Protypusia incisa Gibbs 2023, gen. et comb. nov.
Creators: name: Gibbs, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Bombyliidae
Protypusia
Protypusia incisa

description: Protypusia incisa (Wiedemann, 1830) gen. et comb. nov.
Figs 7, 41
Usia incisa Wiedemann, 1830: 617.
Usia major Macquart, 1840: 104 syn. nov.
Etymology
From Latin ‘ incīdō ’ to ‘cut open’.
Type material of incisa
Holotype
SPAIN • ♂; “[Andalusia], incisus Wied., Hispania/ Coll. Winthem / Type / incisa, det. Becker ”; NMW.
Type material of major
Lectotype (here designated)
ALGERIA • [♂ good condition, slightly mouldy]; “Oran, Museum Paris, Algérie, Coll. H. Lucas 78-49/ Oran [on reverse of round blue label]/ U. major, H. Lucas det.”; MNHN.
Paralectotypes
ALGERIA • [1 ♀]; “ Oran, Museum Paris, Algérie, Coll. H. Lucas 78-49/1215. [on reverse of round blue label]/ U. major, H. Lucas det.; Museum Paris”; MNHN • [1 ♀, abdomen missing]; “ Oran, Mittre 4184- 34/4184, 34 [on reverse of round blue label]/m: 894, Usia major / TYPE /”; MNHN • [1 ♀]; “ Constantine / Museum Paris, Algérie, Coll. H. Lucas 78-49/707. [on reverse of round blue label]/ Usia major Macqt. ”; MNHN • [1 ♀]; “La Calle/ Museum Paris, Algérie, Coll. H. Lucas 78-49/1261 [on reverse of round blue label]/ U. major H. Lucas det.”; MNHN.
Other material examined
ALGERIA • 1 ♂; “ Atlas, Mecheria, N33°35′12″ W00°14′48″ 10 April 1994 (leg. J. Janssens)”; PCJD.
FRANCE • [1 ♂, 1 ♀]; “Museum Paris, Pyrénées-Orient, Banyuls-sur-Mer, L. Berland 1914”; MNHN.
MOROCCO • [4 ♀♀]; “Museum Paris, Maroc, Forêt des Zaers, Aïn Sferguila, R. Benoist 1928, 22 May 1928 ”; MNHN • [3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀]; “Sidi Bettache, R. Benoist 1928, May”; MNHN.
PORTUGAL • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; “ Guarda, Piornos (Covilhã) 15 vi 1999 (leg. J.M. Grosso-Silva)”; PCDG.
SPAIN • 1 ♀; “ 6 km N of Villar de Ciervo, 26 May–2 June 1999 (SA), yellow pan trap (leg. P. Tschorsnig)”; PCDG • 1 ♂; “ Pto de Pena Negra, S of Piedrahita, Prov. Avila, 1900 m, 7 June 1995 ♂ (leg. J.P. Duffels); PCJD • 1 ♀; “ Monasterio de Yuso, SW of Najera, Prov. Logrono, 1300 m, 14 June 1995 ♀ (leg. J.P. Duffels)”; PCJD • 1 ♀; “ Leon, La Pola de Gordon, 1050 m 18 June 2001 (leg. H. & I.V. Oorschot); PCJD • 1 ♀; “ Palencia, Aguilar de Campou 19 June 1980 (leg. P.J. Chandler)”; PCDG.
TUNISIA • 1 ♂; “ Dj. Chambi, 3300′ 9 June 1980 ♂ (leg. K. Guichard)”; NHML.
Redescription
MEASUREMENTS. Body length: 8.0–10.0 mm. Wing length: 7.1–9.8 mm.
Male
HEAD. Gena relatively broad, one and half to twice as wide as width of proboscis at base, broadening out onto frons, all blue-grey dusted except for a narrow, shiny, mouth margin where black ground colour shows through. Frons convex or inflated, uniformly covered with mid-length, silky white hairs, the longest exceeding the length of the scape and pedicel combined. Silky white hairs extending down the gena to merge with hairs below eyes, hairs tending to be decurved or wavy-tipped. Eyes holoptic, contiguous for about 11–12 facets (at high magnification the eyes of a specimen from Algeria appear to be very narrowly separated by less than the width of a facet), frons extending up in narrow point. Ocellar tubercle black, subshining, barely brownish dusted, the hind ocelli in contact with hind corners of eyes; ocelli make an equilateral triangle or slightly acute. White hairs on ocellar tubercle at most as long as scape and pedicel combined, shorter than longest frons hairs. Eye facets enlarged in upper two thirds to three fifths about twice the size of lower facets. Occiput blackish in ground colour, quite thickly dusted except sometimes on acute triangle behind ocellar tubercle which is thinly dusted in some specimens. Occiput evenly and thickly covered with silky white to pale yellow hairs, merging into longer and usually whiter hairs below eyes. Antennae blackish, the scape and pedicel grey dusted, postpedicel significantly longer than scape and pedicel together. Scape and pedicel clothed with silky-white hairs, the longest on the scape much longer than its diameter, postpedicel with series of short hairs along dorsal surface becoming longer distally. Palps short, claviform, blackish, thickly clothed with long yellowishwhite hairs. Proboscis moderately long, about equal to the mesonotum and scutellum, black, laterally with no more than tiny setulae on basal third.
