Hydrotaea tantula Couri & Pont, 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Couri, Márcia
name: Pont, Adrian C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Muscidae
Hydrotaea
Hydrotaea tantula

description: Hydrotaea tantula sp. nov.
Figs 20–25.
Type material. Holotype ♂, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal, Ndumo Game R., main road at: 26°54.288′S, 32°17.974′E, Malaise traps, sand & broad-leafed deciduous forest, 4–8.xii.2009 (A.H. Kirk-Spriggs), BMSA (D)17764 (BMSA).
Paratype 1♀. REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: same data as holotype, except: BMSA (D)19080 (MNRJ).
Diagnosis. H. tantula sp. nov. is a very small shining green species, which is a unique colour outside Madagascar for Hydrotaea. Fronto-orbital plate, frontal triangle and parafacial glossy black; vein M curved forward towards vein R4+5.
Description. General coloration. Ground-colour dark green metallic, fronto-orbital plate, parafacial, gena and female ocellar triangle shining dark brown with some reddish reflections; antenna, arista and palpus dark brown; anterior spiracle dark brown; calypters brown in male and white in female; wing clear with some areas hyaline and devoid of microtrichia, especially in the basal part of the wing cells; haltere yellow; legs dark brown with dark green metallic reflexions.
♂. Measurements. Body length: 3.1 mm; wing length: 3.0 mm
Head. Eye bare, large, eyes very closely approximated, frons at vertex as broad as diameter of ocellar triangle; fronto-orbital plate narrow; vertical seta very short and fine; ocellar triangle short, with a pair of moderately long ocellar setae; frons with 7 very fine and short pairs of frontal setae; antenna inserted a little below mid-level of eye, postpedicel about 2 × as long as pedicel; arista bare, enlarged at base; gena slender, narrower than the width of postpedicel; palpus filiform.
Thorax. Ground-setulae relatively developed and all setae fine; acrostichals 0 + 1; dorsocentrals 2 + 4, the first two postsutural setae short and the last two long; 2 postpronotals; 2 postsutural intra-alars; 1 presutural and 1 postsutural supra-alars; prealar absent; 2 postalars. Notopleuron with two setae, similar in size. Anepisternum with a series of 6 long and thin setae. Katepisternals 1 + 1, the posterior one longer. Anepimeron and meron bare. Posterior spiracle with margins bare. Scutellum with a sub-basal and an apical pair of long setae.
Legs. Fore femur without a preapical ventral process; a complete row of dorsal and ventral setae; the ventral ones longer; fore tibia with no developed setae, except for one dorsal preapical that is hardly distinct from the ground-setulae and a ventral apical; mid femur with short setulae on ventral surface and 2 preapical dorsal setae; mid tibia with 2 posterodorsal setae on middle third, without anterodorsals; hind femur with a complete anterodorsal row of setae, longer on basal third; a series of well-spaced setae on apical half of ventral surface; hind tibia with 1-2 anteroventral setae on middle third; one posterodorsal on apical third, only a little longer than diameter of the tibia, one dorsal preapical and one ventral apical.
Wing. Lower calypter about 1.5 × as long as upper one. Wing veins bare; vein M curved forward towards R4+ 5 in apical part, at wing-tip cell r4+5 no wider than length of crossvein r-m.
Abdomen. Ground-setulae moderately long and dense, especially at sides and on margins of tergites 4 and 5 and disc of tergite 5. Sternite 5 as in Fig.20.
Terminalia. Cercal plate and surstylus as in Figs 21–22. Aedeagus in frontal and lateral views an in Figs 23–24.
♀. Measurements. Body length: 2.5 mm; wing length: 2.4 mm.
Differs from ♂ as follows: frons about ⅓ of head-width at level of anterior ocellus; ocellar triangle long and wide, reaching lunule; crossed interfrontal setae absent; 3 pairs of inclinate frontal setae and 2 pairs of reclinate orbitals. Ground-setulae of notum not developed as in male, short and sparse.
Terminalia. Ovipositor and spermathecae as in Fig. 25.
Distribution. Republic of South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal).
Etymology. The name is from the Latin word tantulus (“small”), referring to its very small size, and is an adjective in agreement with the feminine noun Hydrotaea.
Remarks. H. tantula sp. nov. and H. bella Couri, Pont & Penny, 2006 (endemic to Madagascar) are the only known Hydrotaea species to have a metallic green colour. The new species can be easily separated by its tiny size, dark brown palpus, and forward curvature of vein M.
description: Published as part of Couri, Márcia & Pont, Adrian C., 2014, New species of Afrotropical Muscidae (Diptera: Muscoidea), pp. 301-320 in Zootaxa 3852 (3) on pages 310-312, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3852.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/229938