Ommatius burwelli Daniels, 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Daniels, Greg
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Ommatius
Ommatius burwelli

description: Ommatius burwelli sp. nov.
(Figs 7, 28–43, 111)
Diagnosis. A dingy species with pale brown hyaline wings and dense microtrichia in anterior half of cell r1 and extending distally to level of junction of veins Sc and C. The costal margin of males is slightly dilated.
Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, AUSTRALIA. Queensland. 1 ♂, NEQ: 16°14’S 145°00’E / Windsor Tableland, / 5.7 km past barracks / 24Nov.1997 1300m / C.J. Burwell rainforest / (QM Reg. No. T 207013); PARATYPES. Queensland. 2 ♀, 16°14’S 145°00’E Windsor Tableland, 5.7 km past barracks 24.xi.1997 1300m C.J. Burwell rainforest (QM); 1 ♀, NEQ: 16°13’S 145°59’E Windsor Tableland, NW open sclerophyll forest, 23– 24.xi.1997 1100m C.J. Burwell (QM); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Windsor Tableland NW of Mossman (site 1) 810 m 1612’51 S 14504 ’09E 5.i.1994 G. and A. Daniels R. Eastwood (AM); 1 ♀, Mt Windsor Tableland NW of Mossman (site 2) 1100 m 1612’50 S 14459 ’06E 5.i.1994 G. and A. Daniels R. Eastwood (AM); 1 ♂, Mt Misery SW of Cooktown 1552’ S 14513 ’E 867 m 5.i.1994 G. and A. Daniels R. Eastwood (AM); 1 ♀, Herberton Ra., 4.5 km W Atherton, rainforest, 1100 m, 25.xi.1985, D.K. Yeates (QM); 1 ♂, Lake Eacham Nat. Pk, Atherton Tableland 27.xii.1969 V. Stablum (QM); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 19 km W of Paluma 1845’ S 14615 ’E 18.xii.1994 L.R. Ring (AM); 1 ♂, 3 ♀, Bluewater State Forest NW of Townsville (site 2) 1913.74’S 14624.04’E 15.i.1995 640 m G. and A. Daniels wet sclerophyll (AM); 3 ♂, 8 ♀, same data except (site 3) 15.i.1995 720 m 1912.45’S 14624.61’E rain forest (AM); 1 ♂, 5 ♀, same data except 1914.15’S 14624.18’E 13–14.i.1995 580 m (AM); 1 ♂, 7 ♀, same data except (site 4) 1912.28’S 14624.61’E 15.i.1995 700 m rain forest (AM).
Description. Male. Body length, 10.1 mm; thoracic length, 2.8 mm; wing length, ♂ 8.1 mm. Head. Face gently rounded, barely protruding beyond eyes in profile and with yellowish tomentum. Mystax with 2 vertical rows of 6 or 7 long thin black bristles, admixed with shorter bristles. Bristles on lower half of face and epistomal margin weaker, shorter and yellowish. Ocellar tubercle with a pair of long proclinate setae. Flagellum longer than pedicel, conical and laterally flattened. Style with setae in one rank on basal half, then two distally. Thorax. Ground colour black, lateral pleural sclerites with yellowish tomentum; mesonotum with brownish tomentum, becoming yellowish laterally; postpronotal lobe tomentose and with a few long weak setae. Acrostichal setae seemingly absent but when viewed in profile setae are discernible. Presutural dorsocentral bristles absent; 4 or 5 pairs of postsutural dorsocentral bristles present. Scutellum with a pair of long, black marginal setae; disc with a few weak, scattered setae. Anepisternum with weak setae. Anepimeron with a group of fine setae anterior to the anepimeral cleft. Wing (Fig. 111). Smoky brown hyaline; dense microtrichia present in anterior half of cell r1 and extending distally to junction of veins Sc and C, then extending along posterior margin of wing to cell cua1, absent from discal cell and cell m3. Costal bulge present but very small. Cells r1 and r2+3 strongly rippled. Vein R4+5 not fused basally to vein R3. Legs. Fore and mid femora black, narrowly orange-yellow at base. Hind femur black, orange-brown proximally. Tibiae orange-brown becoming darker distally, hind tibia dark brownish on apical half. Fore and mid metatarsi orange-brown, hind metatarsus brown-black; remainder of tarsal segments brown-black. Fore femur ventrally with a row of long fine setae along length. Mid femur with an anterior bristle at about middle and another at apical third; a ventral row of up to 11 long, weak bristles. Hind femur with an anterior bristle at about middle and another at apical third; an ventral row of 4 or 5 short, stout bristles and a posteroventral row of 7 or 8 long fine bristles. Fore tibia with 2 long posteroventral setae; a short subbasal dorsal seta; a ventral row of 6 or 7 long fine setae. Mid tibia with a long, stout anterodorsal bristle at midpoint and apical third and a much weaker, shorter one at basal fourth; a long, stout anteroventral bristle at basal fourth; a row of dorsal and ventral setae. Hind tibia with an anterior bristle at midpoint, an anterodorsal bristle subbasally and another at apical third; posteroventrally with a subbasal bristle, and one at basal third, midpoint and at apical fourth. Abdomen. Dark brownish, apical segments a little darker. Segments 2–4 with distinctly paler posterior margins. Weak posterolateral bristles apparent only on tergites 5–7; sternites without distinct bristles except for sternite 8 with numerous bristles along posterior margin; in dissected specimens each sternite is narrower than the previous one, with sternite 4 being the narrowest, sternites then widening distally. Terminalia (Figs 28–30, 37–43) black, wider than segment 8.
