Platypalpus academicus Barták & Kubík 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Barták, Miroslav
name: Kubík, Štěpán
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Hybotidae
Platypalpus
Platypalpus academicus

description: Platypalpus academicus sp. nov.
(Figs 1–4, 27)
Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, labelled: “ Muğla 700 m 2013, University campus SW + PT, 37°09′42′′N, 28°22′21′′E, Barták, Kubík 29.iv.-10.v. ” (CULSP). PARATYPES: 1♀, same data as holotype; 4♂, 4♀, same locality, Malaise trap, 720 m, 37°09′42′′N, 28°22′13′′E, 26.v.–26.vi.2015, H. Kavak; 3♀, same locality, v.2015, H. Kavak; 1♀, 15 km SW of Muğla, damp valley nr. brook, 620 m, 37°06′31′′N, 28°15′31′′E, Barták, Kubík, 23.v.2011 —all CULSP.
Diagnosis. Black species of the P. longimanus complex with two pairs of vertical setae; mesoscutum lustrous and evenly and densely setose without differentiated rows of setae; antennae with long postpedicel and shorter stylus; poorly differentiated posteroventral setae on mid femur; mid tibial spur almost absent; anepisternum microtrichose except ventroposterior corner and left epandrial lamella ovate apically.
Description. Male. Head brownish black, lustrous including frons, clypeus, ocellar triangle, narrow stripe behind eyes and behind ocellar triangle, only occiput finely microtrichose. Frons about 0.04 mm broad above antennae, widening dorsally and about 0.10 mm broad at level of anterior ocellus. Face 0.03 mm broad at middle and only slightly widening below. Gena very narrow and lustrous. Antenna (Fig. 1) brownish black; postpedicel 3.6–4.4X longer than wide, postpedicel 1.5– 2X longer than stylus. Clypeus lustrous. Palpus whitish yellow, broadly ovate, nearly as long as labrum, with several whitish yellow setae. Ocellar setae brown, about 0.15 mm long, second pair short. Two pairs of vertical setae, inner pair about 0.10 mm long, strongly inclinate and widely separated (0.20 mm apart), outer pair slightly inclinate and somewhat shorter. Occiput short and densely brown setose dorsally and slightly longer and less densely setose ventrally. Proboscis yellow to brownish yellow, onethird as long as head height. Thorax brownish black, mesoscutum entirely lustrous including antepronotum, dorsal part of postronotum and postalar calli, only scutellum and sides of postalar calli microtrichose; lustrous parts of pleura: ventroposterior corner of anepisternum, whole of katepisternum, anepimeron and central part of meron, microtrichose parts: propleuron including ventral part of postpronotum, most of anepisternum, margins of meron and metanotum. Mesoscutum densely and evenly covered with setae, without differentiated rows, median setae distinctly inclinate including setae along margins of prescutellar depression. All thoracic setae pale, brownish yellow to yellow. Chaetotaxy: postpronotal seta short, scarcely differentiated from setulae; acrostichals and dorsocentrals not differentiated (one longer pair of setae inserted on usual place of prescutellar dorsocentrals), all setae covering mesoscutum short (0.05 mm); notopleuron with 1–2 setae on posterior part; 1 short postalar and two pairs of scutellar setae (outer pair shorter). Wing clear or indistinctly darkened, with brown veins, veins R4+5 and M1+ 2 in apical third almost parallel. Crossveins almost contiguous (both basal cells almost equally long, first basal cell narrower than second basal cell), CuA2 slightly recurrent and slightly C-shaped, anal vein distinct throughout its length. Costal seta yellow, moderately long. Squama white with yellow fringes. Halter whitish. Legs yellow, paler on coxae and bases of all femora, tips of tibiae and at least hind femur more or less darkened (variable), tarsi brown. Setae yellow on coxae and bases of femora, brown more distally. Fore femur moderately narrow, ventral setae about half as long as femur depth. Fore tibia slightly dilated, short setose, with two long subbasal ventral setae and conspicuous ovate tibial gland. Mid femur equally narrow as fore femur, most specimens with 3–5 short pale and scarcely differentiated posteroventral setae on distal third, not much longer than anteroventral row of spines. Mid tibia almost without apical spur, with row of black spines ventrally. Hind legs thin, without conspicuous setae. Fore tarsus with modified (very short) segments 2–4 and extremely long segment 5 (about 0.55 mm long and slightly longer than four preceding segments together), tarsus of mid leg modified (last segment almost as long as three preceding segments together). Abdomen brown, entirely lustrous. Abdominal setae yellow to yellowish brown. Genitalia (Figs 2–4) moderately long, left epandrial lamella (Fig. 4) oblong-ovate; cerci (Fig. 3) very short and simply digitiform; right epandrial lamella (Fig. 2) broad. Female. Similar to male, except as follows: postpedicel 1.4–1.7X longer than stylus; fore and mid tarsi not modified, even if much longer than corresponding tibiae; palpus brown; abdomen with segment 7 microtrichose to sublustrous, segment 8 microtrichose, conical, sternite with lustrous stripe on sides, cercus extremely short. Length: body 2.3–3.0 mm, wing 2.1–2.3 mm.
Etymology. The species is named to honour the Muğla Sitki Koçman University (Turkey), because most type specimens were captured on its beautiful campus.
Distribution. Turkey, Muğla province.
Remarks. The species described above is closely allied to P. longimanus (Corti, 1907) and P. negrobovi Grootaert, Kustov & Shamshev, 2012. With microtrichose anepimeron and short stylus, the newly described species is more similar to P. longimanus but with long apical segment of mid tarsus it reminds us of P. negrobovi. However, it differs from both by differently shaped left epandrial lamella (not excised apically) and much narrower (and not strikingly sexually dimorphic as in P. longimanus) stylus in male (female of P. negrobovi is unknown).
description: Published as part of Barták, Miroslav & Kubík, Štěpán, 2018, Hybotidae (Diptera) from Turkey, with descriptions of seven new species, pp. 453-482 in Zootaxa 4410 (3) on pages 454-456, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4410.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/1221772