Cephalops (Semicephalops) brachium Kehlmaier & Withers, 2019

Kehlmaier, Christian, Gibbs, David J. & Withers, Phil, 2019, New records of big-headed flies (Diptera: Pipunculidae) from the Mediterranean Basin, Bonn zoological Bulletin 68 (1), pp. 31-60 : 33-35

Cephalops (Semicephalops) brachium Kehlmaier & Withers sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:24A74A42-654C-4F8F-BA59-6FC428984B4C

Figs 2A–G

Differential diagnosis. The species can be differentiat- ed by the male genitalia with its elongated surstyli and the long dorsal arm of the phallic guide. The female is characterised by its small ovipositor that is pointing away from the sternites. It is not clear at present to which species C. brachium is closely related to, as the long dorsomedial arm of the phallic guide and the elongated surstyli are unique within Cephalops (Semicephalops) Fallén, 1810 .

Description. MALE. Body length: about 3.6–3.7 mm (head and terminalia detached in holotype). Head. Scape and pedicel dark brown, flagellum yellowish. Pedicel with three short dorsal bristles and 3–4 longer ventral bristles, the longest almost reaching the tip of flagellum, which is pointed below. Arista dark brown with broadened base. Eyes meeting for length of frons (14 ommatidial facets), which is silver pollinose. Occiput brown pollinose in upper quarter, otherwise grey pollinose. Thorax. Postpronotal lobe same colour as scutum. Prescutum, scutum and scutellum dark brown and brown pollinose. Propleural hair fringe with six long hairs. Prescutum and scutum with two dorsocentral rows of minute hairs. Posterior hair fringe of scutellum minute. Wing length: 3.9–4.2 mm. Wing width: 1.3–1.4 mm. Length of third costal section (LTC) 1.1–1.3 times length of fourth costal section (LFC). Pterostigma as long as LTC. Wing covered with microtrichia. Only small basal cells of wing, e.g., bc, and beginning of cells sc, c, r 1, br and bm with reduced microtrichia. Crossvein r-m reaches cell dm at basal third of the cell’s length. Halter white but narrowly brownish at base and partly dorsally on knob. Coxae dark brown. Trochanters yellow. Fore and mid femora yellow with weak brownish tinge anterodorsally in basal half. Hind femur yellow with stronger brownish tinge in anterior half (anterior, dorsal and ventral). Fore femur with antero- and posteroventral rows of black spines at apex consisting of one to four spines. Mid femur with antero- and posteroventral rows of black spines consisting of 7–10 spines in apical two thirds. Hind femur with anteroventral row of four peglike spines in anterior third. Hind femur shining posteroventrally. Tibiae yellow. Hind tibia with four longer hairs anteromedially. Tarsi yellow with dititarsus brown. Pulvilli shorter than distitarsus.

Abdomen. All tergites dark brown, lacking distinct hairs except tergite 1 with 3–4 hairs laterally. Genitalia: Dark brown. Membranous area narrowly reaching epandrium ( Fig. 2D ). Surstyli in strictly dorsal view elongated, rath- er symmetric; right surstylus slightly longer ( Fig. 2B ). In lateral view gently bent towards sternites ( Figs 2A, 2C ). Phallus trifid with one short and two longer ejacu- latory ducts with cupular apices ( Fig. 2F ). Phallic guide ankyroid with a long dorsomedial arm wrapping around the ejaculatory ducts ( Fig. 2F ). FEMALE. Body length: 3.0 mm. Differing from male by eyes separated, with enlarged anterior facets. Frons broadest at its middle where four times wider than diameter of largest ommatidial fac- et. Wing length: 3.7 mm. Wing width: 1.6–1.7 mm. Legs can be entirely yellow. Femora with slightly reduced ventral rows of dark peg-like spines. Pulvilli on fore and mid leg as long as distitarsus, slightly shorter on hind Genita- lia: Ovipositor in dorsal view ( Fig. 2E ) with base (tergite 7) dark brown, almost quadratic, and piercer (tergite 9) yellow, as long as base and with triangular lateral flanges. In lateral view ( Fig. 2G ), base with convex dorsal and ventral margin; piercer straight and pointing away from sternites; reaching to posterior margin of sternite 4.

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂ (DNA CK914, ENA LT999991 ), FRANCE: Département Ardèche , Réserve Naturelle Nationale des Gorges de l’Ardèche, TM n°12, Malaise, 19.vi.2016, J. Claude [ SMTD] . PARATYPES: same data as holotype [1♂, PCJC]; Département Ar- dèche, Granzon, river bank, 25.v–27.vi.2010, P. Withers [1♂, PCPW] . Additional material. SPAIN: “VD19”, D. Ventura [1♀, SMTD]; same data as previous [2♂♂ 1♀, PCCK] .

Remarks. The additional material from Spain was excluded from the type series due to the fragmentary locality data.

Etymology. The species epithet brachium is Latin for ‘arm’ or ‘forearm’, referring to the long arm or dorsomedian projection of the phallic guide. The specific epithet is to be treated as a noun in apposition.

Figures

Fig. 2. Cephalops (Semicephalops) brachium Kehlmaier & Withers sp. n. A. Right lateral view of male terminalia. B. Strictly dorsal view of surstyli. C. Left lateral view of male terminalia. D. Dorsal view of syntergosternite 8 with membraneous area, epandrium and surstyli. E. Dorsal view of ovipositor. F. Ventral view of phallic guide and phallus. G. Left lateral view of ovipositor.