Tergite 8 (Fig. 42) with a strongly emarginate anterior margin, medially about half as wide as lateral margin and tergite 7; posterior margin convex. Sternite 8 (Fig. 41) very narrow with convex anterior and concave posterior margins; medially being about one-third the width of sternite 7 and becoming slightly wider laterally. Epandrium (Figs 28, 29, 38) almost completely divided, being fused narrowly at base and with a small weakly sclerotized proximal area; broad basally, narrowed distally, posteriorly inwardly hooked and with a subapical, inwardly directed, dorsal prong. Subepandrial sclerite (Fig. 39) about twice as long as wide, constricted distally, with a sublateral, transparent, membranous area; ventral surface medially with an area of dense, short, setae and distally with a bulbous lateral area bearing long bristles; posterior margin with a deep cleft. Hypandrium (Fig 40) and gonocoxite (Fig. 43) not fused. Hypandrium (Figs 30, 40) elongate, widest at base, and with a dense tuft of long, pale bristles, which are sometimes semi-fused basally. Gonocoxite (Fig. 43) with a narrow, attenuate dorsal apodeme near middle and another smaller apodeme proximally. Gonostylus (Fig. 43) narrow, attenuate, curved distally, and with long setae along length. Aedeagal complex (Fig. 37): with a long, narrow ejaculatory apodeme; basiphallus long and distally with a dorsal carina which extends to distiphallus; distiphallus short, curved; ventral aedeagal apodeme arising directly from basiphallus in a dorsal direction.
Female. Differs from male as follows: Body length, 7.6–10.0 mm; thoracic length, 2.3–2.7 mm; wing length, 7.5–8.7 mm. Wing hyaline. Cells r1 and r2+3 not rippled. Abdomen. Segments 2–4 without distinctly pale posterior margins. Tergite 8 (Fig. 33) with 2 long, black posterolateral bristles on each side. Sternites not narrowed near middle of abdomen. Terminalia (Figs 31–36). Tergite 8 (Fig. 36) about twice as long as wide, with a long bristle at posterolateral margin. Sternite 8 (Fig. 35) slightly wider than long; posterior margin with a setose membranous area divided by a narrow sclerotized medial area. Genital fork (Fig. 34) with a pair of semisclerotized straight arms, weakly joined proximally; distal section of arms lifted dorsally. Tergite 9+10 (Fig. 36) narrow and of uniform width except for a small, narrow submedial area. Sternite 10 (Fig. 36) present as two small sclerites. Hypoproct (Figs 33, 36) emarginate, fused, membranous and setose medially. Cerci fully exposed in pinned specimens.
Etymology. Named in honour of Chris Burwell of the Queensland Museum.
Distribution (Fig. 7). Known only from the Windsor Tableland, Mt Misery, Atherton Tableland and the Paluma Range, northern Qld.
description: Published as part of Daniels, Greg, 2017, Australian species of Ommatius Wiedemann (Diptera: Asilidae) with an anepimeral bristle, pp. 535-563 in Zootaxa 4231 (4) on pages 543-546, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4231.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/292658