Miltogramma vervesi Szpila and Pape 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Szpila, Krzysztof
name: Walczak, Kinga
name: Grzywacz, Andrzej
name: Akbarzadeh, Agnieszka Soszyńska Kamran
name: Bystrowski, Cezary
name: Pape, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sarcophagidae
Miltogramma
Miltogramma vervesi

description: Miltogramma vervesi Szpila and Pape, sp. nov.
(Figs 1A, 2A–M, 3A)
Zoobank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 0B901975- 8AD2-415C-900F-DA3378B66180.
Type material. Holotype: 1M, Iran, Kerman Province, Rayen Waterfall, 11 May 2017, 29.5482 57.2981, leg. KEiB Iran Expedition IV (barcoded, KEIB _DIP_01226). Paratypes: 1F, Iran, Kerman Province, Rayen Waterfall, 11 May 2017, 29.5482 57.2981, leg. KEiB Iran Expedition IV (barcoded, KEIB _ DIP_01227); 1M, Turkey, District Mersin, Erdemli, 14 June 2009, 36.5658 34.1225, leg. C. Bystrowski; 2M, Turkey, District Mersin, Erdemli, 13-14 June 2009, 36.7422 34.1313, leg. C. Bystrowski; 2M, Turkey, District Alania, Akseki, 2 May 2010, 36.9911 31.7572, leg. C. Bystrowski.
Male (Figs 1A, 2A–J, 3A). Body length 4.5–6 mm (N = 6). Head. Parafacial plate pale whitish-yellow, narrow, slightly narrowed downward, with the width at level of vibrissal angles 0.54 of the width at the base of antenna. Frons narrow, almost parallel, 0.30 head width at the ocellar triangle and 0.27 head width at the base of antenna. Fronto-orbital plate pale golden-yellow, except grey posteriormost part. Frontal viưa broad, 2.5× as broad as fronto-orbital plate at vertex, narrowed anteriorly, width at lunule 0.55 width at anterior ocellus, golden in anterior view, dark-gold in dorsal view. Scape, pedicel, and first flagellomere yellow, arista black. Ocellar triangle with a pair of laterally directed setae slightly larger than additional ocellar setulae, and two pairs of small postocellar setae. Inner vertical seta strong, almost straight, outer vertical seta curved and 0.7× as long as inner vertical seta; 11–13 pairs of strong frontal setae, anterior pairs crossing over frontal viưa. Frontal viưa and vertex bare, except one pair of paravertical setae. Two proclinate orbital setae, one reclinate orbital seta. Fronto-orbital plate with five to eight strong setulae distributed around orbital setae. Parafacial plate with sparse, short, whitish-yellow setulae. Lunule bare. Scape and pedicel with short setulae. Gena and postgena with black setulae. Postcranium with black setulae. Antenna inserted distinctly above level of middle of eye. Antenna short, first flagellomere 2× as long as pedicel and 1× as long as distance between tip of first flagellomere and lower margin of facial plate, tip reaching to about 0.3 of parafacial plate. Arista micropubescent, aristomeres 1 and 2 shorter than their greatest diameter, aristomere 3 widened in basal 0.4. Facial plate with low keel below antennal insertion. Vibrissa not differentiated from surrounding setae, vibrissal angle situated distinctly above lower margin of facial plate. Subvibrissal setae numerous, long, black. Height of gena 0.4× length of first flagellomere and 0.1× eye height. Proboscis short, labellum 0.8× as long as prementum, palpus yellow.
Thorax. Black ground colour; covered with grey microtrichosity; scutum with shiny stripes; presutural area with five stripes: a pair of broad lateral stripes flank three narrow inner stripes; postsutural area with three stripes: the continuation of the broad lateral stripes and the narrow median stripe.
Legs. Foreleg tarsomeres 1–5 with length proportions 1–0.25–0.2–0.17–0.3. Fore tarsus with claws shorter than tarsomere 5. Tarsomeres 2 and 3 distally and tarsomere 4 at middle with elongated anterodorsal and dorsal setae, which curve forwards and upwards, and for those on tarsomeres 3 and 4 with distal part curved posteriorly. Mid-tibia with one strong and two weak anterodorsal setae. Legs otherwise without particular modifications.
Wing. Tegula black, basicosta yellow, veins yellow; costal spine not developed; base of vein R 4 * 5 without setulae; distal part of vein M bent at right angle, M cell r 4 * 5 open.
Abdomen. Black, covered with grey microtrichosity on the anterior parts of tergites. Syntergite 1 * 2 entirely black. Posterior part of tergites 3–5 with a lustrous black band across posterior margin. Black bands occupy 0.6–0.7 of the tergite length. In dorsal view each segment with median lustrous black spot separated from the lateral bands by area covered with grey microtrichosity.
Terminalia (Fig. 2H–J). Cuticle black, with light microtrichosity. Cercus (c) black, slightly curved (lateral view) and gradually tapering into a pointed tip (lateral and posterior view). Cercus with scaưered setae and short setulae in basal half, almost bare in distal half. Gonostylus (gst) black, straight, with similar length to cercus, evenly rounded apically and with setulae along whole length. Pregonite (prg) broad, slightly curved anteriorly with rounded tip; postgonite (pog) almost straight, broad with bluntly pointed tip and strong anterior seta. Basiphallus, ventral plate (vp) and dorsal plate (dp) strongly sclerotized; dorsal plate shallowly bifid apically (posterior view); ventral plate much shorter than dorsal plate. Membranous part of phallus with numerous denticles, acrophallus (ac) widened at tip.
Female (Fig. 2K–M). Differs from male only by unmodified fore tarsus chaetotaxy and slightly more tapered abdomen.
Biology. Specimens were collected on hilltops around noon perching on large, flat stones.
DNA barcoding. Both barcoded specimens (male and female) are grouped together and are distinctly separated from other species of Miltogramma (Table 2; Fig. 4).
Etymology. Named in honour of recently deceased, eminent Ukrainian dipterist, Prof. Yuriy Grigorevitch Verves.
Remarks. Identifying specimens of M. vervesi sp. nov. using the keys provided by Rohdendorf (1930, 1935), Verves (1994), and Povolný and Verves (1997) leads to species belonging to their subgenus Miltogrammidium Rohdendorf (narrow, almost parallel frons, and abdominal tergites with distinct posterior band). The fore tarsus chaetotaxy with tarsomeres 2–4 equipped with elongated anterodorsal and dorsal setae with distal part curved posteriorly, and the black coloration of the body with lustrous black posterior margin of abdominal tergites are not present in any known species of Miltogrammidium.
description: Published as part of Szpila, Krzysztof, Walczak, Kinga, Grzywacz, Andrzej, Akbarzadeh, Agnieszka Soszyńska Kamran, Bystrowski, Cezary & Pape, Thomas, 2024, Underexplored diversity in Palaearctic Miltogramma Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), pp. 1-21 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 201 on pages 4-6, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad141, http://zenodo.org/record/13313484