Chelipoda consignata Collin
Creators: name: Published, First
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Empididae
Chelipoda
Chelipoda consignata

description: 9. Chelipoda consignata Collin   
[Figs. 6–11, 78, 87, 95, 126, 127]  
 Chelipoda consignata Collin, 1928: 30–31.   
 Type material. Collin, 1928 described Chelipoda consignata from an unspecified number of specimens from ‘Ohakune from October to January’, ‘Mt. Ruapehu in March’ and ‘Lake Wakatipu in February’[BMNH] (Ohakune is in RI and Mt Ruapehu in TO, New Zealand, North Island; Lake Wakatipu is in South Island, OL). Subsequently, Pont (1995) designated seventeen males and eleven females as syntypes, all from Ohakune, Mt. Ruapehu and Lake Wakatipu, all with date data within the date range given by Collin, but specifically excluded three females labelled: Paradise, xii.1922, Fenwick, which are also in the Collin collection in BMNH but not specifically mentioned in Collin’s description. A male, in best condition labelled: Ohakune xi.1922 is here designated lectotype. 15♂, 8♀, same data as lectotype, 15.xii.1922 – 15.i.1923, xi.1922, i.1924, 1–9.iv.1923 [BMNH] are here designated paralectotypes.   
 Additional material: 315 specimensfrom AK, CL, BP, TO, RI, TK & WN (North Island) and NN, MC, NC, MB, MK, WD, WD & SL (South Island) [NZAC, LUNZ, NMWC, NHM].   
 Description. Male: length 3.5–4.0mm.   
 Head: Ground colour brownish-black, paler yellowish on face and frons, heavily grey dusted. Ocl strong, black, strong, a few minute hairs behind and on ocellar region and at extreme front of frons close to eye margin. lpo yellowish-white, irregularly 2–3 serial; upo stronger, black, uniserial, converging somewhat with eye margin above; vt1 and vt2 as strong as upo, posterior to and usually clearly separated from upo1 and upo2 on upper occiput (Fig. 78).   
 Antenna: (Fig. 95) blackish-brown, scape with a dorsal and a ventral apical bristle almost as long as scape; pedicel globular, a terminal circlet of fine setae at sides as long as segment; postpedicel lanceolate, 3–4X as long as wide, rather shorter than arista, with pale pubescence rather erect and almost as long as tip of segment is wide apically; arista minutely pubescent. Proboscis brownish yellow, about as long as head, slightly recurved and pointed apically. Palpi pale yellow with darker apical and dorsal setae. Labellum with longish pale hairs.   
 Thorax: ground colour of mesonotum dark brown with narrow yellowish stripe extending from pprnlb to base of wing; pleura yellowish with three conspicuous brown stripes (Fig. 87); the first from pcol over prothoracic spiracle to base of wing, often attenuated anteriorly; the second from below prothoracic spiracle to katatergite and posterior spiracle below base of haltere (leaving anatergite yellow); the third from side of pst over lower part of katepisternum and meron. Ventral region of katepisternum and front of pst yellow. Dusting pattern somewhat variable but pleura usually heavily grey-dusted partially obscuring ground colour. Mesonotum heavily grey-dusted but dark lateral stripes (immediately dorsal to the yellow stripe between pprnlb and base of wing) usually prominent; often a narrow dark central stripe which may be strong throughout, only developed anteriorly or divided into presutural and prescutellar sections; sometimes a further darkened area near line of dorsocentrals; dc1, dc2 and dc3 strong, dc2 = 2X as long as dc1, dc3 almost as long as dc2, dc5 small, fine, about in line between stronger pa setae; dc4 very small and fine, often absent or present only on one side, when present position between dc3 and dc5 variable. Upper np as strong as dc2 and sa; lnp shorter, of similar length to dc1; pprn as strong as dc1, slightly upcurved; ph small and fine; sa as strong as unp and dc2. Acr if present, usually few in number, minute, virtually uniserial and divergent. A few minute setae below pprn on pprnlb, 2–3 very short but strong dorsolateral pcol. Sct convergent, longer than length of scutellum. Laterotergite with 4–5 conspicuous setae.   
 Legs: yellow, C 1 with a conspicuous brown stripe in front, terminal tarsal segments and occasionally tip of T 3 and F 3 subterminally rather darkened. C 1 1.2X as long as thorax, slender, a series of 10–11 regularly spaced black bristles in front, about 0.7X as wide as coxa is deep, slightly shorter apically; a rather irregular series of slightly shorter black bristles on or just outside (anteroventral) the brown stripe; a short series of 2–4 fine but distinct bristles behind basally, 0.5–0.75X width of C 1; outer face bare, otherwise with fine sparse hairs and some longer fine bristles apically. C 2 and C 3 much shorter than C 1, with distinct setae on outer face and apically. F 1 (Fig. 126) as long as C 1, rather evenly and gradually inflated ventrally, widest 0.4–0.5 from base and 5–6X as long as wide; dorsal surface not distinctly inflated, rather linear. Femoral formula 5(4–5)/15(13–19)/ 12(9–16)/5(4–5).Two rows of black denticles ventrally commencing 0.3 from base; anterior denticles in linear series becoming closer together distally, closely but distinctly separated from line of av spines but with tendency for the two series to merge basally; posterior denticles of similar structure and strength to the anterior series but more widely spaced, becoming closer together distally and closely but clearly separated throughout from line of pv spines. A row of av and pv spines immediately outside double row of denticles, about 0.6X maximum depth of F 1, somewhat shorter apically. A small but distinct black ventral bristle 0.2 from base (representing basal continuity of av series of spines). Anterior and dorsal surfaces with linear series of very small fine hairs, sparse on anterior surface but more conspicuous dorsally where 3–4 lines of 20–25 hairs slightly stronger; hairs on posterior face less regularly arranged and very fine. An apical circlet of fine short bristles.   
