Griphophanes obscurus Grootaert & Meuffels, 2012, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grootaert, Patrick
name: Meuffels, Henk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Dolichopodidae
Griphophanes
Griphophanes obscurus

description: Griphophanes obscurus sp. nov.
(Figs. 8, 12)
Material examined. HOLOTYPE 3: MALAYSIA, Endau-Rompin N.P. (2°32'N, 103°24'E; alt. 34 m) primary rain forest along Endau river, 12.VII.2001 (reg. 21068, M1, leg. P. Grootaert). PARATYPES: 1 3, Malaysia, Endau-Rompin, river banks, Sungei 1, tributary Endau river, 13.VII.2001 (reg. 21070, leg. P. Grootaert); 1 3, Kota Tinggi, Air Terjun, (1°49’E, 103°49’E; alt. 100 m), 11.X.2000 (reg. 20041, leg. P. Grootaert & N. Evenhuis); 8 3, 3 Ƥ, Gunung Belumut (Yohor prov.; 2°01'06.12''N 103°31'57.84''E), 22.X.2005 (Si 1102; leg. P. Grootaert).
Etymology. The name obscurus refers to the dark legs.
Diagnosis. A small species with dark legs. Acr uniseriate. Fore femur with a row of pv. Hind femur with a double row of long ventral bristles. Cerci not bi-furcate, but bent under a right angle.
Description. Male. Body length 1.4 mm; wing length 1.12 mm. Head. Frons and face with blackish ground colour. Eyes nearly touching each other below middle of face. Palpus brown, with short, black apical bristle. Rostrum dark brown. Occiput black. Postoculars all black. Antenna dark brown. Dorsal bristle on second antennal segment as long as third segment (shorter in G. gravicaudatus). Third segment about as long as deep, triangular, with rather blunt apex. Arista dorsal, more than 3X as long as antenna, bare; basal aristal segment half as long as third antennal segment. Thorax. Mesoscutum and scutellum greenish black, feebly shining. Pleurae brownish black to dark brown, partly with green metallic gloss. About 8 uniseriate acr, much shorter than dc, extending slightly beyond beginning of prescutellar depression. 5 dc. Legs dark brown. Claws on all legs small, symmetrical. Fore leg. Coxa anteriorly with few, short, dark hairs; at apex a few short and weak bristles. Trochanter bare. Femur with row of pv, half as long as femur is wide. Tibia shorter than femur, without bristles. Apical four tarsomeres dorsoventrally flattened.
Mid leg. Coxa anteriorly with a few hairs; no exterior bristle. Femur with row of ventral bristles, in apical half bristles longer than width of femur; distinct anterior preapical bristle present. Tibia slightly longer than femur; 1 ad at basal third and 1 pd at basal fourth; 1 long, ventral apical. Hind leg. Coxa with distinct black exterior bristle. Femur with double row of ventrals: 4 interspaced bristles in anterior row as long as depth of femur and at least 4 bristles in posterior row. Tibia slightly longer than femur; tiny ad at basal fourth; 1 long, dorsal pre-apical bristle present. Small black denticle present under posteroventral comb. Wing. Brownish tinged. Tp about half as long as apical part of M3+4. Halter black. Squama brown, with black border, and 5 long black cilia. Abdomen. Blackish brown above, feebly shining; sterna brownish. Hairs on terga minute, black; hind marginal bristles on first tergum long; those on following segments short, hardly longer than rest of pubescence. Hypopygium (Fig. 8) brownish black; cerci long, brownish, tip bent less than right angle. Ventral surstylus digitiform with dorsal tubercle and broad spine-like bristle at apex. Dorsal surstylus bent at tip and with broad apical and strong subapical bristle. Epandrial lobe pronounced. Aedeagus with curved tip with serrated outer border. Female. Resembling male, but all femora lacking ventral bristles.
Remarks. In having the tip of the cercus bent at right angles, G. obscurus sp. nov. resembles both G. tiomanensis sp. nov. and G. gravicaudatus. In fact the differences with G. tiomanensis sp. nov. are limited to the acrostichals (acr) that are composed of a single row of 3 to 4 bristles that are almost as long as the dorsocentrals (dc) and not reaching the middle of the mesonotum in G. tiomanensis sp. nov. The acr are about 7 to 8 in number in G. obscurus sp. nov. and are much shorter than the dc; the acr extend beyond the middle of the mesonotum. The ventral bristles on the hind femur are more numerous and longer in G. tiomanensis sp. nov. In addition the ventral surstylus is twice as thick in G. tiomanensis sp. nov. as in G. obscurus sp. nov. and the tip of the cercus bears thicker hairs. Otherwise no other clear distinctive characters were found.
This new species also resembles G. gravicaudatus, but the former is smaller and the legs are darker. In addition, the mid femur with a row of pv bristles, growing longer towards tip of femur (longest are about as long as greatest width of femur) and the hind femur with a double row of long interspaced ventral bristles while the hind femur in G. gravicaudatus is lacking ventral bristles. The cerci are long (more than half as long as hypopygium), bent, much longer and broader than in G. gravicaudatus.
description: Published as part of Grootaert, Patrick & Meuffels, Henk, 2012, New Griphophanes Grootaert & Meuffels (Diptera, Dolichopodidae, Peloropeodinae) from Southeast Asia, pp. 570-580 in Zootaxa 3478 on pages 576-577, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.214402