Research Article |
Corresponding author: Lianmeng Wei ( wlm510520@sina.com ) Academic editor: Liping Yan
© 2023 Zhongyan Zhou, Lianmeng Wei.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Zhou Z, Wei L (2023) Two new species of the Phaonia boleticola-group (Diptera, Muscidae, Phaoniinae) from China. ZooKeys 1168: 219-229. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1168.97845
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Two new species of Phaonia are described: Phaonia agitata Zhou & Wei, sp. nov. and Phaonia nujiangensis Zhou & Wei, sp. nov., which were collected from Guizhou and Yunnan provinces of southwestern China and are assigned to the boleticola-group. A key to the species of this group is provided. The type specimens are deposited in the Wei Lianmeng Model Worker Innovation Studio, Anshun, Guizhou, China (WLMWISAGC).
boleticola-group, key, Phaonia, southwestern China, taxonomy
The genus Phaonia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 with the important synapomorphy – 1 strong pd (calcar) present at apical 1/4 of hind tibia – is one of the largest genera of Muscidae, mainly distributed in Palaearctic and Oriental regions (
This paper is a result of the study of specimens deposited in the Wei Lianmeng Model Worker Innovation Studio, Anshun, Guizhou, China (WLMWISAGC) and is part of on-going studies on the genus Phaonia from Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces of southwestern China. A key to all seven species of the P. boleticola species-group from China is provided.
Material for this study came from specimens collected in southwestern China between 1993 and 2013. The terminalia were prepared as follows: the last abdominal segment of relaxed specimens was carefully removed with microscissors and was then put into 10% KOH solution. It was either boiled for 5–10 min or kept for 24 h at room temperature until all the parts became clear. The dissected male terminalia were placed in glycerine, balanced on some cotton wool, and drawn using a camera lucida attached to a compound microscope. Morphological terms generally follow
Phaonia boleticola
species-group
Members of the P. boleticola species-group have the following combination of characters: frons narrow, arista plumose, presutural acr 0, pra undeveloped, prosternum bare, scutellum and abdomen dark, mid tibia with a row of p or pv only, hind tibia without apical pv.
Except as noted above, the authors find the male terminalia of the P. boleticola species-group to have the following characters: viewed posteriorly, cerci usually vest-like, fused proximally on upper 1/2 to 3/5, or even nearly completely fused.
Both P. xuei Wang & Xu, 1998 and P. fani Ma & Wang, 1992 (only females known) are different from other members of the P. boleticola species-group in the following features: abdomen not entirely black, tg 1+2 and most of tg 3 pale yellow; tg 4 and 5 each with hind marginal band yellow; male cercus of P. xuei rounded, which is very different from that of other species of the P. boleticola species-group. Therefore, these two species probably do not belong to the P. boleticola species-group or the definition of the P. boleticola species-group needs to be studied further and modified.
Nine species including the two new species described herein: P. agitata sp. nov., P. cyclosternita Xue, 1996, P. fani Ma & Wang, 1992, P. hainanensis Xue, 2008, P. nigripennis Ma & Cui, 1992, P. nujiangensis sp. nov., P. suscepta Xue, 1996, P. suspiciosa (Stein, 1907) and P. xuei Wang & Xu, 1998.
The P. boleticola-group is close to the P. nymphaearum-group but can be differentiated from the latter by the plumose arista.
China (Palearctic and Oriental regions). Phaonia boleticola (Rondani, 1866) is distributed through Central Europe to Middle Asia.
Holotype. China: “Guizhou, Fanjing Mountain, 1800 m, 27°55’N, 108°41’E, 22.VI.1994, LM Wei”, (WLMWISAGC, 1 male). Paratypes. Same data as holotype (WLMWISAGC, 2 males).
Eye bare, antenna brownish-yellow; dc 2+3, katepimeron setulose, both anterior and posterior spiracles brown; legs dark brown, with apex of femora and trochanters brown, tibiae yellow-brown and tarsus black, somewhat brownish, mid tibia with 2 p, hind tibia with 3 av; male terminalia: in posterior view, cerci with distal outer angle dully rounded; in profile, surstylus short, with apex widened; st5 (Fig.
Male. Bright black species, thorax grey-brown pollinose, scutellum dark. Viewed posteriorly, scutum with 4 longitudinal dark vittae. Wing darkish brown. Legs dark brown, femoral tips and trochanters brown, tibiae yellow-brown and tarsus black, somewhat brownish.
