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Art. XXII.—A New Species of Macquartia (Order Diptera).
[Read before the Otago Institute, 6th August, 1912.]
This description follows the system adopted by Charles H. T. Townsend in his “Taxonomy of Muscoidean Flies.”* I take this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness to the Smithsonian Institution for the assistance which I have received.
Fam. Tachinidae.
Genus Macquartia R. Desvoidy (1830). Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 33, p. 46.
Macquartia kumaraensis† sp. nov.
Head.
Ptilinal suture narrowed and rounded at the top; its sides, for the greater part, divergent, but slightly convergent towards the termini, which are below the level of the lower eye-border, and in line with the vibrissal angles; the cheek-sutures consequently ascending (fig. 2, k).
Ptilinal area oval, occupying about one-third of width between the lower corners of the eyes.
Longitudinal median line of facial plate, in profile, projecting forward below the antennae (fig. 1, a), but restricted and flattened at vibrissal angles.
Foveae double, deep and elongate, flattened upon the inner and rounded upon the outer edge (fig. 2, d).
[Footnote] * Smi. Inst. Coll., vol. 51 (1908).
[Footnote] † This species was captured in the vicinity of a promontory known as Potato Point, hence the name kumaraensis. “kumara,” in the Maori vernacular, signifying a sweet potato.
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New Species of Empididae.
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Facialia unarmed, rounded, divergent, but gradually convergent below.
Vibrissae approximated well above the oral margin, on a level with termini of ptilinal suture (fig. 1, e; fig. 2, i).
A row of strong and a divergent row of weak peristomal bristles (fig. 1, g and f).
Oral cavity moderately deep, narrowing anteriorly but widening posteriorly.
Clypeus an elongate plate, anteriorly extending over full width of oral cavity, but narrowing towards the rostrum.
Proboscis horny, slender, projecting forward, slightly longer than the head, geniculated; rostrum brown; haustellum with a few golden hairs at the tip, shiny, dark brown except for a proximal whitish patch (fig. 1, c).
Palpi dark tawny, slender, elongate, well developed, projecting beyond epistome, and bearing long, thin, stiff, black bristles (fig. 1).
Longitudinal axis of head, at insertion of antennae, equal to axis of oral margin.
Facio-peristomal profile angular.
Fig. 1—Head profile of M. Kumaraensis; X 12 times.
Antennae approximated; 1st joint reddish-brown, projecting almost at right angles to frontalia, and with a few short bristles projecting forward on distal margin (fig. 1, b); 2nd joint of same colour as preceding, about half as long as 3rd, bearing closely set short bristles on front edge and a row of smaller lateral ones; 3rd joint dull-piceous, reddish upon inner proximal margin, occupying about one-third of the length of facial profile.
Arista piceous, minutely pubescent, tapering beyond two-thirds of length towards distal extremity; 1st aristal joint short, 2nd elongate.
Lunula crescent-shaped, rounded, in colour shining reddish-brown.
Eyes dichoptic, with sparse microscopic hairs, and receding to about the level of the middle of the face.
Vertex wide, inner vertical bristles very long, post-ocellar bristles delicate and divergent.
Fig. 2—Front view of head of M. Kumaraensis; × 12 times.
Front conically projecting; ocelli separated; ocellar plate triangular, of moderate dimensions, with weak bristles; pre-ocellar bristles absent.
Frontalia reddish-brown, opaque, rectangular, narrowing towards the vertex, longitudinally corrugated for about two-thirds of the length from notched lunula (fig. 2, a, a).
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Post-vertical bristles absent.
Para-frontals tawny, with fuscous reflections; triangular, being narrowed towards the vertex; bare but for frontal bristles, which are convergent in a single row, extending to about the base of antennae (fig. 2, b, b); lower fronto-orbital bristles weak, the upper, 3 in number, divergent, in line with middle fronto-orbitals, themselves weak and convergent.
Para-facials bare, ochreous-yellow with tawny reflections, slightly swollen, rectangular in profile but narrowing slightly towards the orbit (fig. 2, c, c).
Cheeks of same colour as para-facials, bare but for a secondary divergent row of weak peristomal bristles, wide towards occiput, narrowed towards the facio-peristomal angle, height less than that of eye.
Posterior orbits bare, tawny, widened below; lower margin of the head straight.
Occiput tawny, flat above, swollen beneath, causing posterior margin of cheek to bulge slightly, and bearing stiff golden hairs above, which are longer and slender below; occipital area restricted to occiput; post-orbital bristles proclinate.
Thorax.
Sterno-pleural bristles strong, 3 in number, a pair being approximated a little anterior to the line of meso-pleural suture (fig. 3, a), and a single larger and longer bristle posterior to the line of this suture (a′); surface of sterno-pleurae with scattered bristles.
Ptero-pleural bristles long, 4 in number, a pair of strong (c, c′) and a pair of weak bristles (d) being arranged alternately near wing-articulation (e); around the insertion of these bristles are scattered black hairs, otherwise this segment is bare.
