Paleotelmatoscopus madrizi Curler & Skibinska 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Curler, Gregory R.
name: Skibińska, Kornelia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Psychodidae
Paleotelmatoscopus
Paleotelmatoscopus madrizi

description: Paleotelmatoscopus madrizi Curler & Skibińska sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 3137EB10-98D9-4940-A214-6677AA4BE228
Pericoma formosa Meunier, 1905, in part (see Table 1).
Diagnosis. Species known only from Eocene Baltic amber. Male with the following combination of character states: head capsule with postocciput lacking corniculi (Figs. 13; 15; 19); antennal scape without prominent mesial lobe at apex (Figs. 13; 15; 17; 21); flagellomeres approximately equal in width from base to apex; anterior and posterior wing margin evenly convex (Figs. 13; 15; 17; 21).
Description. Male. Outline of head round in frontal view, vertex broadly rounded, narrowing abruptly at postocciput; corniculi absent from postocciput; eyebridge comprised of four facet rows, separated by two facet diameters at median, with ventral-most row interrupted by base of scape; interocular suture arched toward vertex, broadly U-shaped; frons, vertex, occiput covered with setae alveoli; frons inconspicuous, bulging slightly between antennae; clypeus with ventral margin convex; labrum inconspicuous, triangular in frontal view; labellum somewhat laterally compressed, narrow compared to clypeus; palp with segments cylindrical, nondescript; apical palp segment elongate, approximately 2.5 times the length of preceding segment; scapus elongate, approximately 2.5 times longer than wide, without mesial lobe at apex; mesial surface of scape covered in dark, spatulate setae; pedicel with basal third cylindrical, apical 2/3 globular, broad compared to node of flagellomere 1; flagellomere 1 fusiform, symmetrical, with node approximately equal in width to those of remaining flagellomeres; flagellomeres 2–13 nodiform, with nodes approximately equal in width, internodes shorter at base and apex of antenna; apical flagellomere with node oblong, with minute subapical projection, apiculus digitiform, setose. Thorax with lateral sclerites poorly visible in most specimens; expandable lobes and other remarkable features absent; midleg with femur longer than that of fore- or hindleg, tibia shorter than that of hindleg; wing with C slightly greater in thickness compared to longitudinal veins; Sc not reaching base of R 2+3; radial fork placed slightly apical to medial fork. Terminalia with hypandrium band-like, without increase in length at median, not extending beyond anterior margins of gonocoxites; gonopods at point of articulation between gonocoxite and gonostyli approximately equal in width to preceding abdominal segments; gonocoxite with apical 2/3 cylindrical in dorsal and lateral view; gonostylus longer than gonocoxite, acuminate, with pronounced bend at midlength, apical half conspicuously narrowed in comparison to base; parameres membranous, fused into sheath, partially surrounding aedeagus; epandrium wider than long, narrowing from base to apex in dorsoventral view, emarginate posteriorly, with paired aperture ventrally; surstyli elongate, curved dorsally, tapered from base to apex, with cluster of fewer than 10 tenacula inserted dorsoapically; hypoproct conspicuous, tongue-shaped in dorsoventral view, narrowing from base to apex.
Female. Head with eye bridge comprised of four facet rows, with ventral-most row incomplete; scape conical, widening from base to apex, at least twice as long as wide, pedicel globular, flagellomere 1 of similar shape to flagellomeres 2–13; ascoids palmate, with three branches.
Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Isaí Madriz, our friend and colleague who expertly illustrated the male genitalia, revised the habitus illustration and provided many hours of guidance during the process of capturing and processing photomicrographs for this work.
Type material. Holotype: male, CCHH 1800-3, deposited in SDEI. For a list of paratypes, please see Table 1 and the corresponding folio in Morphobank: http://morphobank.org/permalink/?F896
Other material examined. See Table 1 and the corresponding folio in Morphobank.
Comments. Some specimens of P. formosa examined by Meunier (1905, p. 244) were described as “Var.”. This is based on the flagellomeres being roughly the same width rather than being progressively more narrow from the base to apex of the antenna. These specimens are regarded here as Paleotelmatoscopus madrizi (Table 1). Male and female specimens of P. madrizi have a shorter scape and smaller wing (i.e. shorter and more narrow), and males have a more narrow head capsule in comparison to P. formosa. This may be true for females as well, but measurement was not possible for this character. In the line illustration of the holotype male (Fig. 13), ascoids are absent from some flagellomeres; this is to indicate that, on this particular specimen, we did not see ascoids inserted on those flagellomeres. Presumably they were lost prior to, or during preservation of the specimen in the amber.
description: Published as part of Curler, Gregory R. & Skibińska, Kornelia, 2021, Paleotelmatoscopus, a proposed new genus for some fossil moth flies (Diptera Psychodidae, Psychodinae) in Eocene Baltic amber, with description of a new species, pp. 505-524 in Zootaxa 4927 (4) on pages 509-515, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4927.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/4543045