A NEW SPECIES OF LEPTOCERA (DIPTERA, SPHAEROCERIDAE) FROM CAVES IN PORTUGAL.

By O. W. RICHARDS,

Department of Zoology and Applmd Entomology, I m p e r i l College, London.

[PLATE XI.]

Leptocera (Puncticorpus) lusitanica sp. n.

MALE, female. Black, moderately shining; trochanters, very narrow apices of femora, slightly broader bases of tibim, reddish-brown ; stalk of halteres whitish ; wings considerably clouded along the veins. L. 1.5- 2.0 mm., females usually bigger than males.

Eyes normal, buccm rather less than half as wide as antero-posterior diameter of eyes. One upcurved bristle on buccm one-fifth as long as vibrissa. Face strongly shining, rather hollowed out, lunule large, equilateral. Dorsum of head of uniform texture. Two large interfrontal bristles on each side, in front of them about five minute irregularly placed bristles on each side. Anterior of two outwardly directed orbital bristles considerably smaller than the posterior one. No postvertical bristles. Antenna with only a very short bristle on the first segment, arista four times as long as antennm with rather short pubescence. Scutum and scutellum not very shining because strongly alutaceous, one strong prescutellar dorsocentral and a very much smaller pair on the suture, about nine rows of microchmtes between the anterior dorsocentrals, scutellum slightly transverse, less than semicircular, the four bristles rather short, apical pair one and a half times as long as scutellum, lower part of pleuron considerably tomentose, one moderate sternopleural. Prosternum (--~basisternum) (fig. 2) broadly triangular on its posterior half, linear only in front. Forelegs unmodified. Mid-legs in female with the usual two anterior bristles at apex of femora, tibia with a dorsal bristle at ¼, sometimes a small anterior at ½, a pair of small bristles (antero- and postero-dorsal) at 4/6 and a much longer dorsal just beyond them, no mid-ventral but a long apical ventral ; male with about seven stout oblique postero-ventral bristles at base of femur ; tibia slightly bent and apical ventral short, bristles of inner side near apex slightly comb-like ; 6 ~ basitarsus very long, more than half as long as tibia. Hind legs unmodified, second tarsal segment nearly twice as long as first. Wings (P1. XI. fig. 1) fully developed, extending well beyond the tip of the abdomen, second costal sector one-quarter longer than third, costa not or scarcely overpassing Rs, R2+3 sinuate, R4+5 sinuate with turning point half-way between im and the wing-tip, R s ending just in front of wing-tip, median cell rather broad, im about as long as distance from it along

492 O . W . Richards : a new species of Leptocera

M to r-m, veins produced beyond im, especially Ms+4, anal vein feebly sinuate, ahda very narrow. Abdomen very broad and flattened, sternites almost as broad as tergites, sides of anterior tergites a little callose, then bent down and with a sharp edge on the ventral side, surface rather dull, closely and coarsely granulate, short hairs only at sides and apex ;

tergite 1 very short and transverse, tergite 2 slightly more than twice as wide as long, 3 and 4 progressively a little shorter but most of abdomen covered by 2 + 3 + 4 , apex of 2 and 3 slightly callose, tergite 5 less granulate, more shining, strongly transverse, tergites 6 and 7 very short, almost hidden, cerci long and finger-shaped, each with two long sinuous hairs ; sternites less strongly granulated with very short bristles, sternite 1 d-2 rather short, very transverse, sternite 3 very long and broad almost half as long as broad, covering nearly half the underside, granulate, sternite 4 about half as long as 3, sternites 5, 6 and 7 very transverse, sternite 8 a small nearly semicircular plate. Male with first four tergites much as in female, tergite 5 strongly transverse, one-third as long as 4, symmetrical, tergite 6 subquadrate, somewhat asymmetrical, about twice as long as 5 ; sternite 1 + 2 relatively short, sternite 3 long, covering more than half of the underside, more than half as long as wide, granulate, sternite 4 very short and transverse, shining, sternite 5 (fig. 3) mostly hidden but its central quarter produced into a large outstanding lobe, this lobe widening towards its apex, margin a little emarginate with outstanding corners, with a long outstanding bristle on each side beneath (i.e. on dorsal side) ; genitalia moderately large with rather short bristles, anal split longer than broad; when macerated (figs. 4, 5) very asymmetrical, eerci with numerous stout bristles, right one separated from tergite 9 by a suture, left one fused to the tergite, right one produced into a broad, browner process curving over to the left ; genital forceps with the left one almost at once after its articulation strongly bent downwards with an elbow-like projection above, ending in two branches, the outer one slightly the shorter all(l with two straight stout bristles, inner one with two long, downward curving spike-like bristles; right tbrceps produced first as a stout but relatively narrow triangle, from half-way along the tria~lgle a short curved branch projects on the inner side, from just before and beneath the apex of the triangle projects a long straight process ending in two stout spike-like bristles ; posterior gonapophyses stout and elbowed inwards, the left one more than the right ; ~edeagus with a long stout sclerotization, seen from side strongly thickened at apex, less so from above.

