Tomosvaryella falcata Foldvari, Skevington & Motamedinia 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Motamedinia, Behnam
name: Földvari, Mihaly
name: Skevington, Jeffrey H.
name: Kelso, Scott
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Pipunculidae
Tomosvaryella
Tomosvaryella falcata

description: Tomosvaryella falcata Földvari, Skevington & Motamedinia sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 4075EC42-2845-46CB-A6BC-229B05EACF83
Figs 41A–E, 120
Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by hind femur with 6–10 long bristles posterventrally; hind tibia covered with dense short light brown bristles ventroapically; surstyli symmetrical, straight in basal third, then falcate in dorsal view (Fig. 41A); gonopods with two small triangle-shaped projections in ventral view (Fig. 41B); one of ejaculatory ducts with two teeth at base (Fig. 41D); phallic guide long with one long spine before apex (Fig. 41D).
Description: MALE: Body length: 2.5 mm. Head (detached, stuck on the point). Scape and pedicel black, flagellum brown. Face silvery-brown pollinose; eyes touching for distance equal to 1.2–1.4 times the length of ocellar triangle. Occiput dark, silvery pollinose with scattered short dark bristles. Thorax. Postpronotum pale, with 3–4 long pale bristles. Mesonotum (viewed obliquely from front) brownish pollinose. Scutellum brownish pollinose and with 7–8 dark bristles along the distal edge. Scutum with two uniseriate rows of conspicuous intra-alar bristles and two uniseriate rows of dorsocentral bristles, some long bristles on upper side of supra-alar area; postalar callus with three short dark bristles. Halter, knob yellow, stem brownish. Legs. Mid coxa with 3–5 long, brown bristles. Trochanters and femora dark brown, silvery pollinose posteriorly except shiny hind femur; knees and basal 1/4 of tibiae yellow (tibia otherwise black), tarsal segments dark brown, ventrally somewhat paler. Hind trochanter light brown, broadened distally, without a keel, only a few short bristles ventrally. Ventroapical row of 4–8 very weak spines on fore femur present; 5–6 dark spines on distal third on hind femur; hind femur flattened apically, with 6–10 long, brown bristles posterventrally. Subapical (distal) spines on mid tibiae present, hind tibia covered with dense short light brown bristles ventroapically. Hind tarsi flattened, metatarsus almost as long as 2–5 combined; stronger, peg-like brown spines on metatarsus ventrally. Pulvilli as long as last tarsal segment. Wing. Length: 2.5mm. Upper side of basal costal cell with 1–2 short dark bristle. Fourth costal section 3–3.5 times as long as third costal section (section 3 appears short). Cross-vein r-m distinctly distal to middle of discal cell. Two dark bristles on tegula. Abdomen. Tergites black, tergite 1 silvery grey, 6–10 lateral bristles on first tergite. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium and surstyli brown. Epandrium longer than wide (MLE:MWE = 1.6). Surstyli symmetrical, straight in basal third, then falcate, left surstylus a little longer and wider than right one; (Fig. 41A). Genital capsule in ventral view: gonopods with two small triangular projections extended towards surstyli, hypandrium broad and sclerotized, subepandrial sclerite long (Fig. 41B); phallus with three ejaculatory ducts, one of ejaculatory ducts with two teeth at base. Genital capsule in lateral view: left surstylus broadened toward middle, bent in the middle; right surstylus straight in basal two third, then bent towards sternite; phallic guide long with one long spine before apex, (Fig. 41D–E). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle (Fig. 41C).
FEMALE: unknown.
Etymology: Falcatus is Latin for sickle-shaped or hooked and refers to the shape of the male surstyli.
Examined material: HOLOTYPE: Australia: Queensland: near Brisbane, 27°30’S, 153°1’E, X–XI.2000, JSS13720 (1♂, QM).
Distribution: Australia (Queensland) (Fig. 120).
Notes: The surstyli are shaped like those of Tomosvaryella leipoa sp. nov. (Fig. 56A–D). Tomosvaryella falcata sp. nov. differs by having only one spine on the phallic guide, two spines on one of ejaculatory ducts, two triangle-shaped projections on the gonopods in ventral view (Fig. 41D–E), and lack of the large triangular protuberance on the hind trochanter. This species is genetically closest to T. luma sp. nov. (3.5–4.7% pairwise divergence) (Supplementary file 3).
description: Published as part of Motamedinia, Behnam, Földvari, Mihaly, Skevington, Jeffrey H. & Kelso, Scott, 2023, Revision of Australian Tomosvaryella Aczél (Diptera: Pipunculidae) with description of 100 new species, pp. 1-271 in Zootaxa 5599 (1) on pages 95-97, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5599.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14970961