Rosapha Walker
Creators: name: Kovac, Damir
name: Rozkošný, Rudolf
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Stratiomyidae
Rosapha

description: Rosapha Walker
Rosapha Walker, 1859: 100. Type species: Rosapha habilis Walker (by monotypy).
Rosaphula Frey, 1934: 303, syn. nov. Type species: Rosaphula handschini Frey, 1934 (by monotypy).
Redescription and taxonomic remarks. Most species treated here possess four scutellar spines, the same type of wing venation, and usually an elongated and fairly flattened abdomen (except R. obscurata and R. stigmatica sp. nov.). In this respect they resemble the genus Evaza Walker. However, the shape of the antenna is rather different since the last flagellomere in Evaza is arista-like.
Eyes in male are contiguous for nearly entire distance between ocellar triangle and frons (Figs 2, 13). The ocellar triangle is distinctly prominent, placed close to the posterior margin of the head (Fig. 42), but conspicuously shifted toward the middle of frons in R. obscurata (Figs 40–41). The ommatidia on the lower third of the male eye are much smaller than in upper two-thirds. The upper frons is narrow and short, almost indistinct in some species. The lower frons is mostly subtriangular, with or without whitish tomentose frontal spots. The antenna always has rather short basal segments and an oval or subconical, more or less swollen, basal part of flagellum, consisting of 5–6 visible flagellomeres. The penultimate flagellomere is usually short and narrow, and the last flagellomere is usually long, densely haired, or flattened (Figs 1, 12, 32).
In R. handschini comb. nov. the arista is relatively thin and densely covered by short black hairs leaving only apical 1/5 bare (Fig. 32). The last flagellomere, including pilosity, is thus transformed into an apparently rod-like apical style with relatively long apical seta. In R. bimaculata, R. flagellicornis, R. habilis, R. stigmatica sp. nov., and R. umbripennis, the last flagellomere is somewhat thicker and the black dense hairs are longer. The apical style (including pilosity) is thus more robust, cylindrical, pointed apically, and, at most, with a short apical seta (cf. Fig.
1). In the five remaining species the apical style is laterally flattened, band-shaped, with a more or less distinct median rib (probably the remainder of the original arista). The entire surface of this type of apical style is covered by short pubescence which is more distinct at the margins (Fig. 12).
The face below antennae is short, continuing as a concave part of the lower head. Whitish tomentose frontal spots above the antennae may be present or absent in both sexes (Figs 33–39). The facial part of the eye margin is bordered by a relatively narrow, whitish tomentose band on each side, although the facial bands are indistinct in R. handschini. The labellum of the proboscis is darkened or bright yellow; the two-segmented palpus is usually yellowish at its base but with a darkened and oval apical segment.
The thorax is elongated, slightly widened toward the postalar calli, the scutum may be predominantly reddish yellow or black. The four scutellar spines show a characteristic configuration (strong medial pair and usually much shorter outer pair), but this difference is less pronounced in some species (e.g. in R. brevispinosa sp. nov.). The wing pattern may be confined only to the dark brown stigma (R. stigmatica sp. nov.) and even the stigma may be only pale yellow (R. flavistigmatica sp. nov., R. obscurata). In the legs only some colour differences are speciesspecific.
The abdomen is usually elongated and distictly longer than wide but the abdomen of R. stigmatica sp. nov. and R. obscurata is unusually short, clavate or almost round. The male terminalia correspond with the groundplan of the Pachygastrinae. The epandrium seems to be relatively large in most species, the gonostylus usually has a distinct inner spine and the compact aedeagal complex appears as apomorphic, with a distinct phallus and parameres and a rod-like or proximally dilated aedeagal apodeme.
