Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) ponticulus Theischinger & Billingham & Martin & Growns 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Theischinger, Günther
name: Billingham, Zacariah D.
name: Martin, John
name: Growns, Ivor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Limoniidae
Rhabdomastix
Rhabdomastix ponticulus

description: Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) ponticulus Theischinger & Billingham, sp. nov.
(Figs. 36–38)
Material examined. Holotype ♂: Australia, Queensland, Coombabah Creek off Pitcairn Way, 27.947002°S / 153.325096°E, 28–iv–2017, Z. Billingham (ANIC); specimen in 70% ethanol, terminalia preserved (glycerol) in microvial in glass vial together with specimen.
Description. Male (Figs. 36–38). Head. Largely yellowish grey to dark greyish brown; palpus dark greyish brown. Antenna broken, brownish grey, estimated ca 1.7 mm long; pedicel shorter than flagellomeres; f1 subconical, f3 about four times as long as wide; verticils shorter than flagellomeres; some rather long pubescence.
Thorax. Largely dark greyish brown with some yellowish grey. Coxae and trochanters greyish yellow, no other leg segments available.
Wing. Membrane hyaline, slightly suffused with pale grey, distinctly darkened in pterostigma area, slightly darkened along cord. Veins R 4 and R 5 apically diverging; vein R 3 slightly oblique; vein A 2 short, ends well before level origin of Rs; cross-vein m-m missing, thus cell dm not developed. Halter with stem off white and knob pale grey.
Abdomen. Medium brown to blackish brown; tergites slightly darker than sternites.
Terminalia. Segment 9 a closed ring (with narrow dorsal bridge). Gonocoxite about three times as long as wide. Outer gonostylus slightly curved, without distinct apical spine, about one third as long as gonocoxite and about as long and largely about half as thick as inner gonostylus that is largely conical and bears two rather distinct setae, one apical and one subapical. Interbase pointed, only slightly and evenly arched, very slightly widened subapically. Aedeagus rather wide and apically rounded; vesica almost spherical with apodeme short and narrow, rod-like.
Dimensions. Wing length 3.5 mm.
Female unknown.
Distribution. Eastern: Queensland (Map 1).
Etymology. Ponticulus (=Latin for small bridge) refers to the sclerotized dorsal bridge in abdominal segment 9; a noun in apposition to the generic name.
Discussion. The male of R. (R.) ponticulus stands out from all consubgeneric species known from Australia by cell dm open, by a sclerotized bridge across the mid-dorsal interruption of the sclerotization of segment 9 and by the particulars of the antenna as given above. The antennae closely agree with R. dooragana sp. nov., a species with very different terminalia. The terminalia of R. ponticulus are similar to R. dobrotworskyi sp. nov. and R. hirsuta sp. nov. both of which have quite different antennae.
Rhabdomastix (Rhabdomastix) tonnoirana group (Figs. 39–52, Map 2) including the species R. collessiana, R. rosae, R. tonnoirana, R. wilsoniana
Diagnosis. Antenna short; pedicel at least as long as or longer than flagellomeres; at least verticils of some flagellomeres longer than them; f3 about twice as long as wide. Veins R 4 and R 5 apically distinctly diverging; vein A 2 very distinctly sinuous and short, ending well before level origin of Rs. Wing membrane largely hyaline with distinct dark (brown/black) pattern/patches in costal, subcostal, radial and anal cells. Outer and inner gonostylus subequal in length and maximal width. Inner gonostylus conical as a whole, with mesal fringe of setae. Female with cerci and hypogynial valves very short and bulky, the cerci shorter than 0.3 mm, hairy/setose.
description: Published as part of Theischinger, Günther, Billingham, Zacariah D., Martin, John & Growns, Ivor, 2019, The genus Rhabdomastix Skuse in Australia (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Limoniidae), pp. 65-100 in Zootaxa 4661 (1) on page 85, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4661.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/3378502