Gonioscelis batyleon Londt 2004, sp. n.
Creators: name: Londt, Jason G. H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2004
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Gonioscelis
Gonioscelis batyleon

description: Gonioscelis batyleon sp. n.   Figs 21–23, 144  
 Etymology: Gr. batyle – dwarf (female) + leon – lion. Refers to the small size of this tawny predator.   
Description: Based primarily on holotype ơ (BMNH).  
 Head:Antennal scape brown-orange, pedicel orange-brown, postpedicel dark red-brown, setae mostly yellow except for some dark red-brown ones ventrally. Facial swelling poorly developed, mystax uniform pale yellow-white, weaker between gibbosity and antennal sockets. Frons and vertex thinly silver pruinose. Ocellar tubercle apruinose with dark red-brown oc. Occiput dark red-brown, gold-silver pruinose except for two apruinose areas behind vertex, setae pale yellow-white. Proboscis and palpus orangebrown, pale yellow-white setose.   
 Thorax: Brown-orange with dark red-brown markings, thinly silver-gold pruinose. Mesonotum with three longitudinal thinly pruinose stripes, central one being longest. Postpronotal lobes brown-orange, not contrasting with adjacent mesonotum, with few pale yellow-white setae. Mesonotal setae mostly pale yellow-white: ac not evident; approx. 6 pairs dc dark red-brown anteriorly, just extending anterior of transverse suture; 3 npl (most anterior brown); 2 sa; 2–3 pa. Scutellum brown-orange, with 2 pale yellowwhite mrg sct. Wing length 6.1 mm (paratype 5.4 mm), membrane mostly yellowbrown. Legs: Mostly brown-orange except for much of anterior surface of prothoracic femur and anteroventral aspects of mesothoracic femur which are dark red-brown, macro setae dark red-brown, minor setae pale yellow-white. Prothoracic coxa brown-orange, silver-gold pruinose, white setose; femoral spur bluntly pointed (angle approx. 60°).   
 Abdomen: Tergites orange-brown to brown-orange (anterior tergites darker than posterior ones), gold-silver pruinose, fine yellow-white setose. Sternites brown-orange, thinly gold-silver pruinose, fine yellow-white setose.   
 Terminalia (Figs 21–23): Long ep (i.e. lobes project beyond tip of proctiger), tapering gradually distally, with a few strong terminal macrosetae; gcx with two inwardly directed distal projections and fine setae; hyp in ventral view slightly longer than broad, tapering rapidly to mid-length before broadening slightly and terminating in a pair of macrosetose lobes separated by a space approximately equal to width of each lobe.   
Variation: Little evident. Female unknown.  
 Type material: KENYA: 2 ơ (holotype and paratype), ‘ Meneghetti / 2-1943 / Nairobi [01°17'S 36°49'E]’, ‘Pres. by / Coryndon Mus. / B.M. 1961-696’ (BMNH).   
Type locality: Kenya: Nairobi.  
Distribution, phenology and biology (Tables 1–2, Fig. 144): Known only from the type locality, both specimens being collected in February.  
 Similar species:A member of the large and widely distributed group of species possessing a poorly defined facial gibbosity.Although sharing a similar hypandrial shape to species like feijeni, hadrocantha and whittingtoni, batyleon can be readily distinguished from these and other supercially similar species using other features of the male genitalia.
description: Published as part of Londt, Jason G. H., 2004, A review of the afrotropical genus Gonioscelis Schiner, 1866 (Diptera: Asilidae), with descriptions of new species, pp. 21-124 in African Invertebrates 45 on pages 33-34, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7666901