Melanagromyza Hendel, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Sasakawa, Mitsuhiro
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Agromyzidae
Melanagromyza

description: Genus Melanagromyza Hendel
Although this is the largest genus with some 55 known species in the Oriental region, only 13 species: Melangromyza albisquama (Malloch), M. cleomae Spencer (= austriraphani Sasakawa, 1981), M. dolichostigma Meijere, M. erawanensis Spencer, M. gressitti Sasakawa, M. inthanonensis Spencer, M. metallica (Thomson), M. obtusa (Malloch), M. pasiae Spencer, M. pasiensis Spencer, M. provecta (Meijere), M. sojae (Zehntner), and M. yodai Sasakawa, have previously been recorded from Thailand (Sasakawa 1962, 1963a, 1977, 19181; Spencer 1961a, 1973, 1986).
In this paper, 12 species, excluding five known Oriental species, are recorded from Thailand for the first time, of which 10 are new to science. Most of the flies described and discussed below belong to a group of shining coppery-greenish, black species that occur throughout the Old World tropics. Only six species, M. ancyla sp. nov., M. gressitti Sasakawa, M. lunulata sp. nov., M. pandiculata sp. nov., M. provecta (Meijere), and M. yodai Sasakawa, lack the coppery-greenish sheen on the mesoscutum and abdomen. The color of the fringe on the calypter, which is either white to yellowish-white or brown to black, is an essential differentiating character among the species. The pale fringe is seen in most of the Thailand species, and only seven species have a dark fringe: M. ancyla sp. nov., M. catalexis sp. nov., M. gressitti, M. lunulata sp. nov., M. malayensis Sasakawa, M. pandiculata sp. nov., and M. provecta. The males of some species with a pale fringe can be further characterized by eyes that are whitish-pilose on the anterodorsal area.
This is the dominant genus in Thailand as well as in other Oriental countries. It is also notable that 16 species of 25 known species are treated here as endemic, although some of them will likely be found in other Oriental- Oceanian countries in due course.
Special attention should be drawn to both thoracic coloration and male genitalic features in the following species. Firstly, three of the new species, M. catalexis (Fig. 10), lunulata (Fig. 16) and pandiculata (Fig. 30), have a distinct phallus with a membranous swelling on ventral side. It indicates a close relationship with the following species: Palaearctic, Oriental, Afrotropical M. pubescens Hendel (1923; Sasakawa 1996: fig. 2), Australian M. anceps Spencer (1977b: figs 5, 6), M. avicenniae Spencer (1977b: figs 10, 11) and M. variegata Spencer (1977b: figs 68, 69), Neotropical M. flexuosa Sasakawa (1992: fig. 7), and Afrotropical M. pubescentis Spencer (1959; 1964: fig. 26) and M. luthulii Spencer (1964: fig. 23), and Afrotropical-Oriental M. provecta (Meijere, 1910; Spencer 1985: fig. 20). These species are easily recognized externally by the matt or shining black mesoscutum without a metallic-coppery or metallic-greenish luster, and the black fringe on the calypter. Secondarily, the basal apodeme of the hypandrium is flattened vertically (Sasakawa 1996: fig. 2; Spencer 1964: fig. 23). Thirdly, the basiphallus is divided distinctly into two forms: short tubiform in catalexis and luthulii, and U-shaped with sidearm variable in length and shape in other many species. These phallic characters are probably apomorphic.
description: Published as part of Sasakawa, Mitsuhiro, 2013, Thailand Agromyzidae (Diptera) — 2, pp. 501-528 in Zootaxa 3746 (4) on page 504, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3746.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/216905