Tomosvaryella aliceae 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 : 15

Tomosvaryella aliceae Motamedinia, Skevington & Földvari sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E364FC7C-D4A2-4887-A10A-50B72F379BC4

Figs 3A–E , 107

Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by long rectangular-shaped surstyli in dorsal view ( Fig. 3A ); gonopods quadratic-shaped, the right one with a small finger-like projection on the right corner at apex in ventral view ( Fig. 3B ); long subepandrial sclerite, one of the ejaculatory ducts with three long spines in ventral view ( Fig. 3B ).

Description: MALE: Body length: 2.4 mm. Head. Scape, pedicel and arista dark brown. Scape with four short upper bristles and two short lower bristles. Flagellum tapering; brown, grey-brown pollinose. Face silvery pollinose. Frons, upper part shining black; lower part distinctly silver pollinose; eyes touching for distance equal to 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, anterior part more grey, with some medium supra-alar bristles behind postpronotum lobes. Scutellum silvery brown pollinose and with 6–12 short dark bristles along distal edge. Halter, knob pale, stem and base dark. Legs. Mid coxa with 3–4 long dark bristles. Trochanters brown, femora black except shiny hind femur; knees and basal 1/6 of tibiae yellow (tibiae otherwise brown), tarsal segments dark dorsally and yellow ventrally. Hind trochanter without specific feature, grey pollinose with some scattered tiny bristles; two ventrobasal bristles present on fore and absent on mid femur. Hind femur without ventroapical spines, except 8–10 equally spaced sort bristles posteroventrally. Subapical (distal) spines on first four tibiae present (short). Hind tarsomeres not flattened, 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 short dark brown bristle. Fourth costal section 3 times as long as third costal section. Cross-vein r-m at middle of discal cell. 1–2 long pale setulae on tegula. Abdomen. Viewed obliquely from front tergites brown, tergite 1 silvery grey. Lateral bristles on first tergite present, 4–5 light brown 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 = 1.2). Surstyli straight and elongated, left is longer than left one and a little widened before the apex ( Fig. 3A ). Genital capsule in ventral view: both gonopods equal in height, quadratic-shaped, right one with a small finger-like projection on right corner at apex; phallic guide strong without dorso- dorsolateral spines; subepandrial sclerite long, phallus trifid, one of ejaculatory ducts with three long spins ( Fig. 3B ); genital capsule in lateral view: both surstyli curved towards sternite, ( Fig. 3D–E ). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle ( Fig. 3C ).

FEMALE: Unknown.

Etymology: This species is named after Alice Daniels, one of the collectors of the holotype. Alice and Greg Daniels are prolific collectors and have contributed immensely to our understanding of Australian insects.

Examined material: HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Elanda Point, Lake Cootharaba , 26°14’S, 153°0’E, 2.II.1986, G. & A. Daniels, JSS8917 (1♂, QM) ; PARATYPE: AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: Murray River 50 miles west of Wentworth , 34°3’S, 141°3’E, 22.XI.1967, A. Neboiss, JSS8798 (1♂, MVMA) .

Distribution: Australia (New South Wales, Queensland) ( Fig. 107 ).

Notes: Two specimens are known from nearly 2000km apart. We were unable to sequence the DNA from these two specimens and need more samples to test if this is a widespread species as hypothesized or two cryptic species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Male genitalia of Tomosvaryella aliceae sp. nov. (JSS8917, QM) A) dorsal view, B) ventral view, C) ejaculatory apodeme, D, E) lateral view.

FIGURE 107. Distribution of Tomosvaryella acuminata sp. nov., T. alexanderi sp. nov., T. aliceae sp. nov. in Australia.