Tomosvaryella spinifex Foldvari, Skevington & Motamedinia 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Motamedinia, Behnam
name: Földvari, Mihaly
name: Skevington, Jeffrey H.
name: Kelso, Scott
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Pipunculidae
Tomosvaryella
Tomosvaryella spinifex

description: Tomosvaryella spinifex Földvari, Skevington & Motamedinia sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 94E882AB-C082-4B86-BF9E-990DA9F7B556
Figs 91A–E, 141, 150A
Diagnosis: This species can be recognized by the hind trochanter with a keel and 6–7 dark spines (Fig. 150A); slender and elongated surstyli in dorsal view (Fig. 91A); widened gonopods, pointed at apex, with a distinct projection on inner margin, their projections with an upwards small finger-like process in the middle (Fig. 91B); phallic guide with 3–4 short dorso- dorsolateral spines; subepandrial sclerite widened, with a fin-shaped projection in its center (Fig. 91B).
Description: MALE: Body length: 3.1– 3.1 mm. Head. Flagellum acuminate; yellow-brown. Face silvery pollinose. Frons, upper part shining black; lower part distinctly silver pollinose; eyes touching for distance equal to 2 times the length of ocellar triangle. Occiput silvery pollinose, less so on upper 1/3. Thorax. Postpronotum pale, with 3–4 short pale bristles. Mesonotum (viewed obliquely from front) silvery pollinose, anterior part more grey, greyish also from the side. Scutellum silvery brown pollinose and with 4–6 bristles along distal edge. Dorsocentral bristles short, dark, longer in frontal half, numerous pale bristles around postpronotum present. Halter knob pale, tip brownish, stem brown. Legs. Mid coxa with 3–4 long dark bristles. Trochanters brown, femora black, shining ventrally, silvery pollinose posteriorly except shiny hind femur; knees and basal 1/6 of tibiae yellow (tibiae otherwise brown), tarsal segments bright yellow. Hind trochanter with 45-degree keel, and 6–7 dark spines, longest proximally (Fig. 150A); one ventrobasal spine present on fore femur, absent on mid femur. Hind femur without ventroapical spines, except 8–10 equally spaced bristles posteroventrally, longer on distal half, longest up to 2/3 the width of hind tibia at distal end. Short, subapical (distal) spines on fore- and mid tibiae present. Hind tarsomeres distinctly flattened (t1–3), hind metatarsus almost as long as 2–4 combined, dorsally all tarsomeres with erect bristles. Pulvilli shorter than last tarsal segment. Wing. Length: 3.2 mm. Upper side of basal costal cell with one long dark brown bristle. Fourth costal section 3 times as long as third costal section. Cross-vein r-m at middle of discal cell. 4–5 short dark setulae on tegula. Abdomen. Viewed obliquely from front tergites subshiny brown-black, tergite 1 silvery grey, silvery pollinose spots on tergites 4 and 5 (spot on tergite 5 larger). Dispersed strong dark bristles on all tergites present, longest on tergite 5 in length up to 1/3 the width of hind tibia at distal end. Lateral bristles on first tergite present, 4–5 dark bristles up to as long as ¾ of hind femur’s width at base. Postabdomen in dorsal view: T6, S7 invisible; T5 0.6–0.7 times as long as ST8. Genitalia without dissection: ST8 large, round, globular in dorsal view, brown and with distinct bristles, otherwise with velvet-like coverage; membranous area is slit-like, rounded, mostly directed posteriorly; epandrium brown, surstyli brown. Genitalia. Genital capsule in dorsal view: epandrium longer than wide (MLE:MWE = 1.2). Surstyli slender and elongated, curved towards midline at apex, left surstylus is longer and its apex is wider than right one (Fig. 91A). Genital capsule in ventral view: both gonopods widened at base, extended towards surstyli, pointed at apex, gonopods with a distinct projection on inner margin, their projections with a small finger-like process in the middle; phallic guide with 3–4 short dorsolateral spines; subepandrial sclerite widened, with a fin-shaped projection in its center, its left margin covered with condensed short hairs (Fig. 91B); Genital capsule in lateral view: both surstyli curved towards sternite, left one more widened, with hump-like edge dorsomedially (Fig. 91D–E). Ejaculatory apodeme tube-like, bent, with a bulb in its middle (Fig. 91C).
FEMALE: Unknown.
Etymology: This species is named after one of the dominant arid Australian grasses and is associated with Spinifex dominated grassland.
Examined material: HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: Millstream-Chichester Nat[ional] P[ark], Roebourne Road, 21°26’S, 117°9’E, 337m, sandy creek, Eucalyptus Spinifex grassland, 27.IV–3.V.2003, C. Lambkin & T. Weir, Malaise trap, JSS16200 (1♂, WAM); PARATYPES: AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 48 km NW Carnarvon; Blowholes Road; sandy trail, 24°35’S, 113°31’E, 7m, dry vegetated coastal dunes, 27.IV–11.V.2003, M.E. Irwin & F.D. Parker, Malaise trap, JSS15826, JSS15829 (1♂, CNC; 1♂, QM); Badgingarra National Park, 40 km east of Cervantes, 30°24’S, 115°25’E, 30.X.1987, M.E. Irwin & E.I. Schlinger, JSS8459 (1♂, CAS).
Distribution: Australia (Western Australia) (Fig. 141).
Note: Based on the DNA sequencing, this species is genetically similar to T. latistyla sp. nov. (4.0–5.4% pairwise divergence). Intraspecific genetic distance ranges from 0.0% to 1.3% (Supplementary file 3).
description: Published as part of Motamedinia, Behnam, Földvari, Mihaly, Skevington, Jeffrey H. & Kelso, Scott, 2023, Revision of Australian Tomosvaryella Aczél (Diptera: Pipunculidae) with description of 100 new species, pp. 1-271 in Zootaxa 5599 (1) on pages 201-203, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5599.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14970961