Parapterogramma poeciloptera ( Papp, 2008 ), 2025

Kuwahara, Gregory K., Marshall, Stephen A. & Luk, Stephen P. L., 2025, A revision of Parapterogramma Papp and Pseudopterogramma Papp, with a review of the Parapterogramma genus group of the Pacific and Indomalayan regions (Diptera, Sphaeroceridae, Limosininae), European Journal of Taxonomy 998, pp. 1-124 : 55-56

Parapterogramma poeciloptera ( Papp, 2008) comb. nov.

Minialula poeciloptera Papp, 2008: 92 , figs 93–102, 320.

Minialula poeciloptera – Marshall et al. 2011: 249. — Hayashi 2011: 69.

Type material

Holotype

TAIWAN – Taipei • ♂; Fu-Shan Long Term Ecological Research Site; 27 Mar. 2003; L. Papp leg.; along/over a small river; HNHM.

Paratypes

TAIWAN – Taipei • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; Han-Lo-Dé; 450 m a.s.l.; 29–30 Mar, 2003; L. Papp leg.; forest undergrowth; HNHM • 2 ♂♂; Pinling; 319 m a.s.l.; 17 Apr. 2003; L. Papp leg.; over/along Jinggualiao River ; HNHM .

Material examined

Holotype photo provided by Petra Szöllősi-Tóth, HNHM.

Redescription

BODY. Length 1.4–1.8 mm. Head dark brown, lower portion of frons reddish with silvery microtomentum on interfrontal plates, orbital plates, and occiput. Antenna with a rounded dorsal conus. Thorax dark brown. Scutum with pale grey and brown microtomentum forming five pale longitudinal stripes.Anterior dorsocentral bristles separated by 8–10 rows of acrostichal setulae. Legs dark brown, femora apically and tibiae proximally yellow, fore and hind basitarsomeres whitish. Mid tibia with two anterodorsal and two posterodorsal bristles on proximal half; male mid tibia with long hair-like apicoventral seta only. Wing pattern strong. CS2 0.6× CS3. R 2+3 distinctly sinuate, angled at ~40° to costa; costa extending just beyond apex of R 4+5 (~1 × costal width). M 1 extending beyond dm-m as a very faint crease; M 4 indistinct beyond dm-m; CuA+CuP long and tubular. Halter pale brown with dark stem.

MALE ABDOMEN. S5 broad, uniformly long-setose, slightly desclerotized and setulose posteromedially. S6 with a posteriorly-projecting setulose lobe located behind posteromedial emargination of S5. Surstylus long but low, bilobed: anterior lobe elongate, bare, and sharply bent posteroventrally into a V-shape, posterior lobe rounded and setose. Postgonite short but broad, bent at about midlength, apical half with two rounded, posteroventral triangular lobes flanking a rounded ventral emargination (exaggerating depth of emargination), apex broadly rounded. Phallapodeme elongate, apex curving downwards and pointed; basiphallus large, subtriangular in lateral view and V-shaped in dorsal view, with an elongate, apically rounded and downturned epiphallus. Distiphallus stout, largely membranous, supported by curled, weakly sclerotized lateral sclerites.

FEMALE ABDOMEN. T3–5 and S2–5 shortened but broad. T6 and T7 well-developed, rectangular; T8 split into two lateral plates. Epiproct largely reduced. S6 and S7 well-developed, rectangular; S8 trapezoidal. Hypoproct largely reduced. Spermathecae stout, subcylindrical, and smooth with a large, broad but not deep, apical invagination, stem short and membranous.

Distribution

Indomalayan: Japan ( Hayashi 2011), Taiwan ( Papp 2008).

Remarks

The above redescription of Pa. poeciloptera is based on Papp’s (2008) description, Hayashi’s (2011) redescription, and a photo of the holotype.

This species, along with Pa. continentalis and Pa. tropicalis , form a distinct clade of similar species formerly treated as Minialula (see above). Parapterogramma poeciloptera has a long, hair-like apicoventral seta on the male mid tibia, unlike the stout apicoventral mid tibial bristle of Pa. continentalis and Pa. tropicalis .