Type ~ allotype 9 Portugal, Algarve : Portimgo, Grutas da Mexil- hoerinha, 12.v.61 (Dr. K. Lindberg). Paratypes 4¢ , 2 ~ with same data as t ypes ; Mira de Aire, Gruta do Regutinho, 6.vi.61, 3 ¢ ; I~6gion de Coimbre, Gruta de Legag~o , 17.vi.61, 4 ~', 5 ~, Polo da Cova da Moura, 12.vi.61, 2~; PrOs de Minde, Gruta da Nascente do Almonda, 27.v.61, ~', 3 9, the same on guano, 2 ~, 1 ~ (all coll. Dr. K. Lindberg).

The type and allotype are in the collection of the British Museum and some para types are in my collection and in that of Dr. Lindberg.

O. W. Richards : a new species of Leptocera 493

Villeneuve (1917 b : 336) described Limosina (Leptocera) cribata fl'om 2 ~ (Paris) and 1 ~, I ~ (Maine-et-Loire), March-April.

Duda (1918 : 93, pl. III , fig. 17) described a Limosina (Puncticorpus) brevipennis from 2 ~, one caught by himself in leaf-litter at Herter Walde (Westphalia) and one ill Becket's collection from LShn (Silesia). ])uda (1923 : 164) records that he sent a number of his types to Villeneuve who compared them with those of his own species. According to Villeneuve, L. cribrata Villen.--~L. punctipennis Duda ; Duda did not see Villeneuve's types. Duda (1925 : 198) merely listed this synonymy. I~ichards (1930 : 291) recorded 4 ~, 5 ~ of L. cribrata from the English counties of Berks., Hants., Hereford and Kent ; the species was recorded from mouse runs and one pair from the run of the ant Lasius fuliginosus (L.). Since then I have seen 1 ~, 1 ~ in addition (Pembrokeshire, Cwm-yr-Eglwys, on ivy flowers, 5.ix.48) but the ~ has since been destroyed. Sdguy (1934: 464, fig. 605, as brevipennis D.) notes Villeneuve's records and adds another one from Orne : La Linardi~re, on mushrooms, vii (Lesne). Duda (1938 : 100) adds only one further record from Stolp in Pomerania (Karl).

I t does not seem completely certain that L. brevipennis (Duda) and L. cribrata (Villeneuve) are the same species. Duda never saw a male and Villeneuve did not describe the male characters. Villeneuve's description makes no mention of the wings being short and he says that the second costal sector is as long or a little longer than the third. On the other hand, the tarsi are described as very pale as in the short-winged form. Duda's species has the wings not extending beyond the fourth abdominal tergite, with the second costal sector at least somewhat shorter than the third. The wings are also sometimes rather narrow, and it seems that the second costal sector is shorter when the wings are smaller. I t seems possible that the species here described as new is really the same as Villeneuve's species but only an examination of the male type could decide. I t is at least certain that there are two species which differ markedly in the male but very little in the female.

The two species agree in the following important characters : - Top of head almost uniformly sclerotized, two pairs of large interfrontal

bristles with a few minute ones in front, lunula a large equilateral triangle, postvertieal bristles not developed. Prosternum (basisternum) becoming widely triangular posteriorly ; in most Sphaerocerids the prosternum is very narrowly linear but some of the wingless species of such genera as Mesaptilotus Rich. have a wide prosternum and the character may possibly be developed in connection with reduction of the wings. The only other Leptocera in which the prosternum is somewhat though much less widened behind is L. claviventris Strobl. Abdomen strongly sclerotized, dorsum flattened and punctured, sternites very broad (as in some of the wingless species), third sternite much the largest ; ~ genitalia highly complex with asymmetrical forceps. The subgenus Puncticorpus Duda seems to be unusually distinct and it might almost be treated as a genus.

