Suragina freidbergi Muller 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Muller, Burgert S.
name: Swart, Vaughn R.
name: Snyman, Louwrens P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Athericidae
Suragina
Suragina freidbergi

description: Suragina freidbergi Muller sp. nov.
Figs 8, 20, 21, 45, 63, 67, 80
Type material examined.
Holotype: Malawi • 1 ♂; Southern Region; Mulanje Mountain [Mulanje Massif] nr. Likabula; [15°56.983'S, 35°35.617'E]; 26–27 Oct. 1983; A. Freidberg leg.; (NMSA - DIP 158423).
Paratypes: • 3 ♀; same data as holotype; (NMSA - DIP 158426, 158425, 158424) • 2 ♀; Southern Region; Zomba Plateau, Kuchawe Trout Farm; 15°21.2333'S, 35°18.1'E; 1530 masl; 8–11 Nov. 2016; A. H. Kirk-Spriggs & B. S. Muller leg.; stream, montane evergreen forest; Malaise trap; (BMSA (D) 91210, 91208) • 5 ♀; Southern Region; Zomba Plateau, William’s Falls; 15°20.85'S, 35°17.9167'E; 1583 masl; 15–19 Nov. 2016; A. H. Kirk-Spriggs & B. S. Muller leg.; stream bed, montane evergreen forest; Malaise trap; (BMSA (D) 92158, 92159, 92162, 92160, 92161) • 1 ♂; Southern Region; Mulanje Dist. Mulanje mnt. at:; 15°56.1667'S, 35°31.2'E; 1061 masl; 12–14 Oct. 2016; A. H. Kirk-Spriggs & B. S. Muller leg.; stream bed, miombo woodland; Malaise trap; (BMSA (D) 92376).
Holotype deposited in NMSA and paratypes deposited as per listed institutional codens in citations above: BMSA and NMSA.
Diagnosis.
Suragina freidbergi Muller, sp. nov. has an overall yellowish-brown to brown appearance, with the males typically lighter in colour than the females (Fig. 20 vs Fig. 21). The pleura are brown with mostly bluish-grey pruinosity, the scutum dark brown to black with two bluish-grey pruinose dorsocentral vittae, the notopleuron with similar pruinosity (Fig. 8). The prescutellar area bluish-grey pruinose. It is most similar to S. zombaensis Muller, sp. nov. in its general appearance, but differs from it in having at most the apical third of the wing brown suffused, the preceding area with hyaline patches (Fig. 45), compared to S. zombaensis Muller, sp. nov. that has the majority of the apical half of the wing brown suffused (Fig. 54). Additionally, S. freidbergi Muller, sp. nov. has the scutellum yellow on at least apical half (Fig. 8) compared to S. zombaensis Muller, sp. nov. that has the scutellum dark brown with only the apical margin yellow.
Description.
Measurements (♂ n = 2, ♀ n = 2): Wing span: ♂ 7.2–7.5 mm (avg. 7.35 mm); ♀ 8.6–9.3 mm (avg. 8.95 mm); body length: ♂ 8.9–9.0 mm (avg. 8.95 mm); ♀ 9.0– 9.5 mm (avg. 9.25 mm); wing span to body length ratio (avg.): ♂ 0.94; ♀ 0.97.
Male (Fig. 20).
Head: Blackish-brown ground colour, with bluish-grey pruinosity on majority of head; eye bare; holoptic; ommatidia on lower and upper quarter of eye smaller than those on rest of eye; lateral edge of eye with slight indentation, and an apparent tubercle next to indentation; ocellar tubercle barely visible in profile, blackish-brown in colour with slight bluish-grey pruinosity and short dark setulae; vertex blackish-brown with bluish-grey pruinosity and long dark setulose; anterior ocellus larger than posterior pair; ocellar tubercle in front of dorsal margin of eye, not placed as deeply towards middle of head as in ♀; dorsal inner edge of eye abutting ocellar tubercle; occiput with same bluish-grey pruinosity as rest of head; paired narrow rectangular black markings with short dark setulae on upper occiput widening towards lateral margin of head, abutting posterior margin of eyes, flanking vertex; upper occiput with pale setulae; lower occiput with long pale setulae; genal area bluish-grey with long pale setulae, these continue ventrally on head to mouthparts that have similar long ventral setulae; frons bluish-grey pruinose, velvety-black from ocellar tubercle to before lower half of eye when viewed anteriorly, when viewed anteroventrally entire frons appears blackish-brown with a slight velvety appearance; frons widening from where eyes touch down to antennal base; frons with short pale setulae; face bluish-grey with pale setulae; clypeus dark brown with bluish-grey pruinosity, bare; face separated anteriorly from clypeus by a deep transverse suture, similar to lateral sutures; face not appearing to bulge laterally when viewed in profile; clypeus visible in profile, face not; antennal bases separated ca 0.75 × width of scape, with slight longitudinal groove running between; scape dark brown and pedicel orange-brown, both with silvery pruinosity; 1 st flagellomere orange-yellow, with sparse silvery pruinosity; 2 nd flagellomere dark brown; scape and pedicel of similar size; 1 st flagellomere reniform, ca 1.5 × size of pedicel; 2 nd flagellomere arista-like; pedicel with dark dorsal and ventral setulae, similar in size, scape with only pale dorsal setulae; palpus brown with dense bluish-grey pruinosity, with dark setulae throughout; palpus ca 0.5 × length of proboscis; proboscis slightly shorter than head height; proboscis dark orange-brown in colour, prementum orange-yellow, proboscis with long pale setulae ventrally and darker setulae dorsally.
