Aphanotrigonum palpalis RAILE RICCARDI 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: RAILE RICCARDI, PAULA
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Chloropidae
Aphanotrigonum
Aphanotrigonum palpalis

description: Aphanotrigonum palpalis Riccardi sp. nov. (Figs. 1A–E)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BC6FCECA-D9A0-4784-98F9-EFB24C74C66D
Barcode accession numbers: OR049799, OR049899, OR050218.
Holotype. ♂, SWEDEN, Södermanland, Haninge kommun, Tyresta, Ungfars mosse, on bog. 59.178300, 18.229433 (=Trap ID 2), 21.vi–20.vii.2004 (=coll. event ID 787), Leg. Swedish Malaise Trap Project, (code PR0000045; OR049799) [SMNH].
Paratypes. 2 ♀♀, same data as holotype [1 ♀, SMNH (PR0000032; OR049899); 1 ♀, MfN (PR0000037; OR050218)].
Etymology. The specific epithet ‘palpalis’ refers to the enlarged palpus, a diagnostic feature of this species.
Morphological diagnosis. Body and legs dark brown with grey pruinosity; frons with apex yellow; palpus yellow, broad; 1+2 notopleurals; anepisternum pruinose; apical scutellar setae not approximated; one pair of lateral scutellar setae; hind tibial apical spur absent; epandrium with one long pair of seta; phallapodeme with apex deeply bifid in ventral view.
Molecular diagnosis. 58: G, 70: G, 148: T.
Description. Body length 1.8–1.9 mm; wing length 1.6 mm. Male. Body and legs dark brown to black with uniform grey pruinosity and dark pilosity. Head. Frons with apex yellow; ocellar triangle reaching 1/2–3/4 of frons length; gena yellow, 1/3 of postpedicel height, slightly produced; palpus yellow, broad; eye with short and sparse pilosity; postpedicel round, brown; arista dark, with short pubescence; 5 fronto-orbital setae; postocellar setae convergent. Thorax. Scutum slightly pruinescent; scutellum wider than long with round apex; apical scutellar setae not approximated, about as long as scutellum; one pair of lateral scutellar setae; prothoracic episternum dull; anepisternum pruinose; 1+2 notopleurals; hind tibia without an apical spur. Wing. First and second wing sectors about the same length; R 4+5 and M 1 parallel; r-m and dm-m divergent, distant from each other about 1.5x dm-m length. Abdomen. Tergites dark brown. Male fifth sternite indistinct; epandrium with one pair of setae longer than the epandrium length; surstylus with short and sparse setation, U-shaped; male cerci with angulated apex; pre- and postgonites fused; basiphallus and distiphallus same length; phallapodemic sclerite rectangular; phallapodeme with apex deeply bifid in ventral view. Female. Similar to male, with cerci regular, dark brown with dark pilosity.
Comments. Both the new species and A. norrbotticum Nartshuk & Andersson 2013 have a similar mesal short extension between the male cerci, but they can be distinguished by the frons apically yellow and by the pruinose anepisternum in A. palpalis sp. nov. (frons entirely dark and anepisternum shining in A. norrbotticum). The new species is also similar to A. cinctellum (Zetterstedt, 1848), A. femorellum Collin, 1946 and A. inerme Collin 1946 for having apical scutellar setae widely apart, however the 1+2 notopleurals is a distinctive feature of A. palpalis sp. nov. In Nartshuk & Andersson (2013) key to Aphanotrigonum species, the couplet 5 (p. 61) is modified to include the new species (see below).
description: Published as part of RAILE RICCARDI, PAULA, 2024, Two new species of grass flies (Diptera, Chloropidae) from Sweden, pp. 29-33 in Journal of Insect Biodiversity 48 (1) on page 30, DOI: 10.12976/jib/2024.48.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/15306540