Bradysia aequispina Vilkamaa, Hippa & Mohrig, 2012, sp. n.
Creators: name: Vilkamaa, Pekka
name: Hippa, Heikki
name: Mohrig, Werner
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sciaridae
Bradysia
Bradysia aequispina

description: Bradysia aequispina sp. n.
Figs 1 A–D
Material studied. Holotype male. NEW CALEDONIA, Rivière Bleue N.P., (parc 6), rainforest, 20.i.1993, Bonnet de Larbogne, Chazeau & Guilbert (in MNHN). Paratypes. 14 males, Pindaï, sclerophyllous forest, fogging, 30.vi.1992, Bonnet de Larbogne, Chazeau & Guilbert (1 in MZH, 1 in SMNH, 1 in PWMP, 11 in MNHN).
Description. Male. Head. Brown, antenna paler brown, scapus, pedicellus and flagellomere 1 yellow, maxillary palpus very pale brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Face with 9–10 scattered longer and shorter setae. Clypeus with 1 seta. Maxillary palpus with 3 palpomeres; palpomere 3 longer than palpomere 1, palpomere 2 shortest; palpomere 1 with 1–2 setae, with a dorsal patch of sensilla in a shallow depression; surface of antennal flagellomeres smooth, body of flagellomere 4 (Fig. 1 A) 1.65–2.35x as long as wide, the neck shorter than broad, the longest setae slightly shorter than the width of flagellomere. Thorax. Brown, fore part of pleura and part of katepisternum yellow. Setae pale. Anterior pronotum with 2–3 setae. Episternum 1 with 3–7 setae. Scutum with long dorsocentrals, with some longer and shorter laterals, scutellum with 4 longer and some short setae. Wing. Hyalinous. Length 1.2–1.7 mm. Width/length 0.40–0.50. Veins distinct. R1/R 0.55–0.70. c/ w 0.60 –0.65. r-m and than bM subequal in length. M, CuA, r-m and bM non-setose. Legs. Yellow. Coxal setae pale. Apical part of front tibia (Fig. 1 B): tibial organ with pale vestiture forming a short row. Front tibial spur slightly longer than the tibial width. Claws without teeth. Abdomen. Setae dark and long. Hypopygium (Figs 1 C, D). Brown, concolorous with abdomen. Gonocoxa narrow, longer than gonostylus. Gonostylus slightly narrowed towards apex, the mesial side not impressed; with dense apical setosity, with a strong curved apical tooth, with a group of 3–5 subapical megasetae. Tegmen truncate, with curved lateral sides, weakly sclerotized, with an area of aedeagal teeth.
Discussion. Bradysia aequispina and B. clavistylis belong to the Bradysia tilicola group in the sense of Menzel and Mohrig (2000). They are similar in having an apical tooth of the gonostylus but lacking the intercoxal lobe of the hypopygium (see under B. stricta). Bradysia aequispina differs from B. clavistylis and from the widely distributed species of the B. tilicola group (B. tilicola (Winnertz), B. fenestralis (Zetterstedt), B. difformis Frey and B. ocellaris (Comstock) in having the gonostylar megasetae placed dorsally on the gonostylus in one row at the same vertical level, whereas in the other species there is no such pattern. Furthermore, most specimens of B. aequispina have three or four megasetae, whereas others, except B. fenestralis, have more of them. B. fenestralis differs from all others in lacking the apical tooth of the gonostylus. B. clavistylis differs from B. ocellaris in having the gonostylar megasetae stronger and in one group, not scattered in the apical part of the gonostylus, from B. difformis in having the gonostylar megasetae large, the largest ones larger than the apical tooth (in B. difformis the megasetae are slender and much smaller than the apical tooth); from B. tilicola in having 6–7 megasetae (8–10 in B. tilicola), in having the the tegmen more quadrangular, not broadened basally, and in having shorter apodemes of the tegmen.
Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin words aequus, equal, and spina, thorn, referring to the equally-sized gonostylar megasetae.
description: Published as part of Vilkamaa, Pekka, Hippa, Heikki & Mohrig, Werner, 2012, The genus Bradysia Winnertz (Diptera, Sciaridae) in New Caledonia, with the description of thirteen new species, pp. 25-44 in Zootaxa 3489 on pages 26-28, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.214293