Michotamia coarctata Macquart
Creators: name: Scarbrough, A. G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Michotamia
Michotamia coarctata

description: Michotamia coarctata (Macquart)   
Figs. 4, 10, 52–55  
 Ommatius coarctatus Macquart, 1855: 80 (60). Kertész 1909: 307. Hull 1962: 435. Oldroyd 1960: 299.   
 Michotamia coarctata (Macquart), Oldroyd 1980: 346.   
 Redescription, female. Reddish-brown or brown. Body 19.3 mm, wing 15.5 mm. Head: Face slightly produced beyond eye on lower 1/2, brownish-yellow tomentose; vestiture yellowish, setae abundant, short medially, slightly longer ventrally; 2–3 long thin setae on dorsal 1/2, several unusually stout bristles on lower 1/4 medially, sparse along oral margin laterally; FHWR 1.0:4.8. Palpus yellow setose, 1–3 apical setae brownish. Proboscis 3/4 as long as eye laterally, robust, black, apex round, not pointed apically; setae yellowish, sparse. Antenna (Fig.4) mostly brownish or yellowish-brown; setae brown, short, especially thin dorsally, 2 below pedicel stout, as long as segment or slightly longer; pedicel and scape yellow, about 1/3 as long as flagellum combined; flagellum 3.8 times as long as stylus. Frons brownish-yellow tomentose, setae yellow, dense laterally, slightly longer than scape. Ocellar tubercle brown setose, 2 dark setae, about as long as scape. Occiput yellowish tomentose with yellowish setae dorsally, white ventrally tomentose with white setae ventrally; postocular bristles brown, stout dorsally, none strongly proclinate, only slightly curved anteriorly; thinner, yellow, postocular bristles laterally.   
 Thorax: Pronotum yellowish tomentose dorsally, gray laterally; bristles stout, yellow. Mesonotum low, not arched significantly dorsally; blackish with thin brown tomentum dorsally, yellowish-gray laterally, yellowish posteriorly; vestiture sparse, mostly thin, short setae brown or yellow, dorsocentrals seta-like, 5 stout black bristles laterally. Scutellum blackish, tomentum yellowish with sparse yellow setae, apical groove and bristles absent. Pleuron yellow tomentose, vestiture sparse, yellow, bristles on dorsal 1/2, including anepimeral bristle, stout. Halter yellow. Wing (Fig. 52): Yellowish with dense yellow microtrichia, paler basally. Cell r 4 just beyond cell d, trumpet-shaped, much wider at wing margin than basally. Crossvein r-m beyond middle of cell d, longer than CuA 1 + M 3. Cell m 1 narrow basally, abruptly beyond, sides divergent to wing margin; m 1 1.0:2.3:2.5. Cell m 3 short, apex just beyond r-m well before base of m 1. Legs: Coxae black, yellow tomentose with thin yellow setae and stout bristles. Trochanters, femora, and tibiae reddish-yellow or yellow; bristles sparse, mostly black, stout, anterior bristles long, shorter ventrally; meso- and metathoracic femora without anteroventral bristles; MFWLR 1.0:4.3. Tarsi reddish-brown, basal tarsomere of prothoracic tarsus yellow; bristles black.   
 Abdomen: Largely yellowish with yellow tomentum; segments 5–6 blackish with yellow apically; clavate, segment 5 twice as wide in dorsal view as junction of segments 2–3, fusiform apically. Setae short, mostly brownish, yellow on tergites 1–4 laterally and sternites 1–4 entirely. Terminalia (Figs. 53–55): Tergite 8 extending below covering sternite 8 basally. Sternite 8 longer than wide, apical and basal margins strongly emarginated medially, with inverted V-shape triangle externally and angular support apodeme internally. Genital furca simple, arms sclerotized, base membranous. Spermatheca with oval apical bulbus, a large asymmetrical valve, and tightly coiled duct.   
Male. Unknown.  
 Type examined. MADAGASCAR: (holotype ♀, OXUM).   
 Remarks. Michotamia coarctata is distinguished from congeners by the combination of the diagnostic characters of the genus and terminalia (Figs. 53–55). The robust proboscis with rounded apex; unusually stout bristles on the lower face medially; absence of marginal scutellar bristles; reddish or yellow legs; femora without anteroventral bristles; an elongate strongly constricted abdomen, and the only species known from Madagascar further distinguish the species. Although the male of M. coarctata remains unknown, the dozen or so Oriental species known (Scarbrough & Hill 2000; Joseph & Parui 1998, Oldroyd 1972), the aedeagus is usually long, curved or sigmoid, extending dorsally between or above the epandria, and is tightly bound by the genital sheath, i.e. epiphallus absent (Figs. 56–57).   
 The holotype of M. coarctata is in fair condition. However, the right flagellum and stylus and left leg are absent; the right leg is glued to the specimen pin; wings are covered with dust and some fungi although the surface characters are readily distinguished; head setae are covered by fungi and terminalia are in a microvial. Data labels: [Circle, narrow red border] ‘Holo- / type’; [white rectangle] ♀ Allocotosia / coarctatus Macq. / 1723 in Coll. Bigot; [small white rectangular glued to larger label] ♀ coarctatus Macq. n. sp. [in script], Madagascar [below large label, at end]; Type: 350 / Ommatius coarctatus Macquart / Hope Dept. Oxford.
description: Published as part of Scarbrough, A. G., 2010, An overview of the Afrotropical Ommatiinae (Diptera: Asilidae) with a key to genera, pp. 1-47 in Zootaxa 2540 on pages 22-24