Drapetis hormozganiensis, Shamshev & Gilasian, 2025

Shamshev, Igor V. & Gilasian, Ebrahim, 2025, New species and new records of hybotid dance flies (Diptera: Hybotidae: Tachydromiinae) from Iranian mangrove habitats, Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 11 (1), pp. 171-182 : 173-176

Drapetis hormozganiensis sp. nov. ( Fig. 2)

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:500A15EB-F978-421D-9ADA-7026395E542A

Type material. Holotype ♂, IRAN: Hormozgan Prov., Sirik, Azini wharf, 26°19'39.9"N, 057°06'15.7"E, 0 m a.s.l., pan trap, 13.v.2022, M. Mofidi & A. Hajiesmaeilian ( ZISP) ; Paratypes: 5 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, same data as holotype ( HMIM, ZISP) .

Etymology. The epithet refers to the type locality of the new species, Hormozgan Province ( Iran).

Diagnosis. Small species (wing 1.3 mm) with crossveins r-m and bm-m close together; antennal scape and pedicel brownish yellow to yellow, postpedicel brown; head and thorax with yellow to pale setae; legs robust, almost entirely yellow, only tarsomere 5 brown; male mid femur with short, strong dark setae ventrally and mid tibia with black spinules ventrally.

Description. Male ( Fig. 2A). Body length 1.5–1.7 mm, wing length 1.3 mm. Head brown, pale setose. Frons V-shaped, narrow above antennae, widened towards ocellar tubercle, faintly greyish pruinose. Face and clypeus densely greyish pruinose. Occiput greyish pruinose; vertical setae long, inclinate. Ocellar setae of subequal lengths, anterior pair inclinate, posterior pair lateroclinate. Antenna with scape and pedicel brownish yellow to yellow, postpedicel and stylus brown; pedicel mostly with subequally short setulae, 1 seta beneath longer (nearly as long as length of pedicel); postpedicel conical, nearly 2× as long as basal width; stylus apical, moderately long, nearly 2.5× as long as postpedicel. Proboscis yellowish brown. Palpus dirty yellow, small, rounded, bearing scattered setulae, subapical seta short, thin.

Thorax. Mostly brownish, mesopleuron rather yellowish brown, extensively shiny; prothoracic sclerites, mesoscutum in front of scutellum, scutellum, postnotum faintly pruinose; strong setae yellow to pale. Prothoracic episterna with 1 setula just above fore coxa and 1 short upturned seta on upper part. Postpronotal seta not prominent. Anepisternum (= mesopleuron) with numerous setulae on upper part. Mesonotal setae: rows of acrostichals and dorsocentrals undifferentiated, scutum evenly covered with numerous pale setulae, 1 pair of long prescutellar setae; 2 notopleurals, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 postalar and 4 scutellars (apical pair very long, cruciate; lateral pair very short). Legs robust, almost entirely yellow, only tarsomere 5 brown, mostly pale setose. Coxae and trochanters with unmodified setation. Fore femur with rows of anteroventral and posteroventral setulae, 1 long fine seta near base. Fore tibia lacking prominent setae. Mid femur simple, smooth and covered with uniform setulae anteriorly, bearing short, strong dark setae ventrally (less distinct close to apex), 1 moderately long subapical seta anteriorly. Mid tibia simple, with black ventral spinules. Hind femur with somewhat longer anteroventral setae subapically and 4 short, erect dorsal setae near base. Hind tibia lacking prominent setae; apical projection small, rounded. Tarsi of all legs unmodified, with unmodified setation. Wing normally developed, hyaline, veins brownish yellow to yellow. Basal costal seta present, moderately long, brownish yellow. Costal index (proportions of distances between humeral crossvein and R 1 / R 1 and R 2+3 / R 2+3 and R 4+5, respectively): 2.7/1/1.6. Vein R 2+3 gently curved. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 mostly slightly divergent, parallel nearly at apical 1/4 of wing; R 4+5 slightly sinuate; M 1 nearly straight. Crossvein bm-m perpendicular, crossvein r-m slightly beyond middle of cell bm; distance between bm-m and r-m nearly 2× shorter than apical portion of M4 and 2.5–2.6× longer than bm-m. Halter pale yellow.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 pale, remaining tergites brownish; tergites 2–3 of subequal width (viewed laterally), with ordinary setae; tergite 4 broadest, pruinose, with squamiform setae laterally; tergite 5 very narrow dorsally, with squamiform setae laterally; tergites 6–7 of subequal width, nearly as broad as tergites 2–3; with ordinary setae, tergite 7 with short, brownish yellow posteromarginal setae. Sternites weakly sclerotised, bearing scattered setulae. Hypopygium ( Figs 2B–D) moderately large, brownish. Epandrium completely divided ( Fig. 2B). Right epandrial lamella subtriangular ( Fig. 2C), with small, subtriangular dorsal projection; covered with numerous, long simple setae; right surstylus undifferentiated from apex of epandrial lamella. Left epandrial lamella fused to hypandrium, lacking setation apically; left surstylus represented by two separated sclerites (lobes); upper lobe (close to cerci) rather subrectangular, narrow, with scattered setae; lower lobe large, subglobular in lateral view ( Fig. 2D), covered with numerous long setae; subepandrial lobe slender. Cerci separated ( Fig. 2B); right cercus rather subrectangular, moderately broad, rounded at apex, with ordinary setae of different lengths; left cercus much narrower and slightly shorter than right cercus, digitiform, very slender, with ordinary setae of different lengths. Phallus short. Two rod-shaped apodemes.

