The Surge Flies (Diptera: Canacidae: Zaleinae) of Australasia and Notes on Tethinid-Canacid Morphology and Relationships
Author
McAlpine, D. K.
text
Records of the Australian Museum
2007
59
1
27
64
journal article
2201-4349
3DBB805B-507D-40B2-BE98-2A7ADE8E6772
Zalea wisei
n.sp.
Figs 66, 67
,
71
Material examined
.
HOLOTYPE
?,
New Zealand
:
Otata Island
,
Noisies Islands
,
Hauraki Gulf
,
North Island
vicinity,
8.xii.1979
, K.A.W. (
AMNZ
). “Swept at low tide. Intertidal rocks, N. coast.” Mounted on card point impaled directly on pin
.
PARATYPE
. 1?, identical data to
holotype
(
AMNZ
). Mounted on card point glued to square card on pin
.
Description
(?,! unknown). Size larger than that of most
New Zealand
Zalea
spp.
; habitus rather stout.
Coloration
. Head dark grey to greyish brown; postfrons without yellowish or other pale zones; parafacial, face, and cheek grey-pruinescent. Antenna greyish-tawny. Prelabrum grey or partly blackish; palpus tawny yellow. Thorax dark grey-pruinescent, brown-pruinescent dorsally. Legs dark grey-brown; tarsi more tawny-brown, mostly darker apically. Wing membrane tinged with smoky-grey; veins brown. Halter yellow. Abdomen dark grey-brown.
Head
higher than long; eye, in profile, obliquely oval, 1.25–1.27 times as high as long; triangle formed by joining centers of ocelli not broader than equilateral triangle; postfrons narrowed anteriorly so that minimum separation of eyes = 0.36 of total width of head; face concave; vibrissal region not very prominent; cheek 0.25–0.26 of height of eye; postvertical bristles strongly divergent; ocellar bristles very slightly closer together than are posterior ocelli; posterior fronto-orbital bristle not at all reclinate, curved outwards; vibrissa smaller than anterior peristomial bristles; postgenal region with vertical series of four or five setulae. Antenna: segment 5 3.6 times as long as wide; palpus extending beyond prelabrum when proboscis withdrawn.
Thorax
. Prosternum without bridge, widely separated from propleuron on each side; proepisternal bristle well developed (compared with
horningi
group); mesopleuron with two large bristles near posterior margin; scutellum with pair of setulae between bristles of apical pair, each c. half as long as apical bristle. Fore tibia usually with three posterodorsal bristles longer than tibial diameter; mid and hind tibiae with several long dorsal setulae or bristles. Wing: cell-4 index = 0.39–0.43.
Figs 66, 67. (
66
)
Zalea wisei
, head. (
67
) the same,
left surstyli and cercus, scale =
0.05 mm
.
Abdomen
. Epandrium broad, rounded, with two pairs of large dorsal bristles and smaller setulae; surstyli (
Fig. 67
) with short setulae and no apparent microtrichia; hypandrium and associated structures not elucidated.
Dimensions
. Total length
2.2–2.3 mm
; length of thorax
1.1 mm
; length of wing
2.2–2.4 mm
; width of epandrium (dried)
0.34 mm
.
Distribution
. Only known from the Noisies (or Noises) Islands in Hauraki Gulf, North Island vicinity,
New Zealand
. These are a group of islets and rocks near
Auckland
. “Otata Island” is
38°42'S
174°58'E
in Gazetteer.
Notes
Zalea wisei
and the closely related “sp. 1” differ from other
New Zealand
Zalea
spp.
in the non-reclinate posterior frontoorbital bristle, absence of the prothoracic precoxal bridge, longer proepisternal bristle, presence of a pair of setulae between the apical scutellar bristles, presence of two large posterior mesopleural bristles, and smaller C-4 index. For comparison with sp. 1 see under that species.
The specific epithet refers to Keith A.J. Wise, who collected the
type
material and other significant material of
Zalea
.