Dorycera punctulata Ackerman, El Harym & Freidberg 2023, new species
Creators: name: Harym, Younes El
name: Korneyev, Valery
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Ulidiidae
Dorycera
Dorycera punctulata

description: Dorycera punctulata Ackerman, El Harym & Freidberg, new species
Figs 7, 8, 9c, d, f, g.
Dorycera griseipennis: Hennig 1939: 18 (specimen from Morocco; misidentification); Ackerman 2012: 79 (manuscript name).
Material. Type. Holotype ♂: selected by Ackerman from Gatt’s collection: MOROCCO: Middle Atlas, Ifrane, 4521 Daït Aoua lakeside veg., 13.v.1961, P.N. Lawrence (BMNH).
Paratypes: Morocco: 1♂: Ito, 4000ft, 18.iv.1935, D. Aubertin (BMNH); 2♂: Haut atlas, jb. Ayachi, cedar forest south of M.F. up to 2700m Mikdane: maison Forestiere, 10.vii.1963, A.C. Pont (BMNH); 1♂: Haut atlas, jb. Ayachi, Mikdane: Stream I, S. of road, 12.vii.1963, A.C. Pont (BMNH); 1♂: Moyen Atlas, mission f. le cerf Tizi s’Tkrine (dj. Ahmar) 1700m, 3-10 & 21.vi.[19]28 (MNHNP); 1♀; Rif, Tetouan, Oued-Laou, El-Fasha Tetraclinis maquis, N35º17’57» W05º13’04», 30.iv.2004, P. Gatt (P. Gatt PC), 2♂, 1♀: river, N35º25’04» W05º06’33», 29.iv.2004, P. Gatt (P. Gatt PC), 2♂: El-Fasha Arbutus, Quercus forest, N35º17’46» W05º13’35», 30.iv.2004, P. Gatt (P. Gatt PC); 1♂: Fés Ain Chkeff, 28.iii.1990, Miksch (SMNH); 1♀: Rif: Bab Rouida, 17.vi.2014, 1♀: Aïn El Aakba Larbaâ, 18.iv.2015, 8♂♂, 3♀♀: idem, 31.iii.2023, 3♀♀: idem, 28.iv.2023; 2♂: Bab Tariouen, 28.iv.2015; 1♂, 1♀: Azghrine Tala, 14.v.2017; 1♂: Marabout Sidi Ahmed, 10.iv.2023; Middle Atlas: Sources Oum Er-Rbiâ, 26.v.2019, 1♂, sweeping (El Harym) (LESCB).
Examined material not included in the type series. Morocco: Khenifra, 27km SW Ouiouane, Arhbal, 1500 m, N 33º00’, W 5º30’, 18.iv.1997, 1♂ (C. Kassebeer), Meknes Ifran Park, 1650 m, 22–23.v.1995, 1♂, 1♀ (C.Kassebeer) (MHNG).
Diagnosis: Dorycera punctulata new species is similar to D. griseipennis Becker also occurring in the western North Africa in having wing with diffuse grey or greyish-yellow disk with pale grey anteroapical spot, similar arrangement of abdominal pattern (in males, tergites 3–5 widely grey microtrichose with darker medial triangles and, in female, the tergites 3–5 with grey microtrichose medial vitta and two rows of grey marginal triangular areas separated from it by shining trapezoid areas as well as shape of surstyli and the arrangement of prensisetae on them), differing by having blackish dots on the head, body and a longer pedicel (pedicel ratio 1.90–2.60 vs. 0.96–1.75 in D. griseipennis).
Description. Head (Figs 7 b, c): Orange-yellow, sometimes with reddish spots on genal dilation, parafacial with elongated black spot, carinal bulge yellow, antennal grove with elongated dark spot ventrally, rounded and wide dorsally, gena with dark spots, small dots or narrow stripe ventral of eye, postgena uniformly subshining yellow, except white microtrichose orbits, genal dilation sometimes with reddish spots. First flagellomere rounded. Ratios: head: 0.96–1.13; frons: 0.87–1.08; eye: 1.13–1.32; 1.01–1.16; antenna: 0.52–0.61; flagellomere: 2.11–2.23; pedicel: 1.90–2.60; flagellomere to pedicel: 0.71–0.94. Fronto-facial angle 60–70˚.
