely from front) silvery pollinose, anterior part more grey, grayish also from the side. Scutellum silvery pollinose. Halter, knob and stem pale, tip brownish. Legs. Mid coxa with 3–4 dark bristles. Trochanters brown, femora black, silvery pollinose posteriorly except shiny hind femur; knees and basal 1/6 of tibiae yellow (tibiae otherwise brown), tarsal segments brown. Hind trochanter gray pollinose without any features. Ventrobasal spines present (1) on fore and mid femur. Hind femur without ventroapical spines. Hind femur shinny posteroventrally, broadened at base and moderately narrow towards knee. Hind metatarsus almost as long as 2–4 combined, dorsally all tarsomeres with erect bristles. Pulvilli shorter than last tarsal segment. Wing. Length: 2.5 mm. Upper side of basal costal cell with one long brown bristle. Fourth costal section 3 times as long as third costal section. Cross-vein r-m at middle of discal cell. 4–5 short dark setulae on tegula. Abdomen. Viewed obliquely from front tergites subshiny brown-black, tergite 1 silvery grey. Lateral bristles on first tergite present, 4–6 dark bristles up to as long as ¾ of hind femur’s width at base. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium longer than wide (MLE:MWE = 1.1). Surstyli symmetrical, broadened at the base, then narrowed strongly, widened in the middle, curved to each other towards apex, both surstyli with long condensed bristles at outer margin, longer at the middle ( Fig. 50A ). Genital capsule in ventral view: both gonopods unequal in height, left is slightly longer than right one, extended towards surstyli, pointed at apex; phallic guide with at least two long dorso- dorsolateral spines; subepandrial sclerite rectangular-shaped ( Fig. 50B ); Genital capsule in lateral view: both surstyli straight, broadened at base, moderately narrow to apex ( Fig. 50D–E ). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle ( Fig. 50C ).

FEMALE: Unknown.

Etymology: This species is named after the type locality, Koonchera Waterhole. This location is in the northeastern corner of South Australia, a remote location south of Birdsville, Queensland near the Simpson Desert. This was Jeff Skevington’s first major field trip as a graduate student at the University of Queensland and the team of Christine Lambkin, Shaun Winterton, Angela Skevington, Andreas Zwick and Hugh and Jeri Dingle all collected and studied the natural history of this region together. The trip proved to be a bit too early for most pipunculids, but several species of arid land specialists were collected, including this singleton specimen of a new species.

Examined material: HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: South Australia: Koonchera Dune near Koonchera Waterhole , 26°41’S, 139°30’E, on dune top under large tree, 3.IX.1997, J.&A. Skevington, JSS8320 (1♂, QM).

Distribution: Australia (South Australia) ( Fig. 125 ).

Notes: Pipunculid specimens of a number of species collected in this location appeared to be hilltopping along the dune ridge. More specimens are needed to confirm this behaviour in this species. Based on the DNA sequencing, this species is genetically most similar to T. pterygia sp. nov. (1.1% pairwise divergence) (Supplementary file 3).

Figures

FIGURE 50. Male genitalia of Tomosvaryella kooncheraensis sp. nov. (JSS8320, QM) A) dorsal view, B) ventral view, C) ejaculatory apodeme, D, E) lateral view.

FIGURE 125. Distribution of Tomosvaryella indistincta sp. nov., T. infundibula sp. nov., T. kooncheraensis sp. nov. in Australia.