Scatopsiara (Xenopygina) exigua Vilkamaa, Hippa & Mohrig, 2012, sp. n.
Creators: name: Vilkamaa, Pekka
name: Hippa, Heikki
name: Mohrig, Werner
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Mycetophilidae
Scatopsiara
Scatopsiara exigua

description: Scatopsiara (Xenopygina) exigua sp. n.
Figs 1 A–C
Material studied. Holotype male. NEW CALEDONIA, Rivière Bleue N.P., (parc 6), rainforest, 16.vii.1992, Bonnet de Larbogne, Chazeau & Guilbert (in MNHN).
Description. Male. Head. Brown, antenna unicolorous, slightly paler brown, maxillary palpus very pale brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Face with 12 scattered longer and shorter setae. Clypeus with 3 setae. Maxillary palpus with 3 palpomeres; palpomere 1 and 3 of equal length, palpomere 2 shortest; palpomere 1 with 1 seta, with a small dorsal patch of sensilla in a depression; surface of antennal flagellomeres rather smooth, body of flagellomere 4 (Fig. 1 A) 1.7x as long as wide, the neck shorter than broad, the longest setae shorter than the width of flagellomere. Thorax. Brown, setae pale. Anterior pronotum with 2 setae. Episternum 1 with 5 setae. Scutum with pale and short dorsocentrals, with some longer and shorter laterals. Wing. Hyalinous. Length 1.0 mm. Width/ length 0.45. Veins indistinct. R1/R 0.35. M1 not well discernible, c/w not measurable in the specimen. r-m/bM 0.35. M, CuA, bM and r-m non-setose. Legs. Yellow. Coxal setae pale. Front tibial organ with pale vestiture forming a short row. Front tibial spur slightly longer than the tibial width. Middle and hind tibiae with a normal and a short spur. Claws without teeth. Abdomen. Setae dark. Hypopygium, Figs 1 B, C. Brown, concolorous with abdomen. Gonocoxa longer than gonostylus, mesial margin with sparse setosity, basoventrally with some longer setae. Gonostylus narrow, curved, slightly narrowed towards apex, with the mesial side weakly impressed; with sparse apical vestiture, without an apical tooth, with 2 subapical-apical megasetae, 1 megaseta in more lateral position. Tegmen subquadrangular, apically straight, weakly sclerotized, aedeagal teeth not discernible,
aedeagal apodeme short.
Discussion. Scatopsciara exigua is unique among New Caledonian species of the genus because it lacks the apical tooth of the gonostylus. The species can be placed in the subgenus Xenopygina Frey according to Menzel and Mohrig’s (2000) rather wide concept of the taxon, because of this lack of the apical tooth. It resembles the Palaearctic Scatopsciara (Xenopygina) dentifera Frey, 1936 in having a rather tumid gonostylus with a recurved megaseta in a very lateral position on the gonostylus (3 in S. dentifera), but has its gonostylus not broadened towards apex and mesially far less impressed. S. exigua also resembles the Palaearctic Scatopsciara (Xenopygina) subapicalis (Rudzinski, 1993), which has a more globular gonostylus and different arrangement of its megasetae (Rudzinski 1993).
Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin word exiguus, small, referring to the small size of the species.
Scatopsciara (s. str.) spiculata sp. n. Figs 2 A–D
Material studied. Holotype male. NEW CALEDONIA, Rivière Bleue N.P., (parc 7), rainforest, 21.vii.1992, Bonnet de Larbogne, Chazeau & Guilbert (in MNHN). Paratypes. 1 male, same data as holotype (in SMNH); 1 male, same data as previous but parc 6, 16.vii.1992 (in PWMP); 1 male, Mont Nondoué, sclerophyllous forest, 3.vii.1992, Bonnet de Larbogne, Chazeau & Guilbert (in MZH).
Description. Male. Head. Brown, antenna unicolorous, slightly paler brown, maxillary palpus very pale brown. Eye bridge 3 facets wide. Face with 10 scattered longer and shorter setae. Clypeus with 1 seta. Maxillary palpus with 3 palpomeres; palpomeres short, palpomere 1 longer than palpomere 3, palpomere 2 shortest; palpomere 1 with 1–3 setae, with a dorsal patch of sensilla in a depression; surface of antennal flagellomeres rough, body of flagellomere 4 (Fig. 2 A) 1.65–1.90x as long as wide, the neck shorter than broad, the longest setae shorter than the width of flagellomere. Thorax. Brown, setae pale. Anterior pronotum with 2 setae. Episternum 1 with 3–7 setae. Scutum with long dorsocentrals, with some longer and shorter laterals, scutellum with 2 longer and some short setae. Wing. Hyalinous. Length 1.1–1.2 mm. Width/length 0.45. Veins indistinct. R1/R 0.40–0.50. c/ w 0.60 –0.65. r-m/bM 0.5. M, CuA, r-m and bM non-setose. Legs. Yellow. Coxal setae pale. Apical part of front tibia, Fig. 2 B: tibial organ with pale vestiture forming a short row. Front tibial spur longer than the tibial width. Middle and hind tibiae with a normal and a shortened spur. Claws without teeth. Abdomen. Setae pale. Hypopygium, Figs 2 C, D. Brown, concolorous with abdomen. Gonocoxa longer than gonostylus, mesial margin with sparse setosity. Gonostylus narrow, slightly curved, narrowed towards apex, with the mesial side impressed; with dense apical vestiture, with a strong and sharp apical tooth, with 1 subapical megaseta and 3 mesial megasetae (one specimen asymmetrically with 3 and 4 mesial megasetae). Tegmen subquadrangular, weakly sclerotized, with sharp apicolateral corners, with area of aedeagal teeth, aedeagal apodeme short.
Discussion. Scatopsiara spiculata resembles S. tenuistylata in having a narrow gonostylus with a strong apical tooth, and megasetae present at approximately the middle of the gonostylus. S. spiculata differs from S. tenuistylata in having 3 or 4 mesial megasetae, whereas S. tenuistylata only has one. S. spiculata also has denser vestiture of the antennal flagellomeres and a shorter, comb-like vestiture at the front tibial organ (Figs 2 B and 3 B). Judging by their hypopygium, both new species can be best placed in the Scatopsiara atomaria group of Menzel and Mohrig (2000), although both species have a shortened, partly reduced, spur in the middle and hind tibia, in addition to the normal spur.
Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin word spicula, point, referring to the sharp gonostylar megasetae of the species.
description: Published as part of Vilkamaa, Pekka, Hippa, Heikki & Mohrig, Werner, 2012, The genus Scatopsciara Edwards (Diptera, Sciaridae) in New Caledonia, with the description of four new species, pp. 67-74 in Zootaxa 3591 on pages 68-70, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.283190