Empis septentrionalis Shamshev, Sinclair, and Khruleva 2020
- Dataset
- The empidoid flies (Diptera: Empidoidea, exclusive of Dolichopodidae) of the Russian Arctic islands and Svalbard Archipelago
- Rank
- SPECIES
- Published in
- Shamshev, Igor V., Sinclair, Bradley J., Khruleva, Olga A. (2020): The empidoid flies (Diptera: Empidoidea, exclusive of Dolichopodidae) of the Russian Arctic islands and Svalbard Archipelago. Zootaxa 4848 (1): 1-75, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4848.1.1
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Arthropoda
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Diptera
- family
- Empididae
- genus
- Empis
- species
- Empis septentrionalis
description
(Figs 6, 7) urn: lsid: zoobank. org: act: 1 E 05618 C-B 300 - 4 E 56 - B 381 - 1 A 0865 B 7462 E
description
Description. Body length 5.2 – 5.9 (holotype 5.3); wing length 5 – 5.5 (holotype 5.1) mm. Male (Fig. 6). Head with dense brownish pruinescence on face, frons, postgena, ocellar triangle and occiput; entirely dark setose; clypeus shiny. Dichoptic; ommatidia equally small. Frons broad, below ocellar tubercle broader than distance between outer margins of posterior ocelli; with marginal setulae. Face broad, bare. Ocellar triangle with several long fine setae. Occiput slightly convex laterally behind eyes; with numerous long mostly flattened setae on convex part, fine long postoculars and similar setae on upper part; postgena with numerous hair-like setae. Antenna black; scape short, slightly longer than pedicel, both with short setulae; postpedicel conical, with slightly concave ventral margin on apical part, nearly 2 X longer than wide; stylus rather long, slightly longer (1.3 – 1.4 X) than postpedicel basal width. Palpus dark (sometimes yellowish, 2 ♂); with several black moderately long fine setae. Proboscis with labrum mostly brownish, reddish-brown apically, about 1.5 X longer than head height. Thorax dark in ground-colour, brownish pruinescent; with black setation; scutum with 4 indistinct narrow blackish brown vittae (dorsal view). Proepisternum with tuft of numerous mostly long and slightly flattened setae (with some additional shorter fine setae) on lower section; upper proepisternum in front of spiracle bare. Prosternum bare. Antepronotum with numerous short fine setae. Postpronotal lobe covered with very numerous subequally long setae. Mesonotum with hardly differentiated setae; several long fine intra-alars just behind postpronotal lobe; supra-alar space with several similar setae before suture and less numerous setae behind suture, notopleuron with numerous long setae, some posterior setae somewhat stronger; 2 long strong pal (sometimes with additional setulae), 8 – 10 sctl; acr long, fine, arranged in 2 irregular rows, lacking on prescutellar depression; presutural dc similar to acr, multiserial, postsutural dc less numerous, 3 – 4 prescutellars longest. Laterotergite with numerous long fine setae. Anterior and posterior spiracles brown. Legs robust, almost entirely dark brown, only hind tarsomeres 1 – 3 (sometimes 1 – 4) brownish yellow; black setose; hind femur somewhat thickened, mid tibia slightly arcuate, hind tibia very slender. Coxae and trochanters with simple setae. Femora whitish pilose ventrally (less distinct on fore femur); fore femur with long fine setae anteroventrally, posteroventrally and posteriorly; mid femur with numerous spine-like setae of different lengths ventrally, posteroventrals longer, some moderately long anterodorsal setae; hind femur with numerous long flattened setae anterodorsally (except short subapical part), only pale pilose along lower half anteriorly (except several setae near extreme base), rows of long, strong anteroventral and posteroventral setae, short spine-like setae ventrally. Tibiae devoid of strong setae (including setae of subapical circlet); fore tibia with some short, fine setae posteriorly; mid tibia with erect setulae ventrally; hind tibia pale pilose ventrally, no seta in posteroapical comb. Hind tarsomeres with somewhat finer and sparser setulae. Wing membrane very faintly infuscate, with brownish veins; CuA + CuP (anal vein) complete; cell dm with elongate apex. Pterostigma brownish yellow. Basal costal seta absent. Anal lobe well-developed; axillary incision acute. Squama dirty yellow, brownish fringed. Halter with yellow knob and brownish stem. Abdomen dark, brownish pruinescent (somewhat denser on tergites laterally and sternites); covered with numerous long, dark fine setae (shorter on tergites dorsally). Segment 8 with tergite and sternite separated; tergite 8 mostly membranous, represented by two weakly sclerotized, narrow lateral sclerites each bearing 0 – 1 setae; sternite simple, nearly as long as sternite 7 (lateral view), with numerous long setae along posterior margin. Terminalia (Fig. 7). Cerci broadly yellowish to brownish yellow, narrowly brownish along upper margin and anteriorly; separated from each other and from epandrium; cercus elongate oval (lateral view), with rounded apex, slightly extended beyond apex of epandrium, covered with short dark setae. Epandrium almost entirely brownish, narrowly yellowish brown along lower margin; subtriangular (lateral view), with dark setae more numerous and longer along lower margin. Hypandrium mostly membranous, rim-like sclerotized along upper margin, bare. Phallus almost uniformly broad, slightly narrowed near middle, S-like bend, sulcate on subapical portion, with pair of small projections near apex beneath. Ejaculatory apodeme extended far beyond basal curvature of phallus, with subequal lateral and vertical wings and somewhat narrower lower wing. Female. Occiput not convex laterally, without flattened setae, ocellar tubercle with short setae; palpus somewhat paler, yellowish brown, sometimes with yellowish apex or yellowish. Thorax and legs with shorter setation; hind femur not thickened, hind tibia simple; hind femur without flattened setae and pale pilosity along lower half anteriorly, entirely covered with setulae anteriorly; fore tibia without fine setae posteriorly, mid and hind tibiae with usual setulae ventrally; hind tarsus brownish, with similar setation to fore and mid tarsi. Wing darker, brownish infuscate, pterostigma brownish. Abdomen densely brownish grey pruinescent on tergites laterally and sternites, brown pruinescent on tergites dorsally (except noted); tergites 7 – 8 extensively shiny (except posterior margin), also sternites 7 – 8 usually subshiny to shiny anteriorly; only tergites 1 – 2 with some short setae laterally, otherwise tergites covered with scattered setulae; cercus black, with dark setulae.
