Drosophila opuhe Magnacca, new species
Creators: name: Magnacca, Karl N.
name: Price, Donald K.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Drosophilidae
Drosophila
Drosophila opuhe

description: Drosophila opuhe Magnacca, new species
Fig. 6
Diagnosis. This species is nearly identical to D. pisonia of Hawai‘i, differing only in the brown coloration of the anepisternum in both sexes (yellow in D. pisonia) and the unusual elongate dark cerci of the male. The latter is somewhat developed in D. montgomeryi, but to a lesser degree (compare Fig. 6 C–E); D. montgomeryi also has only a dorsal stripe on the anepisternum and two faint stripes on the mesonotum, and the posterodorsal cilia of the male front tibia only cover the basal 2/3. In D. opuhe the mesonotum lacks stripes and the posterodorsal cilia extend nearly to the apex of the tibia.
Description. Male. Head. Upper front, ocellar triangle, and orbits brown; lower front paler, yellowish. Frontoorbital setae normal, anterior reclinate about 2/3 as long as the proclinate and 1/3 as long as the posterior reclinate. Face white, gena yellow except for a small brown spot below the eye. Second antennal segment brown, third segment rufous; arista with about 9 dorsal and 4 ventral rays in addition to the apical fork, and numerous long median branches. One strong oral vibrissae; following oral setulae progressively smaller. Palp yellow, broad and flattened, broadest near middle, rounded apically, with a prominent black apical seta, about half as long as the palp. Labellum and mentum yellow. Thorax. Mesonotum and scutellum entirely yellow to rufous, without dark markings. Pleura broadly brown across the upper half, anepisternum almost entirely brown. Katepisternum and lower third of anepimeron yellow. Two pairs of strong dorsocentral setae, the anterior about 3/4 as long as the posterior. Legs. Entirely yellow except all coxae tinged with brown. Front tibia with 2 very long curved basal cilia, and rows of about 7–9 anterodorsal and 8–10 posterodorsal cilia along its entire length, about equal in length (the two apical posterodorsals short, similar to the dorsal cilia); dorsal surface with a row of about 10 shorter cilia. Front basitarsus about 3/5 as long as tibia, with about 4–5 long anterodorsal and 6 shorter posterodorsal cilia. Distitarsus without elongate cilia. Wings. Marks present at base, over ends of major veins, dm-cu crossvein, and medially on R2+3; the last elongate, twice as long as high. Basal mark moderately large, reaching r-m crossvein. Costal fringe extending about 2/3 the distance between apex of R2+3 and R4+5. Abdomen. Each segment with yellow spots anterolaterally, remainder dark brown. Cerci dark brown, about 1.5 times as long as high.
Female. Identical to the male with the following exceptions. Head. Palp lacking a distinct apical seta. Legs. Front legs without elongate cilia or setae. Abdomen. Ovipositor long, nearly straight, brown, pointed vertically at rest.
Types. Kaua‘i: Holotype 3 and allotype Ƥ, ‘Awa‘awapuhi nr. road, 3600 ft., 2004, Urera stem reared, Z89, 22.144°N 159.648°W, S.L. Montgomery (UHIM).
Distribution and ecology. Kaua‘i. Reared from rotting bark of Urera glabra (‘ ōpuhe, Urticaceae).
Etymology. From the Hawaiian name of its host plant.
Discussion. The elevation given on the label is incorrect; it was actually obtained from near ‘Awa‘awapuhi stream at almost 4000 ft. (P. O’Grady, pers. comm.; this is consistent with “nr. road,” as 3600 ft. is about a mile downslope). Urera is uncommon in the Kōke‘e area, and it is remarkable that this species persists there. Some lowland gulches of the Wailua River drainage have significant stands of Urera, but have not been extensively surveyed for Drosophila.
description: Published as part of Magnacca, Karl N. & Price, Donald K., 2012, New species of Hawaiian picture wing Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae), with a key to species, pp. 1-30 in Zootaxa 3188 on pages 21-22, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.215224