Pseudoparaclius udzungwa Kaae, Grichanov & Pape, 2015, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kaae, Mathias Emil
name: Grichanov, Igor
name: Pape, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Dolichopodidae
Pseudoparaclius
Pseudoparaclius udzungwa

description: Pseudoparaclius udzungwa sp. nov.
(Figs 1, 2 A–C)
Diagnosis. Legs mostly yellow, hind tarsomere 1 mostly yellow. Male fore tarsus with tarsomeres 4–5 strongly laterally compressed. Mid femur simple, having 1 anterior preapical seta. Male cercus with distinct oval-rounded shape like P. sanjensis, reminiscent of one half of a walnut or pecan shell. Hypandrium with a blunt-tipped sclerotized part reaching about two thirds to the tip.
Description. Male. Body length 5.2–5.7 mm, wing length 4.7 mm, greatest wing width 1.4 mm. Head: frons and face black, with dense silvery-white microtomentum. Two long black ocellar setae. Postocular setae black. Compound eyes, with short ommatrichia, face under antennae nearly as wide as postpedicel and narrowing near middle, glabrous, with slightly bulging clypeus; clypeus not reaching lower margin of eyes. Antenna: black, scape with setae on dorsal surface and short inner acute projection. Pedicel short and rather compressed, convex anteriad with one strong dorsal seta. Postpedicel subtriangular, convex anteriad, about as long as wide, with microtrichia (Fig. 1 A); stylus positioned near middle of dorsal side of postpedicel. Length of scape to pedicel to postpedicel to stylus = 0.1 mm, 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.9 mm. Palpus and proboscis short, black. Thorax mostly bluish-greenish black and metallic shiny, mesonotum with strong black dorsal setae; 6 dorsocentral setae decreasing in size anteriorly; 2 rows of acrostichals. Proepisternum with one strong black seta. Anepisternum, katepisternum and meron without setae; metepimeron with small patch of light setae along lower part of posterior margin. Postpronotal lobe with 1 strong erect black seta. Scutellum with 2 strong setae and 2 short lateral hair-like setae. Legs: coxae mostly yellow but mid and hind coxae with slightly brown colour at base; femora and tibiae yellow, with black setae. Fore femur with posteroventral preapical seta. Fore tibia with 3 anterodorsal, 2 posterodorsal and 2 unequal apicodorsal setae. Tarsomere 1 of fore tarsus mostly yellow but brownish at apical part, tarsomere 2 brownish, tarsomeres 3–5 darker brown or blackish, tarsomeres 4–5 laterally compressed (Fig. 1 A), tarsomere 4 triangular with lateral depression, tarsomere 5 rectangular except part nearest tarsomere 4. Length of fore coxa to femur to tibia to tarsus (tarsomeres from 1–5) = 0.9 mm, 1.1 mm, 1.3 mm, 0.8 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.3 mm. Mid femur with 1 anterior preapical seta. Mid tibia with 3–4 anterodorsal, 3–4 posterodorsal, 2 ventral at 1/3 and 2/3 and 5 apical setae. Length of mid coxa to femur to tibia to tarsus (tarsomeres 1–5) = 0.8 mm, 1.4 mm, 2.0 mm, 1.1 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.2 mm. Hind femur with 1 anterior preapical seta. Hind tibia with 3–4 anterodorsal, 3–5 posterodorsal, 3 apical and about 6 fine ventral setae. Hind tarsomere 1 with whitish ring at base, with 1 short basoventral seta. Length of hind coxa to femur to tibia to tarsus (tarsomeres 1–5) = 0.7 mm, 1.8 mm, 2.4 mm, 0.6 mm, 1.2 mm, 0.8 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.3 mm. Wing greyish with slight brownish tinge extending from R1 to well below R4+5 but not reaching vein M1+2 (Fig. 1 B). Veins brown but R2+3 and R4+5 darker brown. Costa simple. M1+2 convergent towards R4+5 just before middle of distal part and joining Costa just before wing apex. Crossvein dm-cu straight, forming right angle with both longitudinal veins; ratio of dm-cu to CuA1 = 1.5. CuA1 not reaching wing margin. Posterior wing margin almost evenly convex. Anal vein distinct; anal lobe pronounced; anal angle obtuse. Lower calypter yellow with black setae. Halter yellow. Abdomen bluish-black and concolourous with thorax but with whitish microtomentum laterally. Epandrium dark brown or blackish, ventral margin distally with series of irregular, short tooth-like projections. Distiventral epandrial lobe large, elongated, bearing three dorsal setae at base, mid-length and tip respectively, apical seta distinctly branched (Fig. 2). Hypandrium long, pointed at apex, with pair of long and thin lateral lobes arising from extreme base. Cercus brown, rounded-oval, cup-shaped, 1.5 x as long as wide, 1.15 x as long as epandrium, with short, black marginal setae and with characteristic microtrichia medially (i.e., inside concavity, as shown for P. sanjensis in Figs 3 G, H). Hypandrium folded or bilobed and with strongly sclerotized part blunt-tipped and reaching about two-thirds to tip of hypandrium (Figs 2 A–C). Phallus almost straight with only indication of coiling at tip (Fig. 2 C). Female. Unknown.
Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, Tanzania, Morogoro Region, Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Sanje Trail, 650 m, 18–21.i.2014, J. Malumbres-Olarte, T. Pape & N. Scharff leg. (ZMUC). PARATYPES: 2♂, same data and depository as holotype.
The type material was collected just above a local camp site known as the Sanje Chini camp, 598 m, 07°46'24.6" S 36°53'47.7" E. Both paratypes have their male terminalia dissected and stored in glycerin in a microvial pinned with the source specimen.
Distribution. Afrotropical—Tanzania.
Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition and refers to the mountain range where the type material was collected.
Biology. Unknown.
Remarks. The cercus of Pseudoparaclius sanjensis and P. udzungwa has a unique shape found in no other species of Pseudoparaclius (Figs 3 C, E–H), and the complex shape alone would seem to provide several unique synapomorphies, although no comparative data are available for ultrastructural details like the median microtrichia (Fig. 3 H). An additional noteworthy feature shared by these two species is the presence of asymmetrical teeth on the distiventral margins of the epandrium (Figs 2 A–C; 3A). Pseudoparaclius udzungwa is therefore probably the sister taxon of P. sanjensis, and it is interesting that these morphologically very similar species appear to be at least partly sympatric. All specimens of P. sanjensis known were collected at 850 m altitude or above, while the type series of P. udzungwa was collected at 650 m altitude, but further sampling is suspected to show broad overlap in altitudinal distribution. The marked difference in the shape of the male fore tarsus would seem to indicate different mating behaviour. Apart from the different male fore tarsal configuration, there is a marked morphological difference in the configuration of the bilobed hypandrium, which in P. sanjensis has a strongly sclerotized and acutely tapering part stretching almost to the tip (Figs 3 A, B), while this part is blunt-tipped and stretching for only about two thirds of the hypandrial length in P. udzungwa (Figs 2 A–C). Also, the phallus of P. udzungwa is almost straight (Fig. 2 C), whereas in P. sanjensis the phallus is forming a very open spiral (Figs 3 C, D).
Specimens of P. sanjensis examined. HOLOTYPE ♂, Tanzania, Morogoro Region, Udzungwa Mts., Mwanihana Forest, Sanje River, 1400 m, 16.viii.1982, M. Stoltze & N. Scharff (ZMUC). Tanzania: 1♂, 1♀, Morogoro Region, Udzungwa Mountains National Park, 1000 m, 7º50'35''S, 36º49'49''E. 11–13.xi.2009, T. Pape & S.A. Marshall (ZMUC). 1♂, 1♀, Iringa Region, Udzungwa scarp nr Chita, 8º08'28''S, 36º23'49''E, 17–18.xi.2009, T. Pape & S.A. Marshall (ZMUC). 8♂, Morogoro Region, Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Sanje Kati camp & plot, 850 m, 07°45'47.6" S 36°53'10.4" E, 22–24.i.2014, J. Malumbres Olarte, T. Pape & N. Scharff (ZMUC).
description: Published as part of Kaae, Mathias Emil, Grichanov, Igor & Pape, Thomas, 2015, A new species of Pseudoparaclius Grichanov (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania, and a key to Afrotropical species, pp. 137-145 in Zootaxa 4018 (1) on pages 142-143, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4018.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/242722