Head with eye bare, anterior inner facets distinctly enlarged. Frons somewhat wider than the space between outer margin of two posterior ocelli. Frontal vitta black, devoid of pruinosity, about as wide as facial ridge. Fronto-orbital plate dark, densely silver-grey pollinose. Frontal setae 5 pairs, mixed with individual setulae, uppermost one as weak as setulae, the distance from this to anterior ocellus about 1.5 times the space between outer margin of two posterior ocelli. Lunule darkish tawny-yellowish, silver-grey pollinose. Antenna brownish-yellow, postpedicel brownish apically, scape and pedicel brown; postpedicel about 2.3 times as long as pedicel or about 3.3 times as long as wide. Arista brownish-yellow, thickened basally, with long plumosity, the longest rays about as long as width of postpedicel. Face and facial ridge mainly black, more or less yellowish, brown-grey pollinose. Lower facial margin not protruding in profile. Genal groove dark red dark, almost without pruinosity. Gena black, brown-grey pollinose, about 0.18 times of eye height or equal to 1.5 times width of postpedicel, its anterior margin with a row of upcurved setae. Palpus rod-like, black, longer than haustellum. Prementum stout, brown, thinly grey pollinose. Labellum developed, dark red. Occiput black, grey pollinose, with dark setae.
Thorax. Acr 0+1. Dc 2+3. Pra short, at most as long as posterior notopleural seta. Anterior postpronotal seta developed, longer than postpronotal seta. Scutellum bare laterally and ventrally. Anterior and posterior spiracles brown. Katepisternal setae 1:2. Katepimeron setulose. Prosternum, notopleuron and meron bare.
Wing with veins brown to dark brown. Tegula and basicosta black. Costal spine undeveloped, clearly shorter than cross-vein r-m. C setulose ventrally, but 5th section bare. Radial node bare dorsally and ventrally. Cross-veins r-m and m-m without much clouding and the latter curved. Distal part of R4+5 curved up and M straight and both of them gradually diverging towards apex. Calypters yellow, lower one narrow, tongue-shaped, with distal margin round, inner margin separated from scutellar margin. Haltere reddish-yellow.
Legs. Fore tibia with a median p. Mid femur with a row of short and dense a on basal half, a row of setula-like av and pv, without ad; apically with 2 ad and 3 pd. Mid tibia with 2 p. Hind femur with a row of developed ad, 6 av at apex and a row of setulae-like pv; apically with 2 ad, 1–2 pd and 1 p. Hind tibia with 3 av, proximal one developed, 1 strong pd (calcar) present at apical 1/4, without apical pv.
Abdomen
oval, of the same colour as thorax. Tg1+2 with a dark tongue-shaped median patch. Tg3 with long and narrow dark cone-shaped median vitta. Tg4 and 5 each with a very narrow median vitta. Tg6 bare, dark brown. St1 bare. Male terminalia: Viewed posteriorly (Fig.
Female. Unknown.
Male. Body length 6.9–7.0 mm.
The Latin agitatus means “agitated”, which refers to the excitement that the authors experienced when involved in fieldwork activity.
China (Fanjing Mountain, Guizhou).
The new species resembles P. hainanensis Xue et al. and these two species belong to the P. boleticola-group because they share the following characters: legs partly yellow, dc 2+3, meron bare, abdomen with a black median vitta and without a shining patch. It can be separated from the latter by the following combination of features: frons somewhat narrower than 2.5 times anterior ocellus, antenna brownish-yellow; male terminalia: in posterior view, cercus is wider, with distal outer angle dully rounded; in profile, surstylus short, with apex widened; st5 with apical angle of lateral lobe never expanded outwards when viewed ventrally. In P. hainanensis, the antenna is yellow; the cercus is narrower, with the distal outer angle acute; surstylus elongated, with apex narrow; st5 with apical outer angle strongly expanded outwards.
This new species is also similar to P. nujiangensis sp. nov. but can be separated from the latter as follows: Frons somewhat wider than the space between outer margins of posterior ocelli; katepimeron setulose; both anterior and posterior spiracles brown; legs dark brown, tibiae yellow-brown; mid tibia with 2 p, hind tibia with 3 av. Male terminalia: Cercus as long as wide. Surstylus spherical, swollen apically, shorter in profile. St5 (Fig.
