Lonchaea
Creators: name: Macgowan, Iain
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Lonchaeidae
Lonchaea

description: GENUS: LONCHAEA FALLÉN, 1820: 25.
Lonchaea asymmetrica sp. nov.
Description.Male: Head: Eyes bare. Frons rather wide, narrowing only slightly from the level of the ocellar triangle to the level of the antennal bases where it is approximately 60% the width of an eye, subshining with short hairs on mid and upper parts with some longer hairs present on the anterior margin above the lunule, all these hairs less than half the length of the orbital bristle. Orbital plate brightly shining and bare. When viewed from above, lunule, face and parafacials with a silvery sheen.
Antenna all black. First flagellomere large and long, three times as long as it is deep reaching over the mouth edge. Arista yellow basally with very short pubescence, hairs on each side about as long as the width of the arista.
Thorax: Thoracic dorsum subshining blue black with very short hairs these not more than one third the length of the orbital bristle. One propleural and one stigmatical bristle each about as strong as the other. Anepisternum with three strong anterior bristles, the lower one being rather weak, and two strong posterior bristles. Katepisternum with one strong bristle, no hairs posterior to or below this bristle. Scutellum with disc bare, rather brassy black, on the margin between the strong lateral and apical bristles with one short hair, no hairs between apical bristles. Squamae and fringes whitish, wings clear with light yellow veins. Wing length 3.0 mm. Legs black but with basal and second tarsomere of all legs clear yellow with a ventral fringe of yellow setulae, remaining tarsomeres darkened. Abdomen rather spherical.
Male genitalia; Fig. 1; 4,5. Cerci fused, with a sclerotized swelling near the base similar to that found in L. viriosa McAlpine, 1960, this is best seen in lateral view and gives the cerci an extended, sinuous appearance. Epandrium in lateral view slightly higher than it is wide, rather rectangular. In lateral view surstyli only extending slightly beyond shell of epandrium along its ventral edge, no posteroventral process. Surstyli differing in shape, right one broader than the left and with a deep circular excavation posteriorly taking up more than a third of the depth of the surstylus, the left one with a smaller excavation taking up about a quarter of the total depth. Aedeagus long and sinuate with a bulbous apex.
Female: Unknown.
Differential diagnosis: This species belongs to the Lonchaea impressifrons ­group of species recognised by McAlpine (1960). The long sinuous aedeagus with a bulbous tip shows it to be close to species such as L. impressifrons Bezzi, 1920 and L. viriosa. It differs from both these species however in that the surstyli do not extend posterioventraly beyond the shell of the epandrium and in the shape of the surstyli. McAlpine noted that in species of this group the pregonites are unequally developed, in L. asymmetrica this unequal development has extended to the surstyli.
TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype male. TANZANIA: East Usambara, Amani, 1000m, 21.i.1977. H.Enghoff, O. Lomholdt, O. Martin leg. Only known from the holotype. Specimen in the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen.
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the asymetrical shape of the surstyli of the male genitalia.
Lonchaea conicoura McAlpine, 1960
Distribution: Recorded by McAlpine (1960), who figured the male and female genitalia, from Zimbabwe and Natal, South Africa. New to Tanzania.
Material examined: TANZANIA: Uluguru Mts. Lupanga, West, 1600m. 01.vii.1981, M. Stoltze & N. Scharff leg. 1 male. Specimen in the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen.
Lonchaea grandiseta sp. nov.
Description. Male: Head: Eyes bare, face and parafacials with a silvery white tomentum. Frons wide, above antennal bases about 25% of the head width, with a slight depression centrally. Hairs on upper part of frons very short, not more than one quarter the length of the orbital bristle. Antennae with first flagellomere very long and narrow, approximately 3. 5 x as long as wide, reaching well below mouth edge, all black apart from basal half being orange ventrally and basally on its inner surface. Arista yellow orange at base, microscopically pubescent.
Thorax: One propleural and one stigmatical bristle. Katepisternum with one strong bristle with no hairs posterior to it. Anepisternum with three strong anterior bristles and four strong posterior bristles. Disc of scutellum bare. Scutellar margin with two hairs on the right side and one on the left side between the lateral and apical bristles. One hair between apical bristles (this only occurs in the holotype).
Legs: Tarsomeres all yellow with slight darkening on apical segments. Squamae and fringes whitish, wings clear with veins light yellow. Pterostigmal section 1.5 times the length of the cross vein.
