Lebanopeza azari Grimaldi 2018, new species
Creators: name: Grimaldi, David A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Platypezidae
Lebanopeza
Lebanopeza azari

description: Lebanopeza azari, new species
Figures 4, 30
DIAGNOSIS: As for genus, by monotypy.
DESCRIPTION: (male only). Entire body appears blackish, possibly velvety. Head: Eyes large (partially collapsed in unique specimen), bare, holoptic for ~10 facets; dorsal facets 2× or more the diameter of ventral ones. Ocellar triangle on tubercle, with minute pair of upright setae; small triangle of frons exposed just above antennae (bare of setulae, median furrow not apparent); interfrontal and fronto-orbital setae not observable; postocular setae appear to be minute; vibrissa absent. Antenna: Scape not observable; pedicel short, funnel shaped; arista terminal; basal flagellomere drop shaped; 3 aristomeres, 2 basal ones small, ringlike, apical aristomere fine, length ~1.5× that of rest of flagellum, with micropubescence. Mouthparts: Small, entirely recessed into depressed oral cavity, cavity occupies almost all of face; palp not visible, possibly minute. Labellum short, fully opened and flat, with ~5 pseudotracheae per lobe.
Thorax: Scutum short, arched, black (probably velvety), the few setae are short, thick, stiff. Acrostichals in uniserial row of 4 minute setulae; dorsocentrals in graded row of 4–5 setae (posterior one largest), anterior dc about same size as acrostichals. No supraalar seta; 1 short, stout postalar; 3 stout notopleural setae just anterior to transverse suture, slightly longer than dorsocentrals. Prescutellum present but small; scutellum short, with single pair of short apical setae.
Wing: Relatively slender, length 2.8× the width; with slight infuscation in Sc cell and between Sc and R 1; membrane entirely covered with micro- trichia (including all cells); pterostigma absent. No prehumeral setae on C; vein C terminates at apex of R 4+5; C with row longer, stout setae interspersed among numerous setulae. Sc short, 0.3× length of wing; R 1 0.7× wing length. Radial veins heavily sclerotized; medial veins virtually unsclerotized, faint. R 4+5 ends at wing tip; cells rm and bm nearly equal in size; crossvein dm (cell dm) absent. M 1 -M 2 fork present, veins slightly divergent, almost symmetrical; length of fork approximately equal to that of stem. Cell cup large, significantly longer than terminal vein; CuP curved; A 2 very short, apically evanescent; anal lobe well developed; alula shallow, with long setae (not flattened). Halter bulb black, large, length equal to that of stem. Legs: Dark, relatively short, slender. Protibia equal to length of profemur; meso- and metatibia shorter thatn respective femur. Mesotibia with pair of short, stout apical spurs, one 2× length of other. Tibiae and tarsi with setulae, short stout ones at apex of some podomeres. Dark, bifid scales absent from all podomeres. Metabasitarsomeres not expanded. Pulvilli well developed; empodium not observable (probably minute, setiform).
Abdomen: Short, stout, about same length as thorax; 8 well-developed tergites visible, enfolded laterally, with scattered, fine setae; sternites not observable. Male Terminalia: Apical three tergites (7, 8, and 9 [epandrium]) lateroflexed 90° to right; epandrium capsulelike; surstylus digitiform, curved, suspended ventrally; cercus small, broad; postgonites with visible portion flanking phallus; phallus curved.
SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Holotype, male, Az 715A, in the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. The fly is complete, preserved in a tiny chip of amber that is mounted in balsam on a microscope slide.
ETYMOLOGY: Patronym for Dany Azar, for his work on Lebanese amber.
description: Published as part of Grimaldi, David A., 2018, Basal Cyclorrhapha In Amber From The Cretaceous And Tertiary (Insecta: Diptera), And Their Relationships: Brachycera In Cretaceous Amber Part Ix David A. Grimaldi, pp. 1-97 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2018 (423) on pages 1-97, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090-423.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4613008