Platypalpus sivasensis Zouhair & Grootaert & Gençer & Kettani 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zouhair, Laila
name: Grootaert, Patrick
name: Gençer, Lütfiye
name: Kettani, Kawtar
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Hybotidae
Platypalpus
Platypalpus sivasensis

description: Platypalpus sivasensis Zouhair & Grootaert sp. nov.
(Figs 1, 2)
Type material. HOLOTYPE. Sivas prov. ♂, Yýldýzeli, 39.788 N, 36.214 E, 1185 m, grassland, 07.vi.2009, sweep net, leg. L. Gençer. PARATYPES: Sivas prov. 2♂, 1♀, same data as holotype; 1 ♂, Kizilkavraz, köyü orman, 39.766 N, 37.216 E, 1286 m, forest, 27.vi.2001, sweep net, leg. L. Gençer.
Diagnosis. A medium sized black species of the albiseta group with one pair of long vertical bristles. Antennae black with white stylus, blackish at basal half, postpedicel very long about 5–6X as long as wide at base, stylus densely pubescent about half as long as postpedicel. Thorax with mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe densely greyish dusted, pleura densely greyish dusted leaving a large, polished spot occupying the posterior part of the katepisternum. Legs slender, entirely black or entirely blackish brown in pale species. Mid tibia without spur. Hind femur with long brown anteroventral setae. Wings brown infuscate, with dark brown veins, with R 4+5 and M 1+2 becoming parallel before meeting wing margin.
Description. Male. Length: body 2.5 mm, wing 2.0 mm. Head black in ground colour, occiput densely greyish pollinose, covered with short brown setae, one pair of long brownish verticals. Gena densely dusted. Ocellar tubercle greyish pollinose, with 2 black long anterior setae and 2 short posterior pale setae. Frons greyish dusted, very wide, wider than pedicel, slightly more broadened toward ocellar tubercle. Face greyish dusted, as wide as pedicel. Clypeus shiny, long. Antenna black with white stylus (blackish at basal half), pedicel as long as deep, postpedicel very long about 5X as long as wide at base, stylus densely pubescent about half as long as postpedicel. Proboscis black, shorter than head height. Palpus black, narrowly ovate, small with scattered pale hairs and long brown subapical seta.
Thorax black. Mesoscutum including postpronotal lobe densely yellowish dusted to margin of scutellum, pleura densely yellowish dusted (including meron) leaving only large polished spot occupying posterior part of katepisternum, with only narrow dusted stripe anteriorly. Postpronotal lobe with 1 long black seta and 3 minute setae. Mesoscutum with 2 long black distinct and thick notopleurals, 1 long black postalar, 1 long black pair of prescutellars, 1 pair of long black scutellars, acrostichals biserial, dorsocentrals biserial. Legs slender, entirely black or entirely blackish brown in pale species. Coxae and trochanters covered with ordinary yellowish setae of different lengths. Fore femur slightly thickened in basal two thirds, with row of long blackish ventral setae. Fore tibia slender, clothed with ordinary blackish setulae. Mid femur slightly thicker than fore femur, with double row of black ventral spinules and row of long brown posteroventral setae and row of anteroventral blackish setae. Mid tibia slender, with row of very small ventral spinules, without apical spur. Hind femur slender with long brown anteroventral setae. Hind tibia slender, as long as femur, clothed with ordinary brown setulae. Wing brown infuscated, with dark brown veins. Veins R 4+5 and M 1+2 becoming parallel before meeting wing margin. Crossveins m-cu and r-m not separated, cell bm broader and slightly longer than cell br. Vein CuA sinuate. Vein M 4 not reaching wing border. Vein CuA+CuP distinct. Squama blackish. Halter yellowish.
Abdomen brownish black, with 1–2 tergites entirely dusted, remaining parts with narrow polished band at base, sternites dusted, abdominal setae short and pale. Terminalia (Fig. 2). Cerci not enclosed in epandrium, equally long, pointed (Fig. 2B). Left epandrial lamella on apical half entirely covered with fine, not very long bristles; bristles on left margin fine, not distinct from others on left lamella. Right surstylus not separated from right epandrial lamella, bifid in lateral view. No rows of setae on right margin of right epandrial lamella (Fig. 2A).
Female. Resembling male, but legs paler in some parts: knees of fore legs yellowish, mid femora ventrally and apical third of hind femora yellowish. Hind tibia yellowish brown.
Etymology. The species is named after the province of Sivas where it was found.
Remarks. Due to the dusted thorax, the new species can be compared with P. argentiseta (Collin) or P. pallidiseta Kovalev, which have the same dusted mesonotum and pleura dusted leaving only a large, polished spot on the katepisternum. However, the new species differ from them mainly in the antennae, with long postpedicel and not much longer stylus in the new species, contrary to P. argentiseta and P. pallidiseta where the postpedicel is short and stylus much longer, but the special differential character in P. sivasensis sp. nov. is the black basal half of the whitish arista which, to our knowledge doesn’t exist in the albiseta- group species described so far. Furthermore, the combination of the dusted mesonotum with biserial acrostichals in the new species, is considered peculiar, knowing that P. argentiseta and P. pallidiseta have multiseriate acrostichals. The new species is related to P. argentiseta also in the blackish legs with dark posteroventrals in mid femora. The genitalia structure (Fig. 2) of the new species is quite different from that of the albiseta -group species occurring in Turkey (P. anatolicus Grootaert, P. albiseta Panzer, P. flaviseta Chvála, P. niveisetoides Chvála) or other European species.
description: Published as part of Zouhair, Laila, Grootaert, Patrick, Gençer, Lütfiye & Kettani, Kawtar, 2025, Turkish Hybotidae (Diptera: Empidoidea): description of six new species with additional data, pp. 503-524 in Zootaxa 5609 (4) on pages 505-507, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5609.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/15215427