Revision of the genus Elaphropeza Macquart (Diptera: Hybotidae) from the Oriental Region, with a special attention to the fauna of Singapore
Author
SHAMSHEV, IGOR V.
Author
GROOTAERT, PATRICK
text
Zootaxa
2007
2007-05-31
1488
1
1
164
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1488.1.1
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.1488.1.1
11755334
5086985
7D9B48C3-B60D-4FB3-A58E-696A171C0249
Elaphropeza melanura
Bezzi, 1912
Elaphropeza melanura
Bezzi, 1912: 489
(male and female).
Elaphropeza menalura
Yang and Yang, 1992b: 1094
and 1096, misspelling.
Re-description
. Male. Body length
1.5–1.7 mm
, wing length
1.6–1.8 mm
. Occiput black, subshining, finely greyish pollinose, with yellow to brownish yellow setation. Anterior ocellars long, proclinate; posterior ocellars minute. Inner verticals long, outer ones hardly prominent. Frons shining. Antenna with scape and pedicel yellow, postpedicel brown. Pedicel with circlet of subequally short setulae. Postpedicel 3.0 times longer than wide. Style normally pubescent, brown, nearly 1.5 times longer than postpedicel and about as long as scape, pedicel and postpedicel combined. Proboscis brownish yellow. Palpus yellow, small, rounded.
Thorax almost entirely yellow, shining, with yellow to brownish yellow bristles; scutellum and metanotum brown to black. Scutellum truncate. Prothoracic episterna lacking long upturned bristle just above fore coxa, with 1 short bristle in upper part. Postpronotal bristle not prominent. Mesonotum with 2 notopleural, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 postalar and 4 scutellar (inner ones very long, cruciate; outer ones very short) bristles. Acrostichal and dorsocentral bristles multiserial, uniform (except for 1 pair of long prescutellars), the former not quite reaching base of scutellum.
Legs almost entirely yellow, tarsomere 5 of all legs brown. Coxae and trochanters with unmodified setation. Fore and hind femora and tibiae somewhat thickened. Fore femur with rows of short antero- and posteroventral bristles (2 bristles near base longer). Fore tibia lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Mid femur slender, with 2 rows of spinule-like, short, ventral bristles (becoming shorter in apical part of femur), 1 long thin bristle near base and 1 anterior subapical bristle. Mid tibia with hardly prominent ventral spinules in apical part, lacking prominent bristles (except subapicals). Hind femur with 1 row of short anteroventrals and 3–4 erect dorsal bristles near base. Hind tibia bearing 1 anterodorsal bristle in about middle; apical projection prominent, small, rounded, clothed in dense brownish setulae. Tarsi of all legs unmodified.
Wing normally developed, finely uniformly infuscate, covered with uniform microtrichia; veins yellowish to brownish yellow. Costal vein with moderately long setulae along anterior margin. Basal costal bristle long, brown. Costal index: 36/31/31/14. Vein Rs somewhat longer than crossvein bm-cu. Veins R4+5 and M1+2 divergent near wing apex, both straight. Vein CuA1 reaching wing margin. Vein A1 as fold. Crossvein bm-cu transverse. Crossvein r-m before middle of cell bm. Halter yellow.
Abdomen with tergites 1–3 and 6–7 brownish, with unmodified setation; tergite 7 with rather long posteromarginal bristles. Tergite 4 broadest, brown, with squamiform setae.
Terminalia moderately large, brown. Not examined.
Female. Mid tibia with ordinary setulae, lacking ventral spinules. Segment 8 elongate, brown. Cercus brownish yellow. Otherwise as in male.
Material examined
.
1 male
[head missing],
Anping
,
Formosa
,
H. Sauter
,
VI
.1912
;
Elaphropeza melanura
male and female
Bezzi
[hand-written]
.
1 ♂
,
1 ♀
,
Anping
,
Formosa
, H.
Sauter
,
VI
.1912
.
3 ♂♂
,
4 females
[additionally, 1 empty pin and
2 specimens
with missing abdomen],
Tainan
,
Formosa
,
H. Sauter
, II.09;
Bezzi
det.
1 ♀
, same labels and data except X.08.
1 ♀
,
Chipun
(
Formosa
), H.
Sauter
VII. 1912
;
Bezzi
det. (
DEI
)
.
Neotype
designation
.
Bezzi (1912)
described this species from a few specimens taken by H. Sauter from Takao and
Tainan
and later (1914) he noted that this species is quite common on the island. The type of
E. melanura
was deposited in the Hungarian Museum (Budapest) and it was destroyed in 1956 (Papp and Földvári, pers. comm.). The specimens housed in the
DEI
are not
syntypes
(
Bezzi, 1914
).
The male specimen of this species deposited in the
DEI
(in fairly good condition, pinned on one plate with a female and labelled: “
Tainan
/
Formosa
/
H. Sauter
, II.09;
Bezzi
det.”) is herewith designated as
Neotype
of
Elaphropeza melanura
Bezzi, 1912
and it was labelled accordingly by the authors in 2006 to fix and stabilize the current concept of the name.
Distribution
.
Taiwan
.
Remarks
. The relationships of
E. melanura
are unclear beyond inclusion within the
E. ephippiata
species group.