 F 2 slender, linear but with an vague swelling 0.8 from base; all hairs short and fine; a small pv bristle 0.8 from base, about as long as F 2 is deep and occasionally very small or absent but sometimes a second or third much weaker pv bristle also present; a circlet of rather longer hairs apically.   
 F 3 basally as narrow as F 2 but slightly swollen on distal 0.5 and a slight lateral curvature on basal 0.3; all hairs short and fine. T 1 0.7X as long as F 1, slightly inflated but narrowing distally and slightly curved ventrally; a ventral row of about 30 minute black denticles, each strongly recurved towards apex of tibia; a row of fine hairs anterior to denticles and a perpendicular ciliation of about 10 fine erect hairs immediately posteriorly; a similar sparser row of about 5 perpendicular cilia dorsally; other pubescence consisting of the usual linear series of fine rather decumbent hairs. T 2 and T 3 slender, short-haired but with 2 anteroapical and 2 posteroapical spurs. T 3 with a small but distinct knob-like posterior swelling at extreme apex bearing a posteroapical fan of short yellow bristles.   
 Tarsi slender with short decumbent hairs and slightly stronger apical bristles; at1 with a ventral series of about 15 minute brownish denticles. Distal 2 segments on all legs slightly dorsoventrally flattened; at2 about 0.3X as long as at1 and about 0.8X as long as at3. Mid and hind legs with tarsal segments successively shorter distally but fourth segment slightly shorter than terminal segment.   
 Wing: clear, stigma absent, veins yellowish-brown; rather elongated, about 3.1X as long as broad; Sc distinctly evanescent; R 2+3 gently curved towards C apically and ending level with M 1; R 4+5 ending at tip of wing; cell dm narrow, about 4.5X as long as wide, first vein (M 1) of cell dm same length or slightly shorter than cell dm and slightly more than 2X length of third vein (CuA 1) beyond cell dm; basal cells narrow, a longitudinal fold in the membrane of br creating a faint ‘ vena spuria ’; cell cup absent with CuA 2 strong, evenly curved. Vein A 1 represented by a short faintly pigmented area forming a right angle with the end of CuA 2 and extending significantly no more than the length of CuA 2; in certain lights the line of A 1 can be traced as a faint fold in the membrane which becomes stronger and more vein-like at extreme base. Costal bristle fine, dark. Squamae with dark fringes. Haltere yellowish sometimes with slightly darker knob.   
 Abdomen: brownish black, paler below. Tergites 1–6 with distinct dark bristles strongest on posterior and lateral margins; tergite 7 with a few side marginal hairs, otherwise bare; tergites 2–6 with broad dark fascia, tergites 1 and 7 narrower; tergite 8 very narrow and strongly sclerotized. Sternites paler with fine pale hairs about lateral margins. Genitalia (Figs. 6–11) with epandrium and hypandrium not fused; cercus separate (not fused with epandrium), rather broad apically; subepandrial process small, convoluted; postgonite quite broadly spathulate with long apical setae (Figs. 10, 11).   
 Description. Female: similar to male, differing chiefly as follows.   
 Antenna: with arista longer, typically 1.7X length of postpedicel but somewhat variable.   
 Legs; C 1 with only short inconspicuous bristles in frons and behind, completely lacking strong bristles. F 1 (Fig. 127) tending to be more spinose than male, particularly av spines and denticles rather more numerous; femoral formula 5(4–7)/18.5(15–22)/13(10–16)/4.5(3–6). F 2 with pv bristle 0.8 from base usually conspicuous but occasionally very small or absent and sometimes a second or third much weaker pv bristle also present.   
 Abdomen: with chaetotaxy weaker than in male, strongest on basal tergites becoming weaker distally and with hairs more restricted to posterior margins; tergites 7 and 8 not narrowed and not bare; at2 rather shorter than in male, 0.25X as long as at1 and about 0.5X as long as at3.   
 Comments. C. consignata is a medium sized species with elongate dark thorax, all ground colour and dusting stripes distinct including 2 well defined yellow ground colour stripes on pleura; postpedicel moderately long, male C 1 lacking strong bristles anteriorly and female F 2 with pv bristle 0.8 from base.   
 This species is the commonest Chelipoda in New Zealand, often abundant in forested areas between the Auckland isthmus (North Island) and Southland (South Island) but not yet recorded from the far north or Stewart Island. Capture dates range between October and March but peak adult activity is in late December and early January.   
 Considerable variation exists across the species` range; specimens from southern localities tend to be darker with stronger development of chaetotaxy on the legs and thorax (acrotichals often conspicuous). The postpedicel and arista are more nearly equal in length in South Island forms and there are small differences between the morphology of the postgonite between the two main islands. Variation is probably clinal but more material and further studies will be needed to establish if differentiated populations of microspecies exist within a larger C. consignata complex.
description: Published as part of Published, First, 2007, The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart, pp. 1-88 in Zootaxa 1537 (1) on pages 20-22, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1537.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5088638