494 O . W . Richards : a new species of Leptocera

Figs. 2-s.

2

t

/

2. Leptocera lusitanica sp. n., p ros te rnum. 3. L . lusitanica ~, s terni tes 4 and 5. 4. L . lusitanica, ~ genitalia, dorsal view. 5. L. lusitanica, ~ genitalia, f rom the left. 6. L . cribrata (Villen.) (~, s terni tes 4 and 5. 7. L . cribrata (Villen.),

genitalia, dorsal view. 8. L . cribrata (Villen.), ~ genitalia, f rom the left. a, left forceps ; b, r ight forceps ; e, ~edeagus ; d, ]eft gonapophys is ; e, f, r ight gonapophysis .

My British specimens of L. cribrata (1 ~, 1 ~ Bagley Wood, Berks. ; 1 ~ Cwm-yr-Eglwys, Pembs., 1 ~ det. Dr. O. Duda) differ from L. lusitanica as follows : -

Size rather smaller; tarsi pale yellow-brown and apices of tibim narrowly pale. The two Bagley Wood specimens have the wings narrow as well as short and the second costal sector not more than two-thirds of the length of the third ; the mesoscutum is also transverse with the prescutellar dorso-central bristles considerably shorter. The Pembroke specimen has larger wings with the second costal sector four-fifths as long as the third ; the mesoscutum is quadrate and the dorso-central bristle long ; in all three specimens R4+ ~ is less sinuate. The bristles of the

0. W. Richards : a new species of Leptocera 495

mid-tibia are similar except that in the Pembroke ~ the posterior bristle of the pair at 4/5 is considerably longer than the anterior one. I can see no other differences in the ~ but the ~ is quite different. Sternite 4 granulate like 3. Sternite 5 (fig. 6) is produced over its central half into a large lobe which has a deep fiat-bottomed emargination leaving a somewhat finger-shaped lobe on each side, beneath (on the dorsal side) of each finger is a long outstanding bristle. Genitalia (figs. 7 & 8) of the same general type ; cerci with similar stout bristles but hardly produced on the right ; left genital forceps forking near its base, both branches strongly bent downwards, outer branch considerably shorter and ending in a stout black spike-like bristle, inner branch narrow, somewhat expanded at extreme apex and produced into a shorter lower and a longer upper black spike, this long inner branch with a considerable rounded process from its base on the inside ; right genital forceps very like the inner one of the left though without the process from the base ; posterior gonapophyses with the left one relatively slender, much longer than the right one and somewhat thickened at the end, right one consisting of two lobes, the outer one with a fine hair ; ~edeagus with a long sclerotization, curving down almost at right-angles, apex expanded into a boot-shaped swelling bu t mostly narrow in both dorsal and lateral view.

REFERENCES.

DUDA, O. 1918. Revision der europ~ischen Arten der Gattung Limosina Macquart (Dipteren). Abh. Ic.k. zool. bot. Ges. Wien, 10, 1-240, 8. 1923. Berlchtigung zur Revision der europ~ischen Arten der Gattung L/mos/na

Maequart (Dipteren) nebst Beschreibung vons sechs neue Arten. Verh. zool. bot. Ges. Wien, 73, 163-180, 7. 1925. Die aussereurop~ischen Arten der Gattung Leptocera Olivier:Limosina

Macquart (Dipteren) mit Beriichsiehtigung der europMschen Arten. Arch. Naturges, 90&, Heft l l (1924), 5-215, 4.

- - . 1938. Sphaeroceridae (Cypselidae) in E. Lindner " Die Fligen der palaearktisehen Region," 57, 182, 6.

RICHARDS, O . W . 1930. The British species of Sphaeroceridae (Borboridae, Diptera). Proc. zool. Soc. LoRd. 2, 261-345, l, 23

S~ouY, E. 1934. Dipt~res brachyc~res. Muscidae acalypterae et Scatophagidae. Faune de France, 23, 832, 27, 903.

VrL~EUVE, J. 1917. Esp6ces nouvelles de Dipt~res de la famille des Cypselidae (Borboridae). Bull. Soc. ent. France, 1917, 333-338.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE.

Leptocera lusitanlca sp. n. Male left wing (length of ~ wing=ca. 1.75 ram.).

M ~ z I E s ,~ LAY~os. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Set. 13., Vol. V, P1. VI I