Amiota floridiensis Jones & Grimaldi 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Jones, Lance E.
name: Grimaldi, David A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Drosophilidae
Amiota
Amiota floridiensis

description: Amiota floridiensis, sp. nov.
Figures 69A–B, 72E, 76, 95B
DIAGNOSIS: Small fly (ThL 1.11 mm), frons narrow, dull; arista with medium branches dorsally and ventrally; genitalia very distinctive: outer paraphysis with hornlike spine projecting dorsally; inner paraphysis armlike, projecting dorsolaterally, broadened at distal end into 5 pointed spines, the middle spine longer than the other 4; aedeagal apodeme faint and lightly sclerotized, long and rectangular, length almost 2.5× width, distal end narrower than midsection.
DESCRIPTION: Small fly (ThL 1.11 mm), thorax jet black [faded to rusty ochre in the holotype], legs light yellow. Frons slightly pollinose, dark brown, narrow. Cheek white. Palp yellow. Katepisternum lighter than rest of pleuron. Tergites 1 and 2 lightly colored. Arista: Medium, plumose; longest branch D2; A.R. 0.42; 5 long dorsal, 3 long ventral branches, none pointed mediad/laterad; arista trunk with short microtrichia, bare on apical half. Male genitalia: Epandrium wide ventrally, with 8–13 crowded long setae, 5–6 setae forming a single row leading to the apex, dorsal bridge of epandrium barely present. Cercus distinct from surrounding membrane. Surstylus with 9 prensisetae, apices blunt, all of roughly equal size; triangular lobe, pointed, arising on lateralmost area of surstylus, extending over prensisetae, with ca. 9 long setulae. Subepandrial sclerite forming a small scoop, extending ventrally just below epandrium, but not appendicular. Outer paraphysis laterally flattened, with heavily sclerotized hornlike spine arising at base, proximal tooth at midpoint; distal portion of outer paraphysis forming rounded lobe with ca. 7 sensilla. Inner paraphysis armlike, darkly sclerotized, sinuous in anterior view, dorsolaterally projecting, distally flattening to 5 pointed spines, the middle one longest. Aedeagal apodeme very distinctive: slender, lightly sclerotized, length 2.5× width, slightly bent in lateral view (not strongly arched); distal portion small, almost rectangular, narrower than midsection, not widely flared and without concave depression. Hypandrium simple, a squared U-shape, thickness consistent; lateral arms not thickened. Ejaculatory apodeme not studied. Head and thorax measurements: (n = 1, Am 174) FL/FW 0.86, EL/EW 1.52, EL/CW 15.25, FML/FMW 0.35, PR /RR 0.54, ThL 1.11 mm.
TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype: male: FLOR-IDA: Lake Hall 5 mi. N. Tallahassee, [30.521947, -84.258074], VI/12 - V/14 /50, T. C. Hsu and Stephens, 2007.16, Am 174, [specimen glued to paper point, dissected]. Deposited in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).
OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: Known only from the holotype.
ETYMOLOGY: In reference to Florida (United States), the state of the type locality.
DISTRIBUTION: This species is only known from the panhandle of Florida.
COMMENTS: Wheeler (1952) referred to this undescribed species as “ Amiota species C ” but refrained from describing it.
description: Published as part of Jones, Lance E. & Grimaldi, David A., 2022, Revision Of The Nearctic Species Of The Genus Amiota Loew (Diptera: Drosophilidae), pp. 1-181 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2022 (458) on pages 132-133, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.458.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7400026