Chelipoda abdita Collin
Creators: name: Published, First
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Empididae
Chelipoda
Chelipoda abdita

description: 10. Chelipoda abdita Collin   
[Figs. 1–4, 91, 92, 117–119, 132, 136, 141]  
 Chelipoda abdita Collin, 1928: 31–32.   
 Type material. Collin (1928) described Chelipoda abdita from a single male and four females from Ohakune, x–xi.1922 T. R. Harris; a single female, same data but i.1924 and two females from Raetihi Hill, 3000 feet, xi.1923 [BMNH]. Ohakune and Raetihi are in: New Zealand, North Island, RI. The male is here designated lectotype with the label: Ohakune, x.1922, TRH [BMNH]. (the label gives the date as x.1922, not x–xi.1922 as stated in Collin’s description and Pont (1995)). The remaining seven females from Collin’s syntype series are here designated paralectotypes.   
 Additional material: 133 specimens from ND, AK, CL, WO, TO, RI, TK, & HB (North Island) and NN, NC, MC, BR, MB, OL & WD (South Island) [NZAC, LUNZ, NMWC].   
 Description. Male: differing from C. consignata as follows:   
 Head: antenna (Fig. 92) with postpedicel longer, about 5–6X as long a broad, <than length of arista. Palpi with apical bristle usually very pale.   
 Thorax: acr absent but often 2 very fine hairs at extreme front of acrostichal line; dc4 usually absent.   
 Legs: C 1 1.25X as long as thorax; series of 10–11 regularly spaced black bristles in front, very short basally, longer at 0.3–0.5 from base where slightly longer than C 1 is wide, but shorter distally (Fig. 119); bristles on or just outside brown stripe short, inconspicuous; a pv series of 5–8 strong black bristles, basally 3X as long as C 1 is wide but shorter distally. F 1 slightly slenderer than in C. consignata; Femoral formula 4(4–6)/ 16(14–18)/11(8–13)/5(5–7); posterior row of denticles tending to become more spine-like and merge with pv spines towards extreme apex; ventral bristle 0.2 from base often very fine and small; linear series of hairs on dorsal, posterior and anterior surfaces slightly stronger. F 2 with pv bristle 0.8 from base absent or very inconspicuous; an anterior series of 20–30 fine erect hairs, distally as long as F 2 is deep.T 1 with pv ciliation longer than in C. consignata, as long basally as tibia is deep; at2 about 0.3X length of at1 and 0.7X length of at3.   
 Abdomen: similar to C. consignata but tergites 2–4 with hairs on disc tending to be as well defined as those on margins; terminalia (Figs. 1–4) similar to C. consignata but postgonite narrower.   
 Wing: (Fig. 132) similar to C. consignata).   
 Description. Female: differing from the male as follows.   
 Antenna: with postpedicel shorter than in male (Fig. 91), 4–4.5X as long as deep and arista about 1.3X as long.   
 Legs: C 1 lacking strong bristles; femoral formula 4(3–4)/18(17–21)/11(10–14)/5(3–5). F 2 lacking an anterior series of erect hairs; no pv bristle 0.8 from base, or if present then less than 0.5X as long as F2 is deep. T 1 without long pv ciliation, all hairs shorter than tibia is deep; at2 rather shorter than in male, 0.25X length of at1 and 0.5X length of at3. Mid and posterior legs (Figs. 117, 118) slender as in C. consignata. Abdomen: with tergites less strongly bristled.   
 Wing: (Fig. 136) as in C. consignata.   
 Comments. Males of C. abdita may be readily distinguished from C. consignata by the characteristic chaetotaxy of C 1. Females of C. abdita are difficult and sometimes impossible to separate. The absence of a pv bristle on F 2 is a workable character but it is sometimes present (if weak) in C. abdita and can be weak or virtually absent in C. consignata. The tendency for spine-like development of apical denticles of the posterior row is a useful character, when present. The length of antennal third segment and the relative lengths of it to the arista are useful characters, but subject to some degree of variation. Generally, the postpedicel is longer in C. abdita and the arista is relatively shorter. Comparative experience, long series of specimens and associated males may be needed to separate females of the two species with confidence.   
 C. abdita is a common species, widespread in forests between Northland (North Island) and Westland (South Island) but yet to be recorded from the southern part of South Island or Stewart Island. Capture dates are all between September and March inclusive. Peak adult activity is probably in December, slightly earlier than for C. consignata.
description: Published as part of Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, pp. 1-88 in Zootaxa 1537 (1) on pages 22-23, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1537.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5088638