Anastoechus candidus Yao, Yang & Evenhuis, 2010, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yao, Gang
name: Yang, Ding
name: Evenhuis, Neal L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Bombyliidae
Anastoechus
Anastoechus candidus

description: Anastoechus candidus sp. nov.
(Figs. 3, 13, 33–38)
Diagnosis. Scutellum black with pale dust, with sparse white hairs; wing uniformly faint brown. Dorsum of abdomen with long dense white erect hairs and sparse dark brown bristles postero-laterally, sternites black except posterior edge white. Epandrium trapezoidal in lateral view; epiphallus subtriangular, acute at tip in dorsal view.
Description. Male. Body length 8 mm, wing length 9 mm.
Head (Fig. 3) black with brown dust. Hairs on head black and white; frons narrowing directed distally, with long black and short white erect hairs, face with long dense white erect hairs and long sparse black erect hairs; occiput with long dense white and long sparse black erect hairs. Antenna black with first flagellomere brown, yellow at base and tip of flagellomere; scape elongate with long dense white and black hairs; first flagellomere elongate, slightly curved near base, bare, with a stylus at tip. Proboscis black, bare, nearly three times longer than head.
Thorax black with brown dust. Hairs on thorax mostly white; postpronotal lobe with long dense white hairs, mesonotum with long white hairs; thorax with sparse white hairs on back, anepisternum and katepisternum with long dense white hairs. Scutellum black with pale dust, with sparse white hairs. Legs yellowish except femora black. Hairs on legs mostly yellowish, bristles yellowish. Femora with dense white scales; tibiae and tarsi with short sparse yellow hairs. Mid tibia with 10 ad, 9 pd, seven av, seven pv; hind tibia with eight ad, 10 pd, seven av and seven pv. Wing (Fig. 13) uniformly faint brown. Vein r-m close to tip of cell dm, cell r5 closed. Base of vein C with brush-like long black bristles and white hairs. Halteres brown.
Abdomen black with pale dust. Hairs on abdomen mostly white; dorsum with long dense white erect hairs and sparse dark brown bristles postero-laterally. Sternites black except posterior edge white with long dense white hairs and white dust.
Male genitalia (Figs. 33–38). Epandrium trapezoidal, distinctly higher than long, and with distinct lateral extension at base, cercus well exposed in lateral view; epandrium slightly wider than long, slightly narrowing toward tip in dorsal view; gonocoxite with black hairs apically, distinctly narrowing apically in ventral view; gonostylus elongate, its tip acute in lateral view; epiphallus subtriangular, obtuse at tip in dorsal view, epiphallus with a short tip in lateral view.
Female. Body length 9–10 mm, wing length 8–9 mm. Similar to male, but wing mostly hyaline; tergites on abdomen with yellowish bristles posteriorly except tergites 5–7 with brown bristles posteriorly.
Type material. Holotype male, CHINA: Qinghai, Wulan, Serh (N 36° 56’ 29’’ E 98° 21’ 15’’), 4. VIII. 1950, Baolin Lu & Jikun Yang (CAU); Paratypes 1 female, CHINA: Qinghai, Wulan, Serh (N 36° 56’ 29’’ E 98° 21’ 15’’), 4. VIII. 1950, Baolin Lu & Jikun Yang (CAU); 1 female, CHINA: Qinghai, Wulan, Dongba (N 36° 20’ 48’’ E 100° 41’ 32’’), 2. VIII. 1950, Baolin Lu & Jikun Yang (CAU); 1 female, CHINA: Qinghai, Doulan (N 36° 17’ 52’’ E 98° 05’ 13’’), 1. VIII. 1950, Baolin Lu & Jikun Yang (CAU); 1 female, CHINA: Qinghai, Doulan, Xarag (N 36° 25’ 25’’ E 98° 09’ 01’’), 11. VIII. 1950, Jikun Yang (CAU); 1 female, CHINA: Qinghai, Doulan, Qagan Us (N 36° 17’ 33’’ E 98° 05’ 24’’), 9. VIII. 1950, Baolin Lu (CAU); 1 female, CHINA: Qinghai, Xinghai, Daheba (N 35° 52’ 41’’ E 99° 41’ 43’’), 20. VIII. 1950, Baolin Lu & Jikun Yang (CAU).
Distribution. China (Qinghai).
Etymology. The species epithet derives from the Latin “ candidus ” [= white]; referring to the white color on the posterior part of the abdominal sternites.
Remarks. The new species is similar to A. asiaticus Becker, but it can be separated from the latter by the occiput covered with the long dense white and long sparse black erect hairs, the thorax mostly with white hairs, and the tip of the epiphallus obtuse in dorsal view. In A. asiaticus, the occiput is covered with the long sparse black and white erect hairs, the hairs on the thorax are mostly yellowish, and the tip of the epiphallus is acute in dorsal view (Becker 1916).
description: Published as part of Yao, Gang, Yang, Ding & Evenhuis, Neal L., 2010, The genus Anastoechus Osten Sacken, 1877 (Diptera: Bombyliidae) from China, with descriptions of four new species, pp. 1-24 in Zootaxa 2453 on pages 5-6, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.195260