Meso-pleural bristles long, strong, 7 in number, 6 placed along mesopleural suture (g), the 7th, which is shorter, inserted in the vicinity of the upper anterior angle of pleura (g′).
Pro-pleural bristles strong, 3 in number (k).
Noto-pleural bristles strong, reclinate, 2 in number (fig. 4, a).
Fig. 3.—Side view of thorax of M. kumaraensis; × 6 times. f, tegula; h, humerus; s. scutellum.
Post-sutural long, 8 in number, 4 in each row (b); the posterior ones very long, extending beyond the scutellum, not exactly in line with the others, but inserted slightly towards the post-alars.
Dorso-central bristles long, 6 in number, 3 in each row (c).
Acrostichals (d) strong, 8 in number, 4 in each row, shorter than the post-suturals; the posterior pairs are nearer to the scutellar than to the dorsal suture, the posterior ones being more erect.
Humeral bristles strong, reclinate, 5 in number, the most anterior more erect than the others; a pair upon lateral margin, one upon anterior margin, another in the centre of the humerus, and a delicate one between but in from the anterior and central chaetae (e).
Post-humeral bristles 3 in number, the anterior and posterior ones weak, not being in line with the strong intermediate bristle (f).
Pre-sutural bristles 2 in number, the one nearer to the dorsal suture weak (p).
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Intra-alar bristles long, 3 in number (g).
Supra-alars (h) consisting of 3 long reclinate bristles and a weak shorter spine between the two anterior chaetae and slightly toward the intra-alar system.
Post-alar bristles long, 2 in number (l).
Scutellar bristles long; two pairs of lateral (am and pm), one pair of apical (n), and one pair of short discal bristles (o); the anterior lateral (am) and apical chaetae are of equal length; the posterior laterals (pm), being the longest of this system, extend to the posterior margin of the 2nd abdominal segment.
Thorax tawny, with fuscous reflections, which are darker posterior to the transverse suture; 4 dark-brown longitudinal stripes upon the dorsum. As the thorax is covered with short bristles, and those of the dorsum have a dark spot at the insertion, this portion is rendered darker in certain lights.
Scutellum ochreous-yellow, with cinereous reflections.
Fig. 4.—Showing ohaetotaxy of the dorsum and soutellum of M. kumaraensis.
Wings.
The wings clear, costal spine absent, margin normal; costa ending just before the tip of wing, veins tawny; 3rd longitudinal vein bristly between its origin and the middle transverse, which, situated about the middle of the discal cell, is slightly oblique; 4th longitudinal vein normal, reaching the costa before tip of wing, rounded at the bend; and slightly curved into the first posterior cell, which, being open, is roughly a right-angled triangle; 5th longitudinal vein curved toward the 4th. vein, not forked and not reaching the margin of wing; posterior transverse sinuate, parallel to last section of 4th vein, about two-thirds of the distance from middle transverse to bend of the 4th vein (fig. 5).
Fig. 5.—Wing of M. kumaraensis; × 12 times.
Tegulae moderately large; greyish-white, with a narrow yellow hairy margin, otherwise bare.
Abdomen.
Oval, broad, greatest breadth across posterior margin of 2nd segment, the basal segment narrowest; dorsally and ventrally convex; 4 segments visible from above; apical segment triangular; a broad black irregular medio-longitudinal stripe, otherwise marked with dark-yellow and golden reflections; macrochaetae strong, bristle - like; lateral bristles on all the marginals and discals on 3rd (fig. 6) and 4th segments.
Fig. 6.—Third abdominal segment of M. kumaraensis, showing chaetotaxy; × 12 times.
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Legs.
Bristly, elongate, especially the posterior pair, the anterior being shortest; tawny, femora lighter from the proximal end, the tarsi becoming darker distally on account of short closely set bristles; hind femora flattened laterally and slightly convex anteriorly, covered with minute bristles also bearing upon the under side a double row of large divergent spines, and upon the upper side an irregular, row; hind tibiae straight, with mmute bristles, which upon the upper side are arranged regularly in a double row between two rows of large bristles, 4 in the inner and 6 in the outer row, diminishing in length toward the proximal extremity; also a pair of pre-apical and a pair of short apical bristles; middle femora straight, rounder and less bristly than the hind femora; middle tibiae with larger outer spines and a few smaller inner ones, also with a whorl of strong pre-apical bristles; front femora less bristly than hind femora, posteriorly convex and rounded, anteriorly flat; front tibiae with a whorl of strong pre-apical bristles; tari elongate and slender; pulvilli tawny, well developed, almost oval but for the straight inner margin, not projecting beyond the claws; empodium a slender bristle as long as the pulvilli; claws well developed, curved, black towards the tip, otherwise reddish-brown; metatarsi long, slender, attaining greatest length in the hind tarsi.
Length, 11 ½ mm.; wing, 10 ½ mm.