Tipula (Vestiplex) singularis Men & Sun & Starkevich 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Men, Qiulei
name: Sun, Zhongqiu
name: Starkevich, Pavel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Tipulidae
Tipula
Tipula singularis

description: Tipula (Vestiplex) singularis sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 2B37D6F8-9550-4475-B536-7832AA2D5E5C
Figs 41–55
Diagnosis
The new species can be recognized by unarmed gonocoxite apically bearing small point, tergite nine ventrally bearing flashy lobes and specific narrow blackened ridge on either side of midline, clasper of gonostylus basally having remarkable angular lobe and reduced dorsal lobe of A9S; antenna reaching base of wing if bent backward, flagellum brown, except yellow base of the first flagellomere; wing light brown with dark stigma; basal four abdominal segments yellow, trivittate, rest of segments black.
Etymology
The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the Latin ‘ singularis ’ meaning ‘single’, referring to the singular, finger-shaped rod on the gonocoxite.
Material examined
Holotype CHINA • ♂; Yunnan, Gongshan County, Bingzhongluo, Gongdangshenshan Mountain; 12 Jun. 2019; Men Qiulei and Lv Lin leg.; AQNU.
Paratype CHINA • 1 ♂; Yunnan, Lushui County, Pianma; 19 Jun. 2019; Q. Men and Lin Lv leg.; AQNU.
Comparative material examined
INDIA • ♂; holotype of Tipula (Vestiplex) immsiana Alexander, 1970; Assam [Arunachal Pradesh]; Talung Dzong, Kameng; North East Frontier Agency; alt. 7600 feet; 5 Jun. 1961; Schmid leg.; antenna, leg, wing and genitalia on slide mounted; USNM • 1 ♂; paratype of Tipula (Vestiplex) immsiana Alexander, 1970; same collection data as for holotype; USNM.
Description
Male (Figs 41–55)
MEASUREMENTS. Body length 12.0– 12.2 mm (excluding antenna, n = 2), wing length 18.1–18.3 mm (n = 2), antenna length 3.8–3.9 mm (n = 2). General body coloration yellowish.
HEAD (Fig. 41). Rostrum with nasus yellow, densely covered with yellow setae. Eye black. Occiput and vertex yellowish, without marking (Fig. 41). Antenna 13-segmented, if bent backward reaching base of wing. Scape yellow, cylindrical, slightly expanded at apex, distinctly longer than first flagellomere. Pedicel yellow, oval. Flagellum entirely brown except first flagellomere having slightly yellow basal fourth. Each flagellomere except first one enlarged at base, with five brown longest verticils. Longest verticils significantly longer than corresponding segments, surface of each flagellomere densely covered with short yellow setae. Palpus yellow.
THORAX (Figs 42–43). Pronotum yellow with medial region brown. Prescutum and presutural scutum brownish with four dark brown longitudinal stripes, intermediate fused with narrow median line (Fig. 42). Interspaces gray, densely covered with short white setae (Fig. 42). Postsutural scutum brown, scutal lobes each with two dark brown triangular separated spots (Fig. 42). Scutellum brown with broad black vitta, covered with short yellow setae (Fig. 42). Mediotergite dark brown with black vitta (Fig. 42). Pleura yellowish, thinly dusted with grey (Fig. 43). Leg with coxa and trochanter yellow, femur yellow with darkened and enlarged tip, tibia yellowish at base, gradually changing into dark brown, tip black, tarsal segments dark brown. Wing light brown, cell c slightly more yellowish than ground color, stigma dark brown, variegated by light areas in apical area of cell c, medial and basal areas of 1 st cell of cell r 1, light band across apical area of cell r 1, base of cells r 3 and r 4, and basal area of discal cell, apical area of basal radial cell and basal area of cell m 3; rest light area including medial and basal areas of basal radial cell, medial and basal area of basal medial cell, apical and basal areas of posterior cubital cell, and median region and outer ends of anal cells (Fig. 44).
WING VENATION. R 1 complete, R 3 1.1 × as long as R 2+3+4, R 4 1.4 × as long as Rs, R 5 curved at apical half, r-m more than 2.0 × as long as base of R 5, discal cell narrow, 3.3 × as long as petiole of cell m 1, M 1 at least 4.7 × as long as its petiole (Fig. 44). Halter pale yellow, knob brown at basal half, densely covered with short brown setae, pale yellow at apical half.
ABDOMEN (Fig. 45). Basal four abdominal segments yellow with brown ill-defined median and lateral stripes, latter gradually broader and heavier, rest abdominal segments including hypopygium black (Fig. 45).
HYPOPYGIUM (Figs 46–55). Hypopygium with tergite nine separated from sternite nine at apical half (Fig. 46). Dorsal portion of tergite nine broadly emarginated on posterior margin, medially with V-shaped notch (Fig. 46). Tergite nine completely divided at midline by pale membrane (Figs 46–47). Ventral portion of tergite nine with pair of nearly fleshy lobes terminating into narrowed black armatures, between them narrow-blackened ridge on either side of midline produced into triangular black point; pair of narrowed blackened anal plates (ap) fused with ventral armatures (Figs 46–47). Gonocoxite obtuse, divided from sternite nine by suture except ventral area, apically producing into small obtuse point (Figs 48–49). Lobe of gonostylus short, broad apically (Fig. 50). Clasper of gonostylus narrowed, upper beak slender and black, lower beak obtuse and black, with sinuate dorsal crest, basally with big angular lobe, inner surface medially with round lobe (Figs 51–52). Sternite nine with ventral lobe of A9S thumb-like, massive, densely covered with long setae; dorsal lobe of A9S reduced into small rounded sclerite located between ventral lobe and mesoventral margin of gonocoxite (Fig. 49). Adminiculum nearly triangular in ventral view, bifurcated apically in lateral view (Figs 48–49). Semen pump with central vesicle swollen (Fig. 54). Ejaculatory apodeme with V-shaped median incision, lateral arms truncated apically, distinctly longer than posterior immovable apodeme (Fig. 53). Posterior immovable apodeme short, slightly curved dorsally in lateral view, broad basally (Fig. 55). Anterior immovable apodeme, narrow, sinuate at outer margin in dorsal view (Fig. 55). Aedeagus thick, almost same thickness throughout, broad at apex which has a small hork; aedeagus more than 3.5 × as long as semen pump (Fig. 54).
Female
Unknown.
Remarks
The new species is very similar to T. (V.) immsiana Alexander, 1970, from Arunachal Pradesh, India, by details of tergite nine. Both species have a ventral portion provided by a specific narrowed and blackened ridge located on either side of the midline which separates both ventral armatures. Easily to be separated by the clasper of the gonostylus bearing an angular lobe in T. (V.) singularis sp. nov., which is absent in T. (V.) immsiana. Also easily distinguished by the dorsal lobe of A9S which is reduced in T. (V.) singularis sp. nov. while it bears a distinct blade-shaped dorsal lobe in T. (V.) immsiana (Alexander 1970: fig. 35).
description: Published as part of Men, Qiulei, Sun, Zhongqiu & Starkevich, Pavel, 2023, Four new crane fly species of the subgenus Vestiplex (Diptera: Tipulidae: Tipula) from Tibet and Yunnan, China, pp. 170-192 in European Journal of Taxonomy 856 on pages 183-187, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.856.2037, http://zenodo.org/record/7616228