Merodon petiolatus Vujic, Radenkovic et Rojo 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Vujić, Ante
name: Radenković, Snežana
name: Tubić, Nataša Kočiš
name: Likov, Laura
name: Popov, Grigory
name: Rojo, Santos
name: Miličić, Marija
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Syrphidae
Merodon
Merodon petiolatus

description: Merodon petiolatus Vujić, Radenković et
Rojo sp. nov.
Zoobank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 0C69B66E-7A75-44BE-BA1F-1D76B273CFA7
Type material. Holotype. Male. Turkey, Tufanbeyli, 38.253699N, 36.228826E, 20.vi.1991, leg. K. M. Guichard (BMNH). Paratype. Turkey, Tufanbeyli, 38.253699N, 36.228826E, 20.vi.1991, leg. K. M. Guichard 1 male in BMNH.
Diagnosis: Large species (12–13 mm), with petiolate abdomen, tergum 2 gradually tapering, and terga 3–4 narrow (fig. 20); dark species with bluish to brown lustre (fig. 20); antennae dark brown (fig. 21A); wing with black microtrichia in apical third and white spot of microtrichia on tip of wing, and the rest of wing with reduced microtrichia (fig. 21C); basoflagellomere elongated, 2 times as long as wide; body covered with yellow–grey pilosity (except apical ¼ of tergum 3 and apical ½ of tergum 4 with short and adpressed black pile); legs black (except tibiae reddish to brown basally); metafemur long, narrow, about 5 times longer than wide (fig. 21B); terga 2–4 each with a pair of narrow, white pollinose fasciate maculae (fig. 20).
Description: Male. Head (fig. 21A). Antennae dark brown; basoflagellomere (fig. 21A) elongated, about 2 times as long as wide, and about 1.5 times as long as the pedicel, more or less straight dorsally, tapering to the apex; fossette dorsolateral; arista dark brown and thickened on basal third; arista about 2 times as long as basoflagellomere (fig. 21A); face and frons black to dark blue, with grey pollinosity; face covered with dense whitish pile, and frons with grey–yellowish pile; lunula shiny black to brown, bare; eye contiguity about 14–16 facets long; vertex isosceles, shiny black; vertex with long, pale yellow–whitish pile, mixed with some black pile on the ocellar triangle; ocellar triangle isosceles; occiput with grey–yellow pile, ventrally covered with dense, grey pollinosity; eyes covered with dense whitish–grey pile (fig. 21A). Thorax (figs. 20, 21B, C). Mesonotum (fig. 20) black with bluish to brown lustre, covered with dense, erect, yellow–grey pile; scutum with two pollinose vittae; anterior half of scutum from dull to shiny; posterodorsal part of anterior anepisternum, posterior anepisternum (except anteroventral angle), anterior anepimeron, dorsomedial anepimeron, and posterodorsal and anteroventral parts of katepisternum with long, dense pale yellow pile; wings (fig. 21C) with reduced microtrichia in basal 2/3, apical 1/3 covered with dense black microtrichia, while the tip covered with white microtrichia forming a spot; wing veins brown; calypteres yellow; halteres yellow–brown; femora black, tibiae basally reddish to brown; tarsi brown dorsally; pile on legs pale grey to yellowish; metafemur narrow, about 5 times longer than wide, with short pile on ventral surface, about 1/4–1/3 of width of metafemur, shorter than pile on dorsal surface (fig. 21B). Abdomen (fig. 20). Narrow, petiolate, tergum 2 gradually tapering, and terga 3–4 very narrow (fig. 20); abdomen about 1.4 times longer than mesonotum; terga black with bluish lustre; terga 2–4 each with a pair of narrow, white pollinose fasciate maculae; pile on terga all yellow to grey–whitish (except apical ¼ of tergum 3 and apical ½ of tergum 4 with short and adpressed black pile); sterna dark brown, sterna 2 and 3 covered with long whitish–yellow pile, while sternum 4 is covered with short pile. Male genitalia (fig. 22). Anterior surstyle lobe enlarged, oval to rectangular (fig. 22A: al); posterior surstyle lobe quadratic (fig. 22A: pl), with well-developed interior accessory lobe (fig. 22B: il); cercus rectangular (fig. 22A: c); hypandrium sickle-shaped; lingula elongated and narrow (fig. 22C: l).
Female. Unknown.
Etymology. “ Petiolatus ” is a Latin adjective meaning petiolate, stalked; it refers to the shape of the abdomen.
Distributionandbiologicaldata: Thisspecies is recorded only in Turkey (fig. 8). The flight period is the month of June. Developmental stages: not described.
description: Published as part of Vujić, Ante, Radenković, Snežana, Tubić, Nataša Kočiš, Likov, Laura, Popov, Grigory, Rojo, Santos & Miličić, Marija, 2023, Integrative taxonomy of the Merodon aberrans (Diptera, Syrphidae) species group: distribution patterns and description of three new species, pp. 51-96 in Contributions to Zoology 92 (1) on pages 73-76, DOI: 10.1163/18759866-BJA10037, http://zenodo.org/record/8349804