Male genitalia. Fig. 1; 6,7,8. Cerci large and broad, forming a hood­like structure. Epandrium wider than high with three exceptionally strong bristles at posteroventral corner which are almost as long as epandrium is high, a small group of hairs anteriorly below these. Surstyli extending posteriorly from the shell of the epandrium as a rounded process produced into elongate spinules of various shape. Aedeagus U­shaped, without projections, basal portion relatively broad, apical part short and tubular.
Female similar to the male. Frons width approximately 30% of head width. Ovipositor rather simple, apical segment ventrally with two strong hairs subapically, these just over half the length of the segment.
Differential diagnosis: This species belongs to the Lonchaea impressifrons group of species identified by McAlpine (1964). This group is composed of a number of very similar small species which have a combination of yellow tarsomeres, clear wings and pale squamae, antennae with first flagellomere quite long, reaching to or beyond mouth margin and the frons marked by a more or less distinct, oval depression just below anterior ocellus. The scutellum has one or more lateral setulae on each side in addition to four scutellar bristles; without apical or discal setulae.
L. grandiseta is perhaps most similar to L. teratosa McAlpine, 1964 and L. polyhamata McAlpine, 1964 which both have spinules on the surstyli, both these species however lack the distinctive large bristles on the epandrium and both have a more complex aedeagus.
TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype male, NAMIBIA: Khorixas District, Leekop 664, 19 53’ 15” S 14 21’ 44 E, 26–30.x.2001, A.H. Kirk­Spriggs & E. Marais, Malaise trap sample riverbed. Specimen in National Museum of Namibia.
Paratypes. NAMIBIA: Windhoek, SE 2217 Ca, 28.xi–5.xii.1973, 1 male, Malaise trap. 1 female, same locality, 5.xi–12.xi.1973. Specimens in National Museum of Namibia.
BOTSWANA: 1 male, Serowe, Gabarone Village, Museum garden, Malaise trap 18.9.1993, leg B.Viklund. Specimen in Natural History Museum, Stockholm.
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the large setae present on the epndrium of the male genitalia.
Lonchaea haplosetifera McAlpine, 1960
McAlpine (1960) described this species from a series of females. They were characterised in his key by having a combination of a single katepisternal bristle, basal tarsomeres yellow and dark squamal fringes. In addition the lateral margin of scutellum has eight or ten fine setulae in multiserial rows between the usual scutellar bristles. The male described here also exhibits this combination of characters and is ascribed to this species.
Description. Male: Head: Eyes with very short and sparse hairs. Frons with very short hairs, no hairs present on the orbital plate above the orbital bristle. Lunule orange Frons and face with slight silver pollinosity. Antennae with first flagellomere long, extending down past the mouth margin, black dorsally and apically with orange colouration ventrally, becoming almost entirely orange basally. Pedicel also orange. Arista microscopically pubescent..
Thorax: Katepisternum with one single strong bristle with a single hair posterior to it. Scutellum on margin with multiserial rows of about 10 hairs on each side between apical and lateral bristles, no hairs between apical bristles. Squamae with fringe dark and rather densely haired. Legs black, tarsomeres almost entirely yellow, only slightly darkened on apical segments.
Male genitalia: Fig.2; 1,2. Epandrium slightly wider than high with a marked anteroventral process. Cerci as high as the epandrium is deep with a long basal stalk and with club shaped apex,, with short hairs on the apical club. Surstyli extending posteriorly from the epandrium as a broad column with a concave apex, bearing hairs on the dorsal margin at the apex. Aedeagus relatively simple and U­shaped but with more ornate processes basally.
Distribution: Recorded by McAlpine (1960) from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. New to South Africa.
Material examined: SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Province; Bloukrans Pas, at Varkrivier (S 33 57’ E 23 38’), Malaise trap, coastal rain forest in ravine. 14­19.x.1994. leg. M. Soderlund. 1male. Specimen in the collections of the Natural History Museum, Stockholm.
Lonchaea polyhamata McAlpine, 1964
Distribution: Recorded by McAlpine (1964) from Natal, South Africa. New to Tanzania.
Material examined: TANZANIA: West Usambara Mts., Mazumbai, 1600m, 01.viii.1980, leg. M.Stoltze & N. Scharff. 1 male. Specimen in the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen.
description: Published as part of Macgowan, Iain, 2005, New species of Lonchaeidae (Diptera: Schizophora) from central and southern Africa, pp. 1-23 in Zootaxa 967 on pages 4-7, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.171270