Thorax: Scutum brown, mostly with short dark setulae, with two feint dorsocentral bluish-grey pruinose vittae in some specimens running from pronotum to before scutellum, joining to form a bluish-grey pruinose patch, in other specimens vittae are diffused, ending before transverse suture (Fig. 8); pronotum orange-brown with bluish-grey pruinosity and short pale setulae; postpronotal lobe orange-yellow and appearing slightly browner dorsally, with sparse grey pruinosity; setulae short pale; notopleuron bluish-grey pruinose with pale setulae anteriorly and longer dark setulae posteriorly; postalar wall and postalar callus orange-brown with slight bluish-grey pruinosity supra-alar area with dark setulae, postalar callus with some short pale setulae interspersed between dark setulae; scutellum yellow with long dark setulae; majority of pleura brown with bluish-grey pruinosity, except for anepimeron, anatergite, katatergite and katepimeron orange-yellow; proepisternum, proepimeron, katatergite and katepisternum with long pale setulae; anatergite and meron bare; anterior and posterior spiracles whitish-yellow, bare; postspiracular scale dark brown; postscutellum orange-brown.
Legs: Fore coxa yellow, mid coxa brown, blackish-brown anteriorly with a slight greyish pruinosity, hind coxa brownish-yellow; all coxae with mostly long pale setulae; fore coxal setulae entirely pale or with at most a couple of dark setulae apically; mid coxal setulae mixed pale and dark; hind coxal setulae long, and pale or dark on anterior edge surrounding well-developed anterior apical point, lateral apical edges with long pale setulae; all trochanters brownish-yellow with short pale and dark setulae; fore and mid femora almost entirely yellow, except for slightly brown apex; hind femur yellow with light brown to brown median band; fore and hind tibiae brownish-yellow, mid tibia yellow; fore and hind tarsi brown, mid basitarsus yellow; with remaining tarsi brown; fore tarsal claws asymmetrical, outer claw much larger than inner claw, foreleg empodium ca 2 × size of inner pulvillus, outer pulvillus ca 2 × length of inner, approaching size of outer claw; fore femur overall with short pale setulae, with long pale setulae on posteroventral surface; mid femur with long pale setulae on ventral surface, otherwise with short pale setulae; hind femur with a mix of pale and dark setulae on dorsal and ventral surfaces, base of femur with pale setulae; fore tarsi covered with long sensory setulae along antero- and posteroventral surfaces, sensory setulae ca 2 × as long as tarsal segment is wide; hind leg overall stouter than remaining legs; hind tarsal segments 0.8–1.0 × as long as hind tibia tibial spur formula 0: 2: 2.
Wing: Hyaline; dark brown stigma over area of veins R 1 and R 2 + 3 and cell r 1; dark suffused substigmal marking running down from stigma over crossvein r – m, bases of discal cell, cell m 3 and apex of cell br; apical half of wing suffused with hyaline patches in cells r 2 + 3, r 4, r 5, discal cell, cells m 3 and m 4; some dark suffusion over veins CuA and CuP; veins dark brown; costa without distinct downward flexure over stigma; cell cua closed at wing margin, cell m 3 open, veins M 1, M 2, M 3 present; haltere stalk yellow, knob dark brown, with a few short and dark setulae.
Abdomen: Overall brownish-yellow in colour; tergite 1 light brownish-yellow with a dark subtriangular dorsal marking surrounded by bluish-grey pruinosity; tergites 2–5 each with a dark dorsal marking covering majority of dorsal surface, less prominent on tergite 2 giving it a slight fenestrated appearance contrasting to brownish-yellow colour; tergites 2–5 also with lateral marginal dark marking; tergites 3–5 with grey pruinose band along posterior margin; tergite 1 medially without a longitudinal suture; tergites with dark setulae dorsally, and long pale setulae on lateral margins; sternites yellowish, with some irregular dark markings towards terminal segments; sternites with long pale setulae.