The female differs externally by the shape of the head (cf. Figs 3, 14) and partly also of the abdomen. The head is dichoptic, the eyes are separated by a frons which is broadest at the level of the anterior ocellus and narrowed to the upper boundary of the lower third. From this level the frons widens again to the level of the antennae. Considering the well developed frons, the female head is usually broader than in the associate male. The whitish tomentose frontal spots are absent in larger species and in R. stigmatica but distinctly developed in all other species. The postocular area is band-shaped, usually somewhat narrowed laterally, at most as broad as the scape is long at the posterior inner angle of the eye. The basal part of the flagellum is usually larger than in males and the apical style sometimes shorter. The shape of the abdomen is also somewhat different, generally broader and the maximum width is shifted closer to the middle. The female terminalia are characterised by the relatively long, two-segmented cerci. Tergite 9 is well developed, narrow but complete. Tergite 8 and sternite 8 (subgenital plate) are long as in many other Pachygastrinae, the genital furca is elongate subtriangular, with a narrow frame, which is very fine, hyaline and similar between species.
Rosapha handschini was described in the monotypic genus Rosaphula by Frey (1934), who supposed that the unusual shape of the apical stylus was sufficient for the recognition of a new genus. Actually, we think that this form of the apical stylus is only a plesiomorphic state of the densely and long haired arista, which developed into the flattened, band-shaped structure in some species. All other characters (shape of head, wing venation, configuration of four scutellar spines and terminalia of both sexes) correspond with the groundplan of Rosapha. Rosaphula is thus proposed here as a new synonym of Rosapha.
Key to species
1 Scutum predominantly reddish yellow (Figs 55–56)......................................................... 2
- Scutum black (Figs 57–58).............................................................................. 5
2 Hind tibia predominantly or entirely black; scutum usually with a black medial spot in anterior third................... 3
- Hind tibia entirely yellow; blackish median stripe on scutum more or less distinct................... R. flavipes sp. nov.
3 All tibiae black.................................................................. R. flagellicornis Enderlein
- Only hind tibia at least partly black...................................................................... 4
4 Hind femur completely yellow; hind tibia often with yellowish base (Figs 63–65)..................... R. habilis Walker
- Hind femur with blackish apex; hind tibia entirely black (Figs 55–56).................. R. bimaculata Wulp in de Meijere
5 Ocellar tubercle shifted toward middle of frons; vertex unusually long in both sexes (Figs 40–41) … R. obscurata de Meijere
- Ocellar tubercle at posterior eye angles (Fig. 42)............................................................ 6
6 Abdominal segments 1–3 extensively reddish yellow on both sides.................... R. handschini comb. nov. (Frey)
- Abdominal segments 1–3 as black as rest of abdomen....................................................... 7
7 Wing almost completely hyaline, only cell r5 slightly brownish and stigma yellow (Fig. 62)...... R. flavistigmatica sp. nov.
- At least stigma dark brown............................................................................. 8
8 Wing darkening confined to dark brown stigma (cell r1) (Fig. 71)............................... R. stigmatica sp. nov.
- Wing uniformly infuscated (Figs 57, 73) or with two darkened areas (Figs 74–75)................................. 9
9 Wing uniformly infuscated; darkening along anterior wing margin not interrupted by transparent area, halter black...... 10
- Two dark patches on wing distinct, separated by contrastingly transparent area including cell r2+3 and basal part of cell r5, extreme wing apex usually more hyaline; halter pale....................................................................... R. variegata de Meijere
10 Medial scutellar spines at most as long as half length of scutellum at middle (Fig. 15); frontal whitish tomentose spots narrow, well separated from eye margins and facial stripes (Figs 13–14).............................. R. brevispinosa sp. nov.
- Medial scutellar spines about as long as scutellum at middle (cf. Fig. 4); female frontal spots broad, touching eye margins and confluent with facial stripes (Fig. 39).................................................... R. umbripennis Lindner
description: Published as part of Kovac, Damir & Rozkošný, Rudolf, 2012, A revision of the genus Rosapha Walker (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), pp. 1-23 in Zootaxa 3333 (1) on pages 2-4, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3333.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/210456