Tomosvaryella wintertoni Foldvari, Skevington & Motamedinia 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Motamedinia, Behnam
name: Földvari, Mihaly
name: Skevington, Jeffrey H.
name: Kelso, Scott
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Pipunculidae
Tomosvaryella
Tomosvaryella wintertoni

description: Tomosvaryella wintertoni Földvari, Skevington & Motamedinia sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 4256ED35-C0B9-430E-9F4D-3CC3ACEFDB2F
Figs 105A–E, 143
Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the hind trochanter having dense short bristles and a few pegs along a slight ridge on the ventral side; elongated surstyli in dorsal view (Fig. 105A); elongated gonopods, tapering at apex with small projection on inner margin before apex; subepandrial sclerite with some wrinkled in its middle and rounded outer margin in ventral view (Fig. 105B); phallic guide with 5–6 dorso-dorsolateral spines (Fig. 105D).
Description: MALE: Body length: 2.6 mm. Head. Flagellum acuminate; yellow-brown. Face silvery pollinose. Frons, upper part shining black; lower part distinctly silver pollinose; eyes touching for 1.5 x length of ocellar triangle. Occiput silvery pollinose. Thorax. Postpronotum pale, with 0–1 pale bristles. Mesonotum (viewed obliquely from front) silvery pollinose, anterior part more grey, grayish also from the side. Scutellum silvery pollinose and without bristles along the distal edge. Dorsocentral bristles weakly developed, dark, somewhat longer along frontal edge, numerous dark bristles around postpronotum absent. Halter, knob pale with brownish tinge, stem brown. Legs. Mid coxa with 3–4 strong, dark brown bristles. Trochanters pale brown (yellow band posteroventrally) and femora dark brown, shining ventrally, silvery pollinose posteriorly except shiny hind femur; knees and basal 1/4 of tibiae yellow (tibiae otherwise brown), tarsal segments yellow, last segment darker. Hind trochanter with velvet-like bristles, posteriorly a tiny shiny spot on the inside; a few pegs along a slight edge on the ventral side; ventrobasal spine absent on fore and mid femur. Ventroapical row of weak spines on fore femur 3–4; 6–8 small, black spines on mid femur; hind femur without ventroapical spines; 14–15 equally spaced bristles posteroventrally, longer on distal half, longest up to 1/4 the width of hind tibia at distal end. Short, subapical spines on fore- and mid tibiae distally. Hind tibia slightly bent in posterior view. Metatarsi slightly flattened, first tarsomere elongated, almost as long as 2–5 combined. Pulvilli shorter than last tarsal segment. Wing. Length: 2.7 mm. Upper side of basal costal cell with one short dark bristle. Fourth costal section 2.5 times as long as third costal section. Cross-vein r-m at 3/5 of discal cell. 2–3 short brown setulae on tegula. Abdomen. Dissected. tergite 1 silvery grey, lateral bristles on first tergite present, 3–4 dark bristles up to 2/3 as long as hind femur’s width at base. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium longer than wide (MLE:MWE = 1.5). Surstyli elongated, right surstylus smaller than left one and curved towards left one (Fig. 105A). Genital capsule in ventral view: gonopods elongated towards surstyli, tapering at apex with small finger-like projection located at inner margin before apex, unequal in height, left slightly longer than right one, subepandrial sclerite with some wrinkled in its middle and rounded outer margin (Fig. 105B). Genital capsule in lateral view: right surstylus rather straight, left surstylus curved towards sternite, phallic guide with 5–6 dorsolateral spines (one is longer) (Fig. 105D–E). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle (Fig. 105C).
FEMALE: Unknown.
Etymology: This species is dedicated to Shaun Winterton, one of the collectors of the holotype. Shaun and JHS did their doctorates together in Brisbane and did a lot of collecting during that time. Many of Shaun’s specimens have been critical to pipunculid revisions. He collected 23% of the species and 4% of the specimens used in this revision (Supplementary file 2).
Examined material: HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Queensland: 91.2 km west Windorah, 25°22’S, 141°47’E, Malaise trap in dry creek bed, 31.VIII–5.IX.1997, S. Winterton, J.&A. Skevington, JSS8344 (1♂, QM); PARATYPE: AUSTRALIA: Northern Territory: Koongarra, 15 km E of Mount Cahill, 12°52’S, 132°51’E, 6–9.III.1973, D.H. Colless, JSS8548 (1♂, ANIC).
Distribution: Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland) (Fig. 143).
Notes: The terminalia characters of the paratype specimen, JSS8548, are similar to the holotype but the hind trochanter has only with a few pegs along its edge. It is conceivable that they are different species, but more material would be needed to support this. Certainly, the habitats are different with the holotype having been captured in a desert environment and the paratype being found in monsoon forest. This species is genetically closest to T. bulbosa sp. nov. (2.3–3.8% pairwise divergence) (Supplementary file 3).
description: Published as part of Motamedinia, Behnam, Földvari, Mihaly, Skevington, Jeffrey H. & Kelso, Scott, 2023, Revision of Australian Tomosvaryella Aczél (Diptera: Pipunculidae) with description of 100 new species, pp. 1-271 in Zootaxa 5599 (1) on pages 231-233, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5599.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14970961