Thorax (Figs 7a–c) widely grey microtrichose, mesonotum with 2 pairs of submedial and sublateral (the latter broken on transverse suture) dark, sparsely grey microtrichose vittae usually not reaching the level of dorsocentral setae. Bases of setulae on mesonotal scutum, anepisternum and katepisternum with distinctive, large, but nonconfluent black spots of with sparse microtrichia or entirely bare. Mesonotum ratio: 1.12–1.30; scutellar triangle ratio: 1.00–1.46.
Legs: Femora and tibiae uniformly yellow, fore femur with row of elongated setae posteroventrally, extending along anterior 0.75 or less of femur, midfemur with short setae ventrally; hind femur of male without long setae ventrally.
Wing (Figs 7e, f): Hyaline, slightly infuscated anteriorly and from the costal cell to the cell r and cell br. Cell r 1 darker at 0.2 distal and at nearby margin of the veins R 2+3 and R 4+5. Cells r 2+3 and r 4+5 dark at 0.3 distal, 0.5 successively, the apical area of r 1, r 2+3, and r 4+5 combined is dark, forming a distinct anterodistal spot. The R 1 row of setulae extends from middle of vein to the extremity of the vein. R 4+5 and M veins are parallel or converge towards apex. Ratios: crossvein 4.26–5.65; vein M: 1.26–1.71.
4+5
Abdomen (Figs 7d, g): Male: microtrichose, anteromedian microtrichose triangle denser, posteromedian triangle sparser on each tergites 3-5. Female: Abdomen with long median microtrichose triangle and, with lateral triangle on each tergite, microtrichose areas covered with non-microtrichose spots. Terminalia (Figs 8c, d, f). Male: The surstylus is simple laterally (not bilobed), short (about 3.5 times as long as wide or less) and with wide base, the ventral spineless prong elongate and narrowed sharply. The basal part of the surstylus with a prong as long as the height of the prensisetae (Figs 8c, d). Spines of the phallus extending up to 1/3 long of the phallus and equal on both margins. Ratios: Phallus: 29, spine: 4, Spine to phallus: 0.6.
Female: Three spermathecae (Fig. 8g), cylindrical, untwisted, narrowing on distal half; ca. 3× as long as wide; density of wrinkles 23.6.
Measurements (mean, min–max, mm): Body length (BL) ♂ = 6.47 (4.28–8.67), wing length (WL) ♂ = 5.60 (4.25–6.95); body length (BL) ♀ = 7.38(4.96–9.80); wing length (WL) ♀ =5.27 (4.05–6.50); oviscape length, dorsally (OLD)=1.11 (0.89–1.33), oviscape length, ventrally(OLV)= 1.2(0.92–1.48), aculeus length (AL)= 1.73 (1.72–1.75).
Distribution. Morocco.
Remarks. Notes. This species was originally described in an unpublished Master of Sciences manuscript by Hanan Ackerman, supervised and edited by Amnon Freidberg at Tel Aviv University in 2012. However, this manuscript was not a publication in the sense of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999). This description and illustrations by H. Ackermann are used here as the basis for the description of this new species and are supplemented by measurements and other morphological data, with addition of the photographs of the specimens deposited in the SMNH collection that were taken by V. Korneyev during his visit to Tel Aviv in May, 2023. This authorship of the name has been approved by H. Ackerman (pers. comm.).
The differences between D. griseipennis and D. punctulata are mainly limited to the presence of dark spots on the genae and thoraces, which are rather small and, in the case of two isolated populations, might better fit the subspecies rank of these taxa. Provisionally, we consider them to be vicariate species, unless their status is revised subsequently on the basis of genetic distances after molecular studies.
Etymology. The name punctulata (Latin “pointed”, “maculate”) refers to the black punctures or spots on the otherwise grey microtrichose body and is a feminine adjective.
description: Published as part of Harym, Younes El & Korneyev, Valery, 2023, New additions to the fauna of the superfamily Tephritoidea (Diptera) of Morocco, pp. 487-514 in Zootaxa 5360 (4) on pages 504-507, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5360.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/10084909