Female. Similar to male except as follows. Mid femur with finer, yellowish setae ventrally; mid tibia without black spinules ventrally.

Differential diagnosis. In D. hormozganiensis sp. nov. the wing has the radial-medial crossvein (r‒m) situated beyond the middle of the basal medial cell (bm) and therefore the new species belongs to the D. exilis group of species ( Chvála, 1975). Amongst the European species of Drapetis the new species could be compared with D. infitialis Collin, 1961 ( Grootaert et al., 2010; Michelsen & Grootaert, 2019). Drapetis hormozganiensis sp. nov. differs from D. infitialis primarily by the simple mid femora. In the latter species the mid femur has a field of short, transverse ribs anteriorly ( Michelsen & Grootaert, 2019: figs 5C, E). There are four species of Drapetis recorded from the south Mediterranean region and the Middle East that should be compared with D. hormozganiensis sp. nov. The new species differs from D. iordaniensis Raffone (known only from Jordan) by pale setae of the head and thorax (versus black in D. iordaniensis ), yellowish scape and pedicel of the antenna (versus antenna entirely brown) and by brown tarsomere 5 of the legs (versus legs entirely yellow ( Raffone, 2011). Drapetis laevis Becker remains known after a female described from Morocco ( Becker, 1914; Kovalev, 1970). A record of this species from Egypt probably belongs to a different species ( Collin, 1949). The new species differs from D. laevis by longer postpedicel (nearly 2× as long as basal width versus almost as long wide in D. laevis ), much shorter stylus (2.5× longer than postpedicel versus nearly 6.5× longer than postpedicel) and by the absence of apical setae on mid and hind tibiae. In addition, D. laevis is smaller (body 1.1 mm versus 1.5–1.7 in the new species). Drapetis bicolor Collin is one more species known only after a female, but described from Egypt ( Collin, 1949). The new species differs from D. bicolor at least by longer postpedicel (nearly 2× as long as basal width versus very little longer than wide in D. bicolor ) and brown tarsomere 5 of legs (legs entirely yellow in D. bicolor ). Drapetis pictitarsis Engel was described from Tunisia but later this species was also recorded from Italy and Iran ( Engel, 1939; Raffone, 2007). The new species differs from D. pictitarsis by pale setae of the head and thorax (versus black in D. pictitarsis ) and hyaline wings (brownish yellow anteriorly in D. pictitarsis ) with longer distance between crossveins bm-m and r-m (nearly 2.5× longer than bm-m versus 1.5× in D. pictitarsis ).

Distribution. Iran (Hormozgan Province).