Holotype. China: “Gaoligongshan, Nujiang River side, 580 m, Yunnan, 24°49’51.75”N, 98°46’12.00”E, 2.X.2011, LM Wei, TH Shou, Y Gu, P Jiang and WP Cao” (WLMWISAGC, 1 male). Paratype. China: Same data as holotype (WLMWI SAGC, 1 male).
Eye bare, frons black, somewhat narrower than the space between outer margin of two posterior ocelli; antenna brownish-yellow, gena black-red, grey pollinose, about 0.1 times eye height or narrower than width of postpedicel; dc 2+3, both anterior and posterior spiracles pale yellow, katepimeron bare; legs yellow, fore femur brownish-black, mid and hind femora each with apex somewhat darkened dorsally; tarsus black, somewhat brownish, mid tibia with 3 p, hind tibia with 2av. Male terminalia: Viewed posteriorly: Cerci nearly completely fused in approximated portion. Apex of surstylus square-shaped and swollen. Viewed laterally: Cercus nearly hooked, the hind margin flexed at a right-angle. Surstylus strap-like, base strongly and apex slightly widened, apex bluntly rounded and hind margin curved posteriorly. St5 almost jar-shaped, apical angle of lateral lobe narrow, not curved inwards. Aedeagus with a small oval membranous area apically; acrophallus tail-shaped, membranous. Ejaculatory apodeme long, narrowly triangular.
Male. Black species. Thorax appearing dark red in ground-colour, thickly grey-brown pollinose. Wing brownish-yellow. Legs yellow, fore femur brownish-black, mid and hind femora somewhat darkish dorsally at apex; tarsus black, somewhat brownish. Abdomen elongate conical, reddish-brown, thinly grey-brown pollinose.
Head. Eye bare, anterior inner facets distinctly enlarged. Frons black, somewhat narrower than the space between outer margin of two posterior ocelli. Frontal vitta devoid of pruinosity, completely disappeared at narrowest point. Fronto-orbital plate densely silver-grey pollinose. Frontal setae 6 pairs, upper two as weak as setulae, distributed on more than anterior half. Lunule darkish red-brown, silver-grey pollinose. Antenna brownish-yellow, postpedicel dark brownish apically, scape and pedicel darkish red-brown; postpedicel about 2.4 times as long as pedicel and also about 2.4 times long as wide. Arista darkish brown, thickened basally, long plumose, the longest rays as long as width of postpedicel. Facial ridge and median area black, silver-grey pollinose, the former less than half as wide as antennal width. Face bright black, thinly grey pollinose; facial ridge black but bright black along upper margin along a narrow strip, which is also thinly grey pollinose. Lower facial margin not protruding in profile. Gena black-red, grey pollinose, about 0.1 times eye height or narrower than postpedicel width, its anterior margin with a row of upcurved setae. Palpus rod-like, brownish-black, longer than haustellum. Prementum stout, dark brown, thinly grey pollinose. Labellum developed, dark yellow. Occiput black, grey pollinose, with dark setae.
Thorax black, appearing dark red in ground-colour, thickly grey-brown pollinose. Viewed posteriorly, scutum with 4 longitudinal dark vittae, the inner pair obviously thin and stripe-like. Scutellum darkish red-brown, somewhat dark red in ground-colour, with hardly any pruinosity. Acr 0+1, as weak as setula. Dc 2+3. Pra short, about half as long as posterior notopleural seta. Anterior postpronotal seta developed, longer than postpronotal seta. Scutellum bare laterally and ventrally. Both anterior and posterior spiracles pale yellow. Katepisternal setae 1:2. Prosternum, notopleuron, meron and katepimeron bare.
Wing brownish-yellow, veins yellow to dark brown. Tegula blackish-brown, basicosta brown. Costal spine developed, obviously longer than cross-vein r-m. C setulose ventrally on 1st to 3rd sections and basal half of 4th sections. Radial node bare dorsally and ventrally. Cross-veins r-m and m-ms lightly clouded and the latter curved. Distal part of R4+5 and M straight, both somewhat diverging towards apex but parallel at apex. Calypters yellow, the lower one narrow, tongue-shaped, with distal margin round and inner margin separated from scutellar margin. Haltere yellow.
