Empis (Enoplempis) mira
Creators: name: Sinclair, Bradley J.
name: Brooks, Scott E.
name: Cumming, Jeffrey M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Empididae
Empis
Empis mira

description: Empis (Enoplempis) mira (Bigot)
(Figs 1, 6–9, 14, 15, 24, 25, 33, 37, 41)
Enoplempis mira Bigot, 1880: 63. Type locality: California [USA].
Empis mira: Coquillett, 1895: 397 (new combination); Melander, 1902: 319 (diagnosis); Melander, 1928: 164 (catalogue); Melander, 1965: 460 (catalogue).
Type material examined. LECTOTYPE (here designated in order to fix identity of the species) (Figs 6, 7, 8), Ƌ labelled (Fig. 9): “Lecto-/ type [dark blue-bordered circle]”; “ E. mira / EX COLL. BIGOT ”; “ LECTOTYPE / Eno- plempis/ mira Bigot / des. Sinclair, Brooks,/ Cumming & Turner 2014 [red label]” (OUMNH) [antennae missing]. PARALECTOTYPE: Same data as lectotype [dissected; left fore basitarsus and left hindleg glued to card below specimen] (1 Ƌ, OUMNH).
Taxonomic notes. Bigot (1880) based his description on an unspecified number of male specimens from California. The syntypes match Bigot’s brief description in terms of the yellowish colour, robust hind femur with pointed processes and dentation, infuscate wings and five-vittate scutum (acrostichal and dorsocentral rows and lateral infuscation when viewed dorsally).
Additional material examined. USA. California: Calaveras Co., West Point [38°23′57″N 120°31′39″W], 21.v.1953, H.H. Keifer (1 Ƌ, CSCA); Mono Co., Mono Lake [38°01′00″N 119°00′34″W], vi.1962 (1 Ƌ, WJTC); Placer Co., 5 mi NE Auburn [38°53′55″N 121°4′28″W], 30.iii.1963, L.G. Bock (1 Ƌ, WJTC); Tuolumne Co., 6 mi E Groveland [37°49′54″N 120°14′23″W], C.J. Horning (1 Ƌ, CAS); Tuolumne Co., Hwy 120, 2 mi W Mather turnoff [37°48′52″N 119°52′28″W], 14.vi.1975, N.J. Smith (1 Ƌ, UCDC); Tuolumne Co., Basin Ck Cpgd [37.9933° -120.1815°], 31.v–2.vi.1963, P.H. Arnaud (11 Ƌ, USNM); Tuolumne Co., Buck Meadows [37°48′46″N 120°03′52″W], Mather site, No. 17112, 1970–71, A. R. Moldenke (1 ♀, CAS); same data except, No. 14397 (1 ♀, CAS); Tuolumne Co., Sonora [37°59′4″N 120°22′54″W], 27.v.1965, R. P. Allen (1 ♀, EMEC).
Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from other species of the E. (En.) mira species group by the spots beneath the dorsocentral setae, right hind femur with anteroventral digitiform lobe on apical third (Fig. 24) and shape of the phallus (Fig. 37).
Redescription. Wing length 6.2–7.1 mm. Male (Figs 1, 6, 7). Head with dense greyish pruinescence on face, frons, occiput and postgena. Narrowly dichoptic, eye with ommatidia slightly enlarged ventrally. Frons divergent towards antennae; below ocellar triangle as wide as anterior ocellus, bearing short setulae along inner margin of eye. Face slightly divergent towards mouthparts; bare, with oral margin pale and shiny. Ocellar triangle with greyish pruinescence, with pair of parallel ocellar setae and pair of shorter posterior setulae. Occiput bearing row of postocular setae, 2–3 stout, black setae on upper section; shorter and more slender on lower section; remaining upper occipital setae black, long and stout. Pedicel and scape pale brown to dark brown; postpedicel and stylus dark brown. Scape about 2× longer than pedicel; postpedicel nearly 4× longer than basal width, or 2.5× longer than stylus. Palpus yellow, with dark setulae. Proboscis largely yellow; apex of labrum reddish brown; labellum with dark setae.
Thorax yellow in ground-colour, largely clothed in whitish pruinescence; all major setae black. Scutum with dark brown median vitta and pair of less distinct vittae along dc row, more distinct in posterior aspect; lateral vitta reduced to dark spots beneath dc setae in anterior aspect. Pleura yellow, with thin whitish pruinescence. Proepisternum with several short, dark setae; prosternum bare. Antepronotum with row of stout dark setae. Postpronotum with 3–4 short, dark setae and 1 long seta. Scutum with short, fine biserial acr; dc uniserial, similar to acr, first anterior dc nearly twice length of posterior dc, postsutural dc increasing in length posteriorly; 2–3 posterior npl, with several shorter anterior setae; 1 presut spal; 1 psut spal; 1 pal. Scutellum with 2 pairs of sctl, apical pair stouter, less than twice length of lateral pair. Laterotergite with 4 long, dark setae and several shorter setae. Anterior and posterior spiracles pale.
