Tomosvaryella gibberensis 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 : 99-101

Tomosvaryella gibberensis Motamedinia, Skevington & Földvari sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:30B5CADF-DD84-4154-A584-6920BAE6F6FC

Figs 43A–E , 120

Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the hind trochanter having a semicircular keel, with 2–3 short spines along its edge; surstyli elongated, left one longer, broadened at apex in dorsal view ( Fig. 43A ); hypandrium distinctly widened, subepandrial sclerite with three protrusions in its center; one of ejaculatory ducts bifurcate; phallic guide with a dorsal spine before apex in ventral view ( Fig. 43B ).

Description: MALE: Body length: 2.9 mm. Head. Scape, pedicel, base of flagellum ark brown, otherwise light brown; flagellum tapering; grey pollinose; pedicel with two short upper bristles and one short lower bristle. Face silvery pollinose. Frons, upper part shining black; lower part distinctly silver pollinose; eyes touching for distance equal to 1.2 times the length of ocellar triangle. Occiput silvery pollinose. Thorax. Postpronotum pale, with 3–4 long pale bristles. Mesonotum (viewed obliquely from front) silvery pollinose, with some long supra-alar bristles behind postpronotum lobes. Scutellum light grey, silvery pollinose and with 2–4 tiny dark bristles along distal edge. Halter, knob pale, tip brownish, stem light brown, base dark brown. Legs. Mid coxa with 3–4 long light brown 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 dark brown dorsally, light brown ventrally. Hind trochanter with a semicircular keel, provided with 2–3 short spines along its edge; two ventrobasal spines on fore and mid femora, two row ventroapical spines present on fore and mid femora. Hind femur without ventroapical spines, except 4–6 equally spaced short bristles posteroventrally, longer on distal half, longest up to 1/2 the width of hind tibia at distal end. Subapical (distal) spines on first four tibiae present (short). Hind tarsomeres slightly flattened, hind metatarsus almost as long as 2–4 combined, dorsally all tarsomeres with erect bristles. Pulvilli shorter than last tarsal segment. Wing. Length: 3.0 mm. Upper side of basal costal cell with two different-sized dark bristles. Fourth costal section 3 times as long as third costal section. Cross-vein r-m at middle of discal cell. 3–4 dark setulae on tegula. Abdomen. Viewed obliquely from front tergites brown-black, tergite 1 brown, silvery brown pollinose. Lateral bristles on first tergite present, 7–8 brown bristles up to as long as half of hind femur’s width at base. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium wider at its base (MLE:MWE = 1.0). Surstyli slender and elongated, widened at the base, narrowed in the middle; left surstylus slightly broadened at apex; right surstylus shorter, bent towards left one at apex. ( Fig. 43A ). Genital capsule in ventral view: both gonopods widened at base, extended towards surstyli, pointed at apex; hypandrium distinctly widened, subepandrial sclerite with three small protrusions in its center; phallus with three ejaculatory ducts, one divided two branches at the base; phallic guide with a small spine laterally before apex ( Fig. 43B ); Genital capsule in lateral view: both surstyli straight in basal two thirds, bent towards sternite apically, phallic guide long, pointed at apex ( Fig. 43D–E ). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle ( Fig. 43C ).

FEMALE: Unknown.

Etymology: Named after the gibber (desert pavement) habitat the only known specimen was collected in. Gibber is a rocky desolate habitat with a specialized flora and fauna and intrinsic beauty.

Examined material: HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Plevna Downs , 2.3km SSW Arima ( PD2 ), 26°32’S, 142°31’E, 134m, gibber, 16.IX–20.X.2008, Starick, Lambkin & Mackenzie, Malaise trap, CNC575037 (1♂, QM).

Distribution: Australia (Queensland) ( Fig. 120 ).

Notes: Few pipunculids have been collected in gibber desert. More work is needed to find out if this species is a gibber specialist or is more widespread and simply under-collected.

Figures

FIGURE 43. Male genitalia of Tomosvaryella gibberensis sp. nov. (CNC575037, QM) A) dorsal view, B) ventral view, C) ejaculatory apodeme, D, E) lateral view.

FIGURE 120. Distribution of Tomosvaryella dasyprocta sp. nov., T. falcata sp. nov., T. gibberensis sp. nov. in Australia.