Ablabesmyia ( Ablabesmyia ) maculitibialis Chaudhuri, Debnath et Nandi

Ablabesmyia ( Ablabesmyia) maculitibialis Chaudhuri, Debnath et Nandi View in CoL

( Figure 4 View FIGURE 4 )

Ablabesmyia ( Ablabesmyia) maculitibialis Chaudhuri, Debnath et Nandi, 1983: 907 View in CoL .

Material examined. 1 male, CHINA: Macau Special Administrative Region, Co-Tai, wetland near Taipa Houses Museum , 20.vii.2014 ; 1 male, Macau Special Administrative Region, Coloane Island, Hac-Sa Reservoir , 22°07.514'N, 113°34.232'E, 100 m alt., 10.xi.2014 GoogleMaps ; 1 male, Hainan Province, Tunchang County, Nanlyu Town, Zhenghong Reservoir , 7.ii.2015 .

Description. Male (n=3). Total length 3.1–3.2, 3.2 mm.

Coloration. Thorax brown with darker scutal vittae, anepisternum II, preepisternum, scutellum and postnotum. Abdomen mainly brown; T I–V each with dark anterior transverse and lateral longitudinal bands; T VI–VIII entirely dark brown; hypopygium with dark brown gonocoxite. Wing costa ( Fig. 4A View FIGURE 4 ) with 3 dark spots at apices of radial branches. Fore- and midfemora white, slightly darkened on basal 2/3, each with sub-apical dark band. All tibiae ( Fig. 4B View FIGURE 4 ) white, each with 4 dark bands. Relative positions of sub-basal, basal-median and apical-median bands on foretibia: 0.90; 0.73–0.76, 0.75; 0.39–0.42, 0.41, from apex; midtibia: 0.87–0.90, 0.89; 0.71–0.73, 0.73; 0.40–0.44, 0.42; hind tibia: 0.90–0.91, 0.91; 0.72–0.73, 0.72; 0.42–0.46, 0.44.

Head. Temporals 23–26, 24. AR 1.8–2.0 (2). Clypeus with 29–40, 33 setae. Lengths of palpomeres 1–5 (µm): 50 (1), 103 (1), 135 (1), 125 (1), 278 (1).

Thorax. Lateral antepronotals 11–15, 13; acrostichals more than 50; dorsocentrals 23–31, 28; humerals 18–33, 26; prealars 17–22, 19; supraalars 1; scutellars 37–52 (2).

Wing. Length 1.9–2.2, 2.0 mm. Squama with 35–37 (2) setae. VR 0.82–0.89, 0.85.

Legs. Ti I spur 49–53, 51 µm long with 6–8 (2) lateral teeth. Ti II spurs 59–64, 62 and 28–34, 32 µm long, with 4–7 (2) and 4–6 (2) lateral teeth, respectively; inner spur/outer spur 1.7–2.3, 2.0. Ti III spurs 47–66, 59 and 32–52, 40 µm long, with 4–5 (2) and 3–4, 4 lateral teeth, respectively; inner spur/outer spur 1.3–1.7, 1.5. Ti III comb consisting of 4–5, 5 bristles. Lengths and proportions of legs as in Table 2.

Hypopygium ( Fig. 4C View FIGURE 4 ). T IX with 2 setae on each side. Gonocoxite 168–187, 177 µm long, with weak basolateral bulge. Aedeagal complex ( Fig. 4D View FIGURE 4 ) with dorsal lobe 30–37, 35 µm long, stout, bearing smooth apex; blade 48–52, 50 µm long, curved dorsally, tapering toward pointed apex; lateral lobe 81–94, 87 µm long, 1.7–1.8, 1.8, times as long as blade, bearing apicolateral teeth; lateral filaments not evident. Gonostylus 170–175, 172 µm long, almost as long as gonocoxite.

Pupa and larva. Unknown.

Remarks. Although the tibia is three-banded in most species of the subgenus Ablabesmyia , four-banded tibiae occur in Australian A. ( A.) notabils (Skuse) , African A. ( A.) rufa (Kieffer) , A. ( A.) appendiculata (Kieffer) and A. ( A.) dusoleili Goetghebuer, and Indian A. ( A.) ornatipes (Kieffer) as well as A. ( A.) maculitibialis . Further, Brazilian A. ducke Neubern , A. fazzari Neubern , A. gessnerae Neubern and A. pinhoi Neubern also possess fourbanded tibiae, wings with separate dark spots and an apically expanded sub-terminal seta on the male gonostylus. As explained previously, however, these Brazilian species were not given any subgeneric status in the original descriptions ( Oliveira et al. 2013).

For comparison, major characters of these ten species are summarized in Table 3, according to Freeman (1961) and Roback (1982a, b) for A. ( A.) notabilis, Freeman (1955) for A. ( A.) rufa, Freeman (1955) and Harrison (1978) for A. ( A.) appendiculata and A. ( A.) dusoleili , and Kieffer (1910) for A. ( A.) ornatipes which is known about only the female, and Oliveira et al. (2013) for A. ducke , A. fazzari , A. gessnerae and A. pinhoi .

The male of A. ( A.) maculitibialis is characterized by the forefemur darkened on the basal two thirds and subapex, the four-banded tibia, the wing with three dark spots at apices of R 1, R 3 and R 4+5, and the aedeagal complex with a bare dorsal lobe, a slender blade tapering toward a pointed apex and a very long lateral lobe with apicolateral teeth. In the original description, Chaudhuri et al. (1983: 907) miscalculated the male antennal ratio, and it is 2.0, not 1.1, based on the relative lengths of flagellomeres.

Notes: The aedeagal complex of A. ( A.) rufa is not described. The male of A. (A.) ornatipes is unknown.