Terminalia (Figs 63, 67): Epandrium and cercus dark brown with dark setulae; gonocoxite, hypoproct and hypandrium with pale setulae; gonostylus tapering with truncated apex, outer edge of gonostylus with short setulae, inner edge with protrusion with 4 setulae, apical third of gonostylus sparsely covered in microtrichia; gonocoxite widening and appearing more rounded on apical half, apex somewhat flattened, gonocoxite outer and ventral medial surface with long setulae, inner surface of upper half with short setulae, lower ventral surface similarly long setulose; gonocoxite with microtrichia between setulae; parameral apodeme with rounded apex, not reaching base of gonocoxite in ventral view, parameral sheath including parameral apodeme ca 0.7 × length of gonocoxite; gonocoxal apodeme similar in length to gonocoxite and slightly longer than ejaculatory apodeme; aedeagal tine curvature extending down past gonocoxites, apex of tines not extending out past parameral sheath; endoaedeagal process apically truncated and widened.
Female (Fig. 21): Similar to ♂ except for the following:
Head (Fig. 8): Dichoptic; ommatidia of similar size; lateral edge of eye without any indentation, but also with apparent tubercle as in ♂; ocellar tubercle blackish-brown with brownish-grey pruinosity (bluish-grey in ♂); anterior ocellus slightly larger in size than posterior pair; ocellar tubercle placed deeper in front of dorsal margin of eye compared to ♂; dorsal inner edge of eye separated from ocellar tubercle by paired silver-grey markings, appearing to extend down from vertex; genal area with long pale setulae and one or two interspersed dark setulae (all pale in ♂) these continue ventrally on head to mouthparts that have a mix of similarly long pale and dark ventral setulae; frons bluish-grey pruinose between lower half of eye down to antennal base, velvety-black from ocellar tubercle to lower half of eye when viewed anteriorly; frons widening only slightly from velvety-black patch towards antennal bases; frons with dark setulae on velvety-black upper half and pale setulae on lower grey half; face, gena and clypeus with bluish-grey pruinosity; face sparsley populated with long pale setulae, face separated anteriorly from clypeus by transverse suture, (less prominent than in ♂); antennal bases separated ca 0.5–0.8 × width of scape, with slight longitudinal groove running between; 1 st flagellomere ca 1.75 × size of pedicel; proboscis ca same length as head height; proboscis ventrally with both long pale and dark setulae.
Thorax (Fig. 8): Scutum blackish-brown and overall darker than in ♂ and more setulose, posterior half of scutum additionally with long pale setulae; pronotum dark brown with bluish-grey pruinosity and short pale setulae; postpronotal lobe dark brown with greyish pruinosity on anterior surface (compared to ♂ with dorsal surface also slightly pruinose), pale setulose; notopleuron with same colouration as in ♂, however, more densely setulose in comparison; postalar wall and postalar callus dark brown compared to orange-brown in ♂, and more setulose; scutellum entirely orange-yellow, or orange-yellow on apical half up to margin, and basally dark brown with slight bluish-grey pruinosity, with dark setulae; pleura similar to that of ♂.
Legs: Fore coxa yellow as in ♂ but browner anteriorly and sparsely greyish pruinose; hind coxa more widely brown in comparison to ♂; coxal setulae similar to ♂; femora similar in patterning as ♂, but markings dark brown, almost black instead of light brown to brown; fore and hind tibiae, as well as tarsi blackish, mid tibia brownish-yellow, mid basitarsus brownish-yellow; with remaining tarsi dark brown to blackish (tibia and tarsi similar in patterning to ♂, just darker); fore tarsal claws symmetrical; overall leg setation similar to ♂ except generally shorter; hind tarsal segments 0.9–1.0 × as long as hind tibia.
Wing (Fig. 45): Similar to ♂.
Abdomen: Tergite 1 more densely bluish-grey pruinose than in ♂, medially with a longitudinal suture; tergite 2 in some specimens similar to ♂ with dark longitudinal marking, but surrounded by bluish-grey pruinosity instead of brownish-yellow ground colour, in others (NMSA - DIP 158425) entirely dark brown, as proceeding tergites; tergites 3–7 dark brown with dark dorsal markings barely discernible, posterior margins with similar grey pruinose bands as in ♂; tergite 1 with long pale setulae on pruinose surface, and short dark setulae on dark brown surfaces, tergites 2–6 with short pale setulae on posterior pruinose bands and short dark setulae on rest of surface; tergite 7 with short dark setulae; tergites 1–4 with long pale setulae on lateral margins, tergites 5–7 with dark setulae laterally; sternites similar to ♂ but with shorter pale setulae on surface.
Terminalia (Fig. 80): Cercus dark brown with pale setulae; genital fork with distal apodeme slender, apex truncated, unforked; median lobe with u-shaped emargination; paired apical lobes with somewhat slender appearance, widening toward apex, inner surface with clustered microtrichia at apex; arms gradually rounded; three oval and sclerotized spermathecae.
Etymology.
Named after the late Dr Amnon Freidberg, in recognition of his contribution to Dipterology and as collector of much of the type material from Malawi. Noun in the genitive case.
Distribution.
Malawi.
description: Published as part of Muller, Burgert S., Swart, Vaughn R. & Snyman, Louwrens P., 2024, Revision of Afrotropical Suragina Walker, 1859 (Diptera, Athericidae), pp. 247-327 in African Invertebrates 65 (2) on pages 247-327, DOI: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.65.140524