diagnosis
Diagnosis. Mid-sized (wing length 5 – 5.5 mm) robust flies with brownish pruinescent thorax and abdomen and almost entirely dark brown legs. Male dichoptic; occiput slightly convex with numerous long, flattened setae laterally behind eye; thorax black setose, scutum with 4 vittae; legs with only hind tarsomeres 1 – 3 brownish yellow, hind femur somewhat thickened, hind tibia very slender; apical part of phallus uniformly tubular. Female with brownish infuscate wing; abdomen densely brown pruinescent on tergites dorsally.
discussion
Remarks. Empis septentrionalis sp. nov. belongs to the group of species with uncertain subgeneric position within Empis (Shamshev 2001 a). The group is known almost exclusively from the Asiatic part of the Palaearctic (except one species) and is especially diverse in Middle Asia. In addition, three undescribed species are known from Yukon in Canada. The new species is very similar to E. jacutiensis Shamshev occurring in Yakutia and Chukotka of Russia (Shamshev 2016). Empis septentrionalis sp. nov. can be readily distinguished from E. jacutiensis by uniformly tubular apical part of the phallus (cup-shaped apically in E. jacutiensis) (Fig. 8) and dark brown hind tibia (yellowish to brownish yellow in E. jacutiensis). In addition, the male of E. septentrionalis sp. nov. usually has dark palpi (yellowish in E. jacutiensis), but this character appears to be somewhat variable. The female of the new species differs from the female of E. jacutiensis by dark brown hind tibia and tarsus and by brown pruinescence on abdominal tergites dorsally (abdomen uniformly light grey pruinescent in the female of E. jacutiensis). Habitat. Almost all specimens were collected in the warmer central region of Wrangel Island, mainly in dry habitats. Genus Rhamphomyia Meigen
distribution
Distribution. Palaearctic, known only from Wrangel Island.
etymology
Etymology. The specific name is from the Latin septentrionalis (north, northern), in reference to the distribution of this species.
materials_examined
Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, labelled: [RUSSIA. Chukotka AO (Wrangel Island)] “ [printed in Cyrillic, Russian] Chukotskiy AO [= Autonomous Okrug] o. [= ostrov, island] Wrangel / Verch. tech. [= verkhnee techenie, upper flow] river Neizvest- / naya 71 ° 13 ′ N 179 ° 19 ′ W / O. A. Khruleva 8.7.2015 / 2 B ”; “ Holotypus / Empis / septentrionalis / Shamshev, Sinclair sp. nov. [red label] ” (INS _ DIP _ 0000612, ZIN). PARATYPES: RUSSIA. Chukotka AO (Wrangel Island): same locality as holotype, BT 7 A, 5. vii. 2006, OAK (1 ♂, 1 ♀, CNC); same locality as holotype, BT 7 A, 10. vii. 2015, OAK (1 ♂, ZIN); same locality as holotype, BT 7 B, 10. vii. 2015, OAK (7 ♀, ZIN); same locality as holotype, BT C 1, YPT, 4 – 15. vii. 2015, OAK (1 ♂, ZIN); same locality as holotype, BT 1 A, 6 – 13. vii. 2015, OAK (1 ♂, ZIN); Mineev Mtns, 71 ° 00 ′ N 179 ° 31 ′ W, BT 14 B, 14. vii. 2006, OAK (1 ♂, ZIN); environs of Pervaya Mtn (71 ° 10 ′ N 179 ° 27 ′ W), BT A, hand collecting, 21. vii. 2019, OAK (1 ♀, ZIN).