THORAX. Mesonotum with blackish ground-colour obscured by greenish-grey dust on postpronotal lobe, notopleuron, above wing bases, post alar callus and anterior slope of mesonotum from which issue paler blue-grey dorsocentral lines that run the length of the mesonotum, between is a pale acrostichal line which may be complete or only clear anteriorly. The dense dusting leaves clear black paramedian and antehumeral vittae, latter contiguous, not divided at suture. Area in front of scutellum grey dusted connected to dorsocentral lines and sometime acrostichal line. In more or less greased specimens the patterning of the mesonotum may be obscured. Hairs of mesonotum pale yellowish, as long as postpedicel in places, hairs sparser and shorter, often paler, on disc, long and dense anteriorly and on notopleuron. Scutellum variably grey-brown dusted, similar to base of mesonotum or less dense, subshining, yellowish hairs dorsally as long, peripherally longer than those on mesonotum. Pleura densely coated with grey dust, anepisternum and pronotum with long, pale yellow hairs, katepisternum less densely hairy dorsally and anteriorly, anepimeron also with soft pale hairs (Spanish specimens only), a tuft of white hairs on metepimeron below haltere behind spiracle (African specimens only).
WING. Membrane with a yellow-brown tinge, especially anteriorly and close to veins, the veins brown, subcosta yellow. Crossvein r-m close to middle of the discal cell, well beyond m-cu. Anal lobe well developed with conspicuously convex margin, broader than anal cell.
HALTERE. Almost entirely yellow or white, base of stem slightly infuscated.
LEGS. Coxae concolourous with pleura, pale grey dusted with long silky white hairs. Femora and tibia black, apices of femora very narrowly (Spanish specimens) more distinctly (African specimens) yellow; a little less densely dusted, especially tibia and tarsi, variable, in some shining black ground colour discernible. Legs covered with silky white hairs, longest on fore and mid-femora posteriorly, hind femora antero-ventrally, tibia mostly short-haired, longer basally, especially mid-femora.
ABDOMEN. Tergites matt black on disc, only grey dusted on reflexed lateral margins. All tergites with broad, sharply delimited yellow posterior margins, narrowing to a point on reflexed lateral margins, in some continuing to sternites. All tergites with long silky-white hairs longer than the length of each tergite, rather denser laterally. Sternites pale grey dusted obscuring ground colour, pale apical margins broader and paler than on tergites, dulled by grey dusting, white hairs as long as those on tergites.
GENITALIA. Small, typical of genus, usually tucked under tip of abdomen, often retracted and ventrally deflected, black in ground colour, gonocoxite and epandrium with grey dusting, subshining, apices of both yellow, tip of gonocoxite shining, undusted, cerci yellow. Gonocoxite and epandrium with long silvery hairs with those on gonocoxite having tips curved in. Gonostyli black to brownish, shining.
Female
Differs from the male in its broadly separated eyes, the frons densely grey dusted except on subshining ocellar tubercle and frons anterior to ocellar tubercle which is slightly more thinly dusted.At its narrowest part frons is noticeably wider than length of postpedicel, about two-fifths head width. Hairs on frons rather shorter, extending back to level of front ocellus, somewhat adpressed, hairs more erect on front of frons and down gena. Shiny oral margin wider and often yellow or brownish. Hairs on occiput shorter, bearded effect on gena not as obvious. Mesonotum as male but vestiture generally shorter. Hairs on tergites significantly shorter, especially dorsally, Legs very similar except vestiture shorter.
Remarks
Specimens from northeast Africa, were described as Usia major by Macquart (1840). This population differs from Iberian Pro. incisa in showing more yellow on the knees and the distribution of hairs on the pleura. However, both of these characters are variable, and given the similarity in male and female genitalia, I place Pro. major as a synonym of Pro. incisa.
Distribution
Algeria, southern France (rare specimens north to Fontainebleau), Morocco, Spain, Tunisia.
description: Published as part of Gibbs, David, 2023, A world review of the bee fly tribe Usiini (Diptera, Bombyliidae) - Part 3: Parageron Paramonov s. lat., pp. 1-162 in European Journal of Taxonomy 863 (1) on pages 58-61, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.863.2081, http://zenodo.org/record/7767958