Merodon fulvitarsis Vujic et Radenkovic 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Vujić, Ante
name: Radenković, Snežana
name: Likov, Laura
name: Gorše, Iva
name: Djan, Mihajla
name: Ristić, Zlata Markov
name: Barkalov, Anatolii V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Syrphidae
Merodon
Merodon fulvitarsis

description: Merodon fulvitarsis Vujić et Radenković sp. nov.
ZooBank link: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 6A9E56E0-6162-476B-9465-AAC1D7902A4A
GenBank accession number of the COI gene sequence: ON562626
(Figs 5A, 5B, 7B, 8A, 9A, 9C–D)
Type material. HOLOTYPE: IRAN, Osculu, 38.872483°N, 46.8966°E, ♂, 10286, Leg. Khaghaninia, IMTU. PARATYPE: IRAN, Anali forest, 38.895933°N, 46.779417°E, ♀, 10292, Leg. Khaghaninia, IMTU.
Diagnosis. Male terga with indistinct pollinose fasciate maculae (Fig. 5A); metatibia in male with plate-like apical lamella (Fig. 8A: marked with white arrow), in female metatibia curved in apical third (Fig. 7B); metafemur without ventral calcar (Fig. 8A). Similar to Merodon lamellatus from which differs in medium sized process on metatrochanter in male (Fig. 8A: marked with black arrow), [very small in M. lamellatus (Fig. 8B: marked with black arrow)], metatibia with larger plate-like apical lamella (Fig. 8A: marked with white arrow) [smaller in M. lamellatus (Fig. 8B: marked with white arrow)], and narrow metatibia (Fig. 8A) [broader in M. lamellatus (Fig. 8B)]; male genitalia: anterior surstyle lobe biramous (Fig. 9A: al), with narrow and elongated interior accessory lobe (Fig. 9D: il) and angular extension (Fig. 9A: marked with arrow), while in M. lamellatus the interior accessory lobe is less developed and smaller (Fig. 9E: il) and extension is broader (Fig. 9B: marked with arrow). Female can be distinguished from M. lamellatus by angular metatrochanter (Fig. 7B: marked with black arrow), while rounded in M. lamellatus (Fig. 7C: marked with black arrow), and two apical tarsomere in M. fulvitarsis black (7B: marked with white arrows), while in M. lamellatus two apical only slightly darker than basal two tarsomeres (7C: marked with white arrows).
Description. Length. Male: 9–10 mm; female: 9–10 mm. MALE (Figs 5A, 8A, 9). Small to medium sized species; terga with indistinct pollinose fasciate maculae (Fig. 5A), covered with pale pilosity laterally and black pile medially; metatrochanter with medium sized process (Fig. 8A: marked with black arrow); metafemur narrow, without ventral protuberance, covered with pile shorter than the width of metafemur (Fig. 8A); metatibia with one plate-like, apical lamella (Fig. 8A: marked with white arrow); basal three tarsomeres of all legs reddish-yellow, apical two black (Fig. 8A). Male genitalia: anterior surstyle lobe biramous (Fig. 9A: al), with narrow and elongated interior accessory lobe (Fig. 9D: il) and angular extension (Fig. 9A: marked with arrow); posterior surstyle lobe hook-like (Fig. 9A: pl); cercus rectangular (Fig. 9A: c); hypandrium sickle-shaped (Fig. 9C), with folded theca (Fig. 9C: marked with arrow).
FEMALE (Figs 5B, 7B). Similar to the male except for normal sexual dimorphism and for the following characteristics: metatrochanter angular (Fig. 7B: marked with black arrow); metatibia curved in the apical third (Fig. 7B); terga with distinct white-greyish pollinose fasciate maculae (Fig. 5B); terga with pale pilosity, except black pile medially from posterior half of tergum 2 until tergum 5; tergum 4 with weak transverse depression; tergum 5 with a pair of indistinct, lateral, longitudinal depressions; vertex at the level of ocellar triangle black pilose, frons with medial vitta of few black pile.
Etymology. The adjective “fulvus” (fulvi in genitive) means reddish-yellow, referring to the color of basal three tarsomeres on legs.
Distribution. Merodon fulvitarsis sp. nov. has been recorded in mountainous areas of northern Iran (1220–1540 m asl) (Fig. 16).
description: Published as part of Vujić, Ante, Radenković, Snežana, Likov, Laura, Gorše, Iva, Djan, Mihajla, Ristić, Zlata Markov & Barkalov, Anatolii V., 2022, Three new species of the Merodon ruficornis group (Diptera: Syrphidae) discovered at the edge of its range, pp. 301-347 in Zootaxa 5182 (4) on pages 311-313, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5182.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7056510