The Hemerodromiinae (Diptera: Empididae) of New Zealand II. Chelipoda Macquart
Author
Published, First
text
Zootaxa
2007
2007-07-30
1537
1
1
88
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.1537.1.1
11755334
5088638
12.
Chelipoda abjecta
Collin
[
Figs. 12–14
,
86
,
93
,
124
]
Chelipoda abjecta
Collin, 1928: 37–38
.
Type material.
Collin (1928)
described
Chelipoda abjecta
from
two males
and
three females
from Ohakune,
iii.1923
,
v–vii.1923
and
1–9.iv.1923
,
T
.
R
. Harris [
BMNH
]. Ohakune is in:
New Zealand
,
North Island, RI
. A male from Collin’s
syntype
series, in good condition, labelled Ohakune
iii.1923
,
T
.
R
. Harris [
BMNH
] is here designated
lectotype
. The remaining male and
three females
from Collin’s
syntype
series labelled Ohakune,
iii.1923
,
v–vii.1923
and
1–9.iv.1923
,
T
.
R
. Harris [
BMNH
] are here designated
paralectotypes
.
Additional material:
28♂
,
77♀
all from
North Island
regions CL, BP, TO, and WO
.
Description. Male:
length 3.0–
3.5mm
(wet specimens), 2.5–3.0mm (dry specimens)
Head
: brownish black dusted grey, front of frons yellowish, face yellow with pale dusting;
lpo
pale, 3–4 serial;
upo
brown or black, uniserial; vertical setae clearly differentiated from line of
upo
,
vt2
smaller than
vt1
, of similar length to
upo
;
ocl
fine, diverging, rather longer than width of frons at front ocellus; a few additional hairs on and behind ocellar triangle; a pair of short setae near front of frons. Mouthparts yellow, palpi very narrow with distinct pale apical bristle. Antennae (
Fig. 93
) black, scape with distinct dorsal bristle;
ped
with apical circlet of setae longest on outer face; postpedicel 1.5–2.0X as long as wide, conical, arista 3X as long.
Thorax
: ground colour of mesonotum rather uniformly brownish black, pleura (
Fig. 86
) slightly paler with dark lower katepisternum and a faint yellowish stripe running from base of C
1
across upper katepisternum and meron. Mesonotum and pleura rather uniformly pale grey dusted, sometimes with faint indications of darker stripes. Dorsocentrals with only
dc2
strongly developed;
dc1
,
dc3
and
dc5
only small hairs,
dc3
often absent,
dc4
usually absent;
acr
absent;
lnp
,
pprn
and
sa
strong,
ph
well developed, about as long as
pa
;
sct
strong, convergent. Laterotergite with 4–5 distinct setae.
Legs
: yellowish, sometimes F
1
behind, F
2
, F
3
and distal tarsal segments slightly darkened; C
1
linear, slightly inflated basally, about as long as thorax with only small bristles and hairs in front and behind; F
1
moderately inflated below, widest 0.4 from base, about 5.5X as long as wide; femoral formula 3(3–3)/11(9–12)/ 2(1–4)/7(6–9),
pv
series of denticles few in number, only developed basally becoming more spine-like distally where converging with
pv
series of spines which become shorter and finer distally; a distinct ventral spine 0.1–0.15 from base. F
2
slender, no distinct bristle distally. F
3
slightly curved, convex anteriorly. T
1
0.6–0.65X as long as F
1
, a linear series of about 25 minute closely adpressed denticles ventrally with a row of short outstanding hairs immediately behind and a dorsal fringe of short fine adpressed bristles but otherwise short haired;
at1
<0.5X length of T
1
, finely pilose ventrally, fine hairs dorsally;
mt1
and
pt1
longer, 0.6–0.7X as long as respective tibiae, some outstanding hairs below but not finely pilose;
at2
moderately short, about 0.5X as long as
at3
.
Wing
: with simple venation, veins brownish yellow, anal cell more or less open (in some lights A
1
visible as slight deformation of membrane, appearing continuous to base but more usually appearing as a short faint section about end of CuA
2
.
Abdomen
: brownish, paler below, tergites 2–7 with short dark hairs, not distinctly longer on posterior margin. Male genitalia (
Figs. 12–14
) with epandrium narrow, slightly lobed apically, long setae apically, even longer posteroapically; hypandrium consisting of two chitinized lateral lobes connected ventrally by a weakly chitinized membrane, each lobe with 3–4 distinct bristles posteroapically; cercus not fused with epandrium, bearing fine setae apically and a longer seta on inner margin basally; postgonite a simple pointed structure lacking palmate tip and without strong setae.
Description. Female:
very similar to male, femoral formula 3(3–3)/12(11–13)/4(2–5)/6(5–8), F
1
(
Fig. 124
) with
pv
series of denticles tending to be slightly more numerous and more clearly differentiated from
pv
spines. Abdominal pubescence sparser, tergites with disc almost bare, longer hairs confined to lateral margins, terminal papillae dark with long hairs apically and on outer face.
Comments
.
C. abjecta
is a medium sized species in the
C. consignata
group, closely allied to
C. otiraensis
but with
dc3
absent and thoracic markings weaker. It is superficially similar to
C. interposita
and
C. inconspicua
but F
1
is quite slender and
dc3
is small or absent (distinct in
interposita
&
inconspicua
).
C. abjecta
is apparently confined to the North Island and is particularly frequent in
Nothofagus
forests and
Leptospermum
scrub on the Volcanic Plateau, occurring as high as the sub-alpine zone and in the Urewera National Park. Adults have been found from November to May with peak emergence in April and May.