Legs yellow, fore femur brownish-black, mid and hind femora somewhat darkish dorsally at apex; tarsus black, somewhat brownish. Fore tibia with a median developed p. Mid femur with a row of short and dense a on basal half, with 3 spine-like av, very short, without pv; apically with 2 ad and 3 pd. Mid tibia with 3 p, developed. Hind femur with a row of developed ad, 2 av at apex, proximal one developed, apically with 2 d, 1 pd. Hind tibia with 2 av, proximal one developed, 1 strong pd (calcar) present at apical 1/4, without apical pv.
Abdomen
elongate conical, reddish-brown, thinly grey-brown pollinose. Tg3-5 with a dark median vitta, that on Tg5 very narrow and blurred at edges. Tg5 dark red-brown apically. St1 bare. Male terminalia: Viewed posteriorly (Fig.
Female. Unknown.
Male. Body length 4.9–5.0 mm.
The specific name refers to the type locality.
China, Yunnan (Nujiang River margin, Gaoligongshan).
The new species resembles P. hainanensis Xue et al., but this species differs from the new species by the yellow antenna; cerci narrower, with distal outer angle acute; surstylus elongated, with apex narrow; St5 with apical angle of lateral lobe not curved inwards. Furthermore, the new species is similar to P. agitata sp. nov. but can be separated from the latter by the following characters: frons somewhat narrower than the space between outer margin of two posterior ocelli; katepimeron bare; both anterior and posterior spiracles pale yellow; legs yellow, fore femur brownish-black; and male terminalia has different morphological characteristics from that of P. hainanensis.
Modified from
1 | Legs entirely black. Meron setulose | 2 |
– | Legs partly brown or yellow at least. Meron setulose or bare | 3 |
2 | Mid tibia with 1 ad. Wing base dark brown. Basicosta black | P. nigripennis |
– | Mid tibia without ad. Wing hyaline or slightly brown. Basicosta dark brown | P. cyclosternita |
3 | Postsutural dc 4. Frons wider than 1.5 times the space between external margins of posterior ocelli | P. fani |
– | Postsutural dc 3. Frons at most 1.5 times the space between external margins of posterior ocelli | 4 |
4 | Frons about 1.5 times the space between external margins of posterior ocelli | 5 |
– | Frons at most somewhat wider than the space between external margins of posterior celli | 8 |
5 | Meron setulose. Eye sparsely covered with short cilia | P. suspiciosa |
– | Meron bare. Eye bare, covered at most with a few short cilia | 6 |
6 | Pra absent. Antenna with postpedicel yellow or not yellow | 7 |
– | Pra present, about half length of posterior postpronotal seta. Antenna with postpedicel yellow | P. hainanensis |
7 | Mid tibia with 1 ad. Palpus yellow. Antenna with base of scape and pedicel yellowish-brown. The area of cross-veins r-m and dm-cu unclouded. Calypters white | P. xuei |
– | Mid tibia without ad. Palpus blackish-brown. Antenna entirely black. The area of cross-veins r-m and dm-cu unclouded. Calypter canary-yellow | P. suscepta |
8 | Frons somewhat wider than the space between external margins of posterior ocelli. Katepimeron setulose. Both anterior and posterior spiracles brown. Legs dark brown, with apex of femora and trochanters brown, tibiae yellow-brown and tarsus black, somewhat brownish. Mid tibia with 2 p. Hind tibia with 3 av | P. agitata sp. nov. |
– | Frons somewhat narrower than the space between outer margins of posterior ocelli. Katepimeron bare. Both anterior and posterior spiracles pale yellow. Legs yellow, fore femur brownish-black, mid and hind femora somewhat darkish dorsally at tips; tarsus black, somewhat brownish. Mid tibia with 3 p. Hind tibia with 2 av | P. nujiangensis sp. nov. |
We are very grateful to Dr A.C. Pont, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, UK, and Dr Zhang Li-li, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for correcting the English and providing valuable advices. Thanks to Dr Zhang Yu-bo for helping to take the photos.
No conflict of interest was declared.
No ethical statement was reported.
This work was supported by the Projects of the Guizhou Provincial Governor Fund of Talented Person for Excellent Science, Technology and Education [Qian He Zi: 2005 (91)].
Zhongyan Zhou: Data analysis and Writing. Lianmeng Wei: Formal analysis, Validation, Methodology.
Zhongyan Zhou https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9477-2604
Lianmeng Wei https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2412-8119
All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text or Supplementary Information.