Litoleptis asterellaphile Imada & Kato, sp. n.
Creators: name: Imada, Yume
name: Kato, Makoto
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Rhagionidae
Litoleptis
Litoleptis asterellaphile

description: Litoleptis asterellaphile Imada & Kato sp. n.
[Japanese name: saihai-shitone-abu] (Figs. 3 j, 3k, 4f, 10)
Description. Body length: 2.3 mm (n=5) in male, 2.4 mm (n=1) in female. Wing length: 2.3 mm (n=6) in male, 2.6 mm (n=2) in female. Head Frons bare in both sexes. Antenna 0.31 mm (n=2). Antenna 0.8 times in male and 1.2 times in female as long as diameter of eyes. First flagellomere oval and enlarged near base, elongate as long tapering segment, sharpened like a straight long hair at tip; in male, flagellomere sometimes sharply curved at middle (Fig. 10 a). Male (Fig. 10 b) Gonostylus slightly tapering toward apex (basal width at most 1.8 times as wide as width of narrowest part), posterior surface of apex hollowed and posterior margin projected as truncated, upward apex inwardly. Sperm sac bulbous not visible in ventral view. Lateral ejaculatory process baculiform. Ejaculatory apodeme moderately long but not reaching anterior margin of gonocoxite. Posteromedial margin in ventral surface of gonocoxite bear one bristle. Aedeagus smoothly connected with paramere at wide joint. Female (Fig. 10 c) Spermatheca membranous, long and narrow, less than half as wide as long. Spermathecal duct accessory gland with short, sclerotized columnar duct curves middle at right angle, arising at approximately three-fourth distal length from genital chamber to spermathecal ducts. Common spermathecal duct absent. Genital chamber oval, very narrow, occupying fraction of sternite 9 area.
Type material. Holotype. JAPAN [HONSHU] 1♂, emerged on 22.IV.2011 from the larva collected by MK on 14.XI.2010 at Nakatsugawa-keikoku, Saitama Pref (Fig. 1:24), “Rh 0204”, NMNS.
Paratype. 5♂, 2♀ (Rh 0205–0211), emerged on 2–22.IV.2011 from the larvae collected by MK on 14.XI.2010 at the same place (Fig. 1:24).
Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, formed by the combination of ” asterella ”, which being named after the genus of their host-plant, and “phile”, a suffix that derived from Latin and means “lover of”.
Distribution. Japan (Honshu: Saitama Prefecture) (Fig. 1:24).
Natural history. Habitat of this species is rocky cliff along streams and roads in deciduous forests. Larvae of this species are thallus miners of Asterella odora (Marchantiales: Aytoniaceae). Adults emerged in spring (April, in laboratory condition).
Diagnosis. Litoleptis asterellaphile is smaller in body size than the other species of Litoleptis known in Japan. This species can be distinguished from the other Litoleptis species in Japan by the following characters: gonostylus slightly tapering toward apex (basal width at most 1.8 times as wide as width of narrowest part), posterior surface of apex hollowed and posterior margin projected as truncated, upward apex inwardly; posteromedial margin in ventral surface of the gonocoxite bear one bristle; lateral ejaculatory process baculiform.
description: Published as part of Imada, Yume & Kato, Makoto, 2016, Bryophyte-feeding of Litoleptis (Diptera: Rhagionidae) with descriptions of new species from Japan, pp. 41-58 in Zootaxa 4097 (1) on pages 52-53, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4097.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/271005