Legs long, entirely yellow, except for dark ring at trochanter-femur junction and extreme apices of femora; tarsomere 5 darkened. Coxae with numerous dark lateral setae, longer and stouter along apical anterior margins. Hind trochanter unmodified. Femora with distinct white ventral pile. Fore femur with anteroventral and posteroventral rows of fine setae, posteroventral setae longer. Fore tibia with pile of soft ventral setulae, with 2–3 anterodorsal and posterodorsal setae and several preapical setae. Fore tarsomere swollen, distinctly broader than fore tibia, subequal to remaining tarsomeres combined; all tarsomeres with pile of soft ventral setulae. Mid femur with anteroventral row of setae of various lengths, with cluster of longer basal setae; posteroventral face with distinct row of well separated setae, nearly longer than femur width. Mid tibia with pale and dark, stout ventral setae intermixed, shorter than width of tibia; 3–4 anterodorsal, 3–4 posterodorsal and several preapical setae. Hindlegs asymmetrical, tibiae geniculate at base. Left hind femur with brush of short, thick ventral setae beyond mid-length, extending onto short posteroventral lobe (Figs 14, 15). Left hind tibia sinuous with dense black ventral setae, with posteroventral row of short black spines on distal half; preapex with pair of thin posteroventral flanges (Figs 14, 15). Right hind femur with proximal two-thirds clothed in numerous short, black ventral setae; short anteroventral digitiform lobe on apical third, clothed in short setae (Figs 8, 24); shallowly excavated ventrally distal to digitiform lobe, with transverse ridge bearing long tuft of black anteroventral setae; apical third with tuft of black posteroventral setae, longer than width of femur; apical third with long posterior setae (Fig. 25). Right hind tibia bent nearly at right angle, distal to mid-length, especially when viewed ventrally; distal to curve with large thumb-like anteroventral lobe with black spine-like apical projections; flattened preapical anteroventral flange folds up against setal tuft of femur (Figs 24, 25); posteroventral thumb-like lobe distal to bend with apical ridge of stiff setae. Tarsomeres 1–5 of all legs without rows of anteroventral and posteroventral spine-like setae.
Wing clear with yellowish veins, mostly well sclerotized; CuA+CuP fading out prior to wing margin. Basal costal seta short, stouter and longer than surrounding costal setae. R 5 and M 1 parallel near wing margin; R 5 ending beyond wing tip; radial fork acute. Halter yellow.
Abdomen yellow with longest posteromarginal setae on tergite 2, decreasing in length posteriorly. Posteromarginal setae on segment 8 longer than length of sclerites. Pregenital segments unmodified; sclerites of segment 8 narrowly fused anterolaterally. Terminalia (Fig. 37) yellow with cercus darker. Cercus narrow, linear, posterior end tapered with setae on inner face; clothed in dark setae, longer than width of cercus. Hypoproct without setae. Subepandrial sclerite with process arching along ventral margin of cercus, extending beyond cercus nearly one-third length of cercus. Epandrial lamella subtriangular, posterior margin broadly rounded, without process; setae moderately long, some about width of lamella. Hypandrium short, truncate, apical margin sinuous, about 0.5× as long as epandrium; base with several setae, slightly shorter than length of hypandrium. Phallus deeply attenuated near base, middle section broad and tapered apically; apical third deeply attenuated, flexed nearly at right angle, forming bowl-like apex, with well-sclerotized anterior margin; apex not emerging beyond epandrium; ejaculatory apodeme broad, flattened plate, not Y-shaped, two-thirds length of epandrium.
Female. Similar to male, except as follows: frons slightly narrower than ocellar triangle; mid femur with row of 5 widely spaced, strong posteroventral setae, weaker on anteroventral row; hindlegs symmetrical; hind femur swollen, wider than mid femur, with strong anteroventral and posteroventral setae on apical half (Fig. 33); hind tibia geniculate at base; cercus long and slender, with short dark setae.
Distribution. This species is confined to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in central California (Fig. 41).
description: Published as part of Sinclair, Bradley J., Brooks, Scott E. & Cumming, Jeffrey M., 2021, Revision of the Empis (Enoplempis) mira species group (Diptera: Empididae), pp. 41-57 in Zootaxa 4927 (1) on pages 44-47, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4927.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/4533892