Immoderatus Papp, 2004, gen. n.
Creators: name: Papp, L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2004
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sphaeroceridae
Immoderatus

description: Immoderatus gen. n.    Type species: Immoderatus foldvarii sp. n.   
Gender: masculine.  
Body length 0.72–0.95 mm. This is far the smallest species of the subfamily Copromyzinae.  
Mouth opening large, almost as long as head, palpi small, 0.075–0.08 mm long. Clypeus narrow and small. Antennae in deep holes, as in Carnidae. Pedicel with an extremely long dorsal sub-basal seta. First flagellomere rounded with dorsal arista and with 5 extremely long dorsal setae, which are not much shorter than arista, and with some shorter (still long) ventral setae. Face not longer than antennae. Ocelli extremely anteriorly placed: hind ocelli on border ofanterior and middle third ofpostfrons. Three pairs ofshort lateroclinate fronto-orbitals. Ofthe frontal setae only the outer vertical pair strong, postocellars indistinct. No definite ocellar setae. Two pairs of medium-long setae on fore edge of frons (over lunule). Gena narrow but postgena large.  
Thorax dorsoventrally compressed, with considerably reduced sclerites. Prothorax (Fig. 3) consists ofextremely reduced sclerites. Thoracic chaetotaxy: no proepisternal (but several short setu - lae), 1 notopleural, 1 supra-alar and 1 postalar, 1 rather weak dorsocentral (just anterior to scutellum), irregular rows ofsparse and fine acrostichal setulae. Scutellum very short, only 0.035–0.04 mm long but 0.185–0.19 mm broad. One pair oflong lateral (basal) scutellar setae, apical pair present only as minute dorsal setulae. Anepisternum reduced to an oblique sclerite. Anepimeron membranous. Katepisternum complete (i.e. sclerotization not reduced) with 1 (rather posterior) seta. Thorax actually continued caudally below abdomen, hind leg with coxa being wholly ventral to preabdomen, and even mid coxae partly so.  
Legs short and thick. Mid tibia without subapical crown ofsetae, or rows ofstronger dorsal setae, but with a strong ventroapical spur and with a shorter and rather thick anterodorsal spur (Fig. 5). Hind tibia extremely thick, only 3 times longer than thick (Fig. 7), with an extremely long and thick ventroapical spur, a long dorsal seta opposite the base ofthis spur, and 3 pairs ofantero- and postero-dorsal setae. Tarsi extremely short, tarsomeres 2–4 shorter than broad on all the legs. Mid and hind tarsi with strong black thorns as described below.  
 Wing peculiar (Fig. 4) both in form and venation. Costal vein continued to vein M. Radial vein R 1 (i.e. 1st costal section) extremely short. R 2 +3 very short, second costal section only halfas long as third. First costal section with 2, second and third sections with 13–15 very long, almost straight setae dorsally, which reclinate to the wing plane (i.e. not perpendicular but at an acute angle to it). Fourth costal section medially on wing apex with a 0.069 –0.072 mm long, backwardly directed seta. No basal cross-vein, discal cell rounded apically (Fig. 4). Alula practically missing. No anal vein or anal cell, anal region present as a small microtomentose thickening ofwing membrane. Marginal hairs of wing dense and extremely long, on ventral halfofwing consist ofalternating hairs 0.060 –0.063 mm and 0.027 –0.030 mm in length. Halter dark grey.   
Abdomen seemingly robust, but only as a consequence ofcompressed status ofthorax. Ter - gites 1–5 normal, sternites less sclerotized; sternite 5 rather broad (Figs 10–11). Abdominal setae, including marginal setae short, except for the comparatively very long pair on female tergite 7.  
Sternite 8 and a small part ofsternite 6, visible in male in dorsal view (Fig. 9). Sternite 7 com - paratively small, visible only ventrally, its medial part bent into genital cavity. A small subtriangular sclerite present at right apex ofsternite 6 (? tergite 6), forming part ofthe wall ofthe genital cavity.  
Male genital morphology peculiar. Epandrium strongly convex (globose), without ventral lateral cleft, but wholly fused and closed ventrally as in some genera of Limosininae. Epandrium with a pair ofcomparatively long subdorsal (caudal) setae. Cerci distinct but small, not fused with epand - rium (Fig. 10), without setae. Subepandrial sclerite not found (i.e. caudal wall of genital chamber is membranous. Surstylus (Fig. 11) long thin, digitiform with a longer medial subapical seta and with 2 small apical setae. Hypandrium small. Phallus (ifmy interpretation is correct) consisting ofa rather normal distiphallus and a peculiar basiphallus with a thick – structured – dorsal projection, which is almost as large as distiphallus (Fig. 15). Phallapodeme slender, comparatively short, strongly curved in its distal third. Epiphallus seemingly absent. Postgonite long, slender, with narrowly rounded apex for Fig. 3  
(Figs 10, 13). Ejaculatory apodeme (Figs 14–15) mushroom-shaped, with an additional sclerite at its distal part.  
Etymology. This new genus is characterised by a large set of peculiar features, for I use the word “extremely” frequently in its description. The Latin word (an adjective, used here as a noun for naming a genus) means immoderate, i.e. one who goes to extremes.  
 Contrary all its unique features and reductions, one can easily identify this new genus as belonging to the Copromyzinae through ROHÁČEK’ s (1998) key, which is still the most comprehensive key for the Palaearctic and Oriental Sphaeroceridae. However, its couplet 5 must be supplemented by an additional item to accommodate Immoderatus. This may include strong reduction in sclerotization of thoracic pleural sclerites, extremely thick and short legs, extremely strong ventroapical spur on hind tibia, the very anterior positioning ofocelli on frons, extremely long dorsal seta on pedicel and numerous very long setae on first flagellomere, absence ofanal vein and anal cell, absence ofalula, very short vein R 2+3, extremely long perpendicular setae on costa and extremely long fringe on the hind half of wing, as well as pecularities ofthe male genitalia and the unique shape ofthe spermathecae.
description: Published as part of Papp, L., 2004, Immoderatus Gen. N. Of Copromyzinae (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae), pp. 45-53 in Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 50 (1) on pages 46-48, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12586908