Chelipoda digressa Collin 1928
Creators: name: Published, First
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Empididae
Chelipoda
Chelipoda digressa

description: 8. Chelipoda digressa Collin   
[Figs. 16, 100, 137]  
 Chelipoda digressa Collin, 1931: 353–354, Fig. 2.   
 Type material. Collin, 1931 described Chelipoda digressa from a male and female from New Zealand: South Island, WD, Kumara, xii-2-1930, JWC [USNM], (not examined).   
 Additional material: New Zealand, South Is., 25♂, 13F ♀, WD and KA, [NMWC, NZAC, LUNZ]; 3♂, SI, Stewart Is, [NMWC].   
 Description. Male: length 2.5–3.2mm (wet material).   
 Head: black dusted grey, subspherical almost quadrate; ocelli positioned posteriorly; vertex very short; postocular region narrow, clearly differentiated from occiput which is somewhat concave medially about cervical region; face pale, long, as wide as base of postpedicel. Antenna (Fig. 100) inserted near top of head, brown, basal segments sometimes paler; scape 1.5X as long as wide, several apicoventral setae and larger dorsal bristle; postpedicel 7–9X as long as wide, pubescent, swollen and abruptly tapered basally, arista apparently absent. Vertical setae and upo black, lower occiput with sparse pale pile; Sclerite between mouth opening and cervical region clearly differentiated from lower occiput, yellow, slightly produced posteriorly bearing a few short dark setae. Palpi small, triangular, apically pointed, a row of minute black teeth on inner face basally continued by equally small setae distally.   
 Thorax: dusted greyish, ground colour dirty yellow with darker stripes on scutum medially and upper and lower part of pleura poorly defined and variable. Setae black; dc1, dc2, and dc3 well developed, dc4 and dc5 minute or absent; sa and sct strong, 2 small ph, pprn upcurved, unp very strong and long.   
 Legs: Yellow, tarsi and C 1 anteriorly darker. C 1 0.9X as long as thorax, minute bristly hairs in front along dark streak. F 1 1.1X as long as C 1, rather evenly inflated, 4.5X as long as wide, widest 0.4 from base; 3 rows of bristles beneath, middle row of about 13 short spines, av row of 12–13 longer spines longest on basal 0.5, pv row of 4–5 long spines on basal 0.6. T 1 0.7X as long as F 1, slightly curved, narrowing distally with usual row of minute adpressed denticles and short erect hairs ventrally; at2 similar length as at3. Legs otherwise simple.   
 Wing: veins brown, membrane strongly darkened basally about veins. Venation highly modified (Fig. 137), cell cup closed, rounded apically; vein C with short comb of black dorsal setae before junction with Sc, a similar comb anteriorly near junction with R 1; a fine bristle on Cu near base of discal cell. Haltere whitish yellow.   
 Abdomen: yellowish brown dorsally, paler below, tergites 1–6 with longish marginal hairs. Terminalia (Fig. 16) brown; epandrium separated from and partly overlapping hypandrium which is broadly oblong, apically quadrate with long bristles on posterior margin. Hypandrium apparently not divided posteromedially, bearing conspicuous paired posterior bristles. Cerci free, small, hardly extending beyond tip of epandrium. Subepandrial process brownish black, rather short, bluntly pointed. Postgonite bilobed, outer lobe blade-like, rounded apically; inner lobe shorter with 2 very strong yellow bristles apically. Phallus reflexed forward basally and posteriorly near tip.   
 Description. Female: differing from male as follows.   
 Head: less quadrate, vertex longer, curving gradually into occiput; antennal insertion point normal; eyes separated on face by same distance as width of distal part of postpedicel which is rather narrower apically compared with the male and has a terminal arista 0.25X as long. Palpi without teeth basally.   
 Legs: F 1 with pv row of spines throughout length, basal 2–3 av spines long, becoming abruptly shorter beyond base.   
 Wing: with simple venation, membrane not strongly pigmented, veins with normal bristly hairs; cell cup closed, rectangular, CuA 2 only slightly curved, A 1 continuing beyond end of cup by more than length of CuA 2.   
 Abdomen: with short hairs, terminal papillae brown, narrow with long pale hairs.   
 Comments. This is a medium sized species with a weakly striped dirty yellow thorax, F 1 with 3 rows of setae beneath and males with highly modified wing venation. It is doubtfully included in the C. modica -group. The species has only been reported from forest biotopes in South and Stewart Island having been collected in podocarp / kamahi, totara, matai and Nothofagus forest from December to February inclusive. Collin (1931) thought that the date ‘ xii-2-1930 ’ on the syntype labels meant that they were collected on February 12 th (labelling syntax confirmed by Pont (1995)).
description: Published as part of Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, pp. 1-88 in Zootaxa 1537 (1) on pages 19-20, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1537.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5088638