Nemopalpus glyphanos Curler, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Curler, Gregory R.
name: Jacobson, Amanda J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Psychodidae
Nemopalpus
Nemopalpus glyphanos

description: Nemopalpus glyphanos Curler sp. nov.
(Figs. 1–15)
DIAGNOSIS. Male terminalia: gonostyli simple, with beak-like apices, without spines; a pair of parameres fused medially dorsal and ventral to aedeagus, with spatulate medial prolongations dorsally; cerci connected ventromedially by narrow sclerotized band. Female terminalia: sternite 8 with paired triangular lobes posteriorly; spermatheca elliptical, large, about as long as two abdominal segments, without setae internally.
DESCRIPTION. Male (Figs. 1–4, 6, 8–13): Measurements (n = 4), head width 0.64 mm (0.61–0.66), head length 0.53 mm, wing length 4.26 mm, wing width 1.28 mm (0.53–0.67), palpus segment proportions: 1–1.5–2.5–2.5–8. Eyes globular; interocular distance at frons equal to width of three ommatidia. Antennae: (incomplete in all specimens); scape and pedicel sub-spherical; flagellomeres elongate, cylindrical, covered with digitiform sensilla, with two ascoids; ascoids spatulate, about as long as, but noticeably larger than digitiform sensilla, inserted sub-apically on each flagellomere. Mouthparts extending to mid length of palpus segment 3; labellum bulbous; palpus with five segments; palpus segment 3 with cluster of club-shaped sensilla inserted medially. Wing: radial fork arising basal to medial fork; medial fork arising apical to r-m by distance equal to more than twice the length of r-m. Terminalia: hypandrium fused to gonocoxites, partially membranous posteromedially; gonocoxite cylindrical, with numerous conspicuous setae alveoli dorsally and laterally, with numerous elongate setiform sensilla inserted medially; gonostylus simple, with numerous conspicuous setae alveoli and minute setiform sensilla, smoothly curved from base to apex, with apices directed ventromedially; apex of gonostylus beak-like; a pair of parameres with basal half fused medially dorsal and ventral to aedeagus, with spatulate medial prolongations dorsally; ejaculatory apodeme laterally compressed, clavate in lateral view, extending anteriorly only slightly beyond hypandrium; aedeagus with distal part funnel-shaped, apex tubular, with bifurcate process ventrally; testes large, about 1.25 times the length of one abdominal segment; vasa deferentia striated, elongate, about as long as 2.5 abdominal segments, meeting at anterolateral margin of ejaculatory duct; ejaculatory duct cylindrical, striated, encased by sclerotized collar apically; epandrium quadrangular in ventral view, about twice as long as wide, with posterior margin concave, producing triangular projections posterolaterally; cercus broadly round in lateral view, connected ventromedially by narrow sclerotized band; hypoproct typical of Psychodidae, triangular, tongue-shaped.
Female (Figs. 5, 7, 14–15): Head nearly as in male, with antennal flagellomeres shorter and relatively narrow; flagellomeres with fewer digitiform sensilla than in male; ascoids as in male. Mouthparts and palpi as in male. Wing venation usually as in male, but with radial fork in some specimens placed slightly more basal; wing length slightly greater than in male. Terminalia: sternum 8 bilobed posteriorly, lobes triangular, setose internally; primary gonopore ovate, with many setae internally; cercus about twice as long as wide; sternum 10 triangular, microsetose, about half as long as cerci; spermatheca elliptical, large, about as long as two abdominal segments, without setae internally; spermathecal duct smooth, about as long as two abdominal segments; genital fork inconspicuous, digitiform.
TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype [male]: Australia. QUEENSLAND: Lamington National Park, O’Reilly’s Green Mountains, dense tropical rainforest, 28°13’25”S 153°07’E, 920m, January 1996, coll. M. Irwin and S. Gaimari, Malaise trap; deposited ANIC. Specimen dissected, mounted on micro-slide. Allotype [female]: same data as holotype; deposited ANIC. Specimen dissected, mounted on micro-slide. Paratypes [6 males, 6 females]: same data as holotype; deposited USNM, LACM, NZAC.
ETYMOLOGY. The species epithet glyphanos is a Greek word meaning “chisel”, in reference to the chiselshaped dorsomedial prolongations of the parameres in the male.
BIONOMICS. Unknown.
DISTRIBUTION. Collected from one location in northern Australia.
COMMENTS. Adults of Nemopalpus glyphanos are most similar to N. australiensis. But the two species are easily differentiated because males of N. australiensis have conspicuous lobes and spiniform setae on the gonostylus and females have rounded, not triangular lobes on sternum 8. Both Australian species of Nemopalpus have a medial fork placed distal to r-m, while N. zelandiae Alexander, 1921 as illustrated by Alexander (1928) has a medial fork adjacent to r-m, with the origin of M2 at the level of r-m.
In his description of the male of N. australiensis, Duckhouse (1965) tenuously associated it with the female described by Alexander (1928) by comparison of the wing venation. Venation is nearly identical in male and female wings of N. glyphanos, and differs very little from that of the holotype female of N. australiensis (Curler, personal observation). It is important to note that the male wing illustrated by Duckhouse (1965) is as similar to the wing of both sexes of N. glyphanos as it is to the holotype female wing of N. australiensis. Therefore, it is possible that Duckhouse’s association is incorrect, and more than one species is represented by the material currently identified as N. australiensis. Moreover, the male described by Duckhouse (1965) was collected near Sydney (Hornsby) while the holotype female of N. australiensis was collected significantly farther north in Brooklana (Eastern Dorrigo). This distribution also suggests that the holotype female of N. australiensis and the male described by Duckhouse (1965) are not conspecific. Although some species of Nemopalpus have a relatively wide distribution (e.g. N. pilipes Tonnoir), most have been collected from only one locality, often in close proximity to other species (e.g. Santos et al. 2009). It is likely that, with increased sampling effort, more species of Nemopalpus will be discovered in the Australasian region.
description: Published as part of Curler, Gregory R. & Jacobson, Amanda J., 2012, New species of Psychodidae (Diptera) from Australasia, with a checklist of the world species of Bruchomyiinae and Sycoracinae, pp. 43-65 in Zootaxa 3552 on pages 44-49, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.282855