A new Palaearctic Thornburghiella from Transcaucasia ( Diptera : Psychodidae )

One new moth fl y species (Diptera: Psychodidae: Psychodinae) is described and illustrated on the basis of male morphological characters: Thornburghiella veve sp. nov. was collected in the vicinity of Pambak River in the mountains of Armenia. Differential diagnoses are given for males of four additional species of Thornburghiella from Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Central Asia.


Material and methods
Specimens of Thornburghiella examined in this study were collected with a sweep net by J. Oboňa, P. Manko and Ľ. Hrivniak.Captured moth fl ies were preserved in 70% ethanol, cleared in chloralphenol, transferred to xylol and fi nally mounted in Canada balsam on glass slides.Observations were completed using the following microscopes: Carl Zeiss Jena (Germany) and Reichert (Austria), equipped with a mirror arm for drawing.Outlines of pertinent characters were integrated into calligraphic pen pictures with Indian ink.The drawings were edited in Corel DRAW X7 and Corel PHOTO-PAINT X7 graphic software.Type and voucher specimens are deposited in the National Museum, Department of Entomology, Prague, Czech Republic (NMPC).Slides were numbered using two separate series of numbers: Inv.

Differential diagnosis.
Flagellomere 1 with single row of 4-9 strong sensory spines, wings ovate without sensory fold.Apical fl agellomere with apiculus shorter than base or absent.Gonostyli mostly simple, conical, not completely bifurcated; sometimes forked with branches of varying shape.Aedeagal complex ovoid to angulate or divided into a pair of elongate, narrow, pointed or truncate extensions.In Stupkaiella, gonostyli are clearly bifurcated, both parts mostly similar, hardly distinguished in qualitative parameters.Aedeagal complex mostly articulated by two apical recurrent and fusiform ear-shaped projections.

Thornburghiella veve Oboňa & Ježek sp. nov. (Figs 1-18)
Type locality.Armenia, the Small Caucasus, eastern slopes of the Bazum Mountain ridge; small, steep brook (0.3-1 m wide, 0.01-0.15m deep) in a relatively dry landscape, stony substrate with depositions of fi ne particulate organic matter, surrounded by woody and herbaceous vegetation (Fig. 19).GPS coordinates 40°56′52.7″N,44°37′37.2″E.Description.Male.Head as long as broad (measured without mouth parts, Fig. 1); vertex conically infl ated dorsally, with numerous setae alveoli almost regularly spaced over its entire surface.Eyes separated (Figs 1, 7); interocular suture conspicuously sclerotized, inverted V-shaped, sclerotized parts gradually tapering from eyes to median, but not fused medially; the suture is framed by triangular outline with concave ventral margin, extended dorsally to lanceolate apex (Fig. 7); eye bridge formed generally by six facet rows, numbers of facets in more dorsal rows are lower, with dorsal margins of eyes undulated; minimum distance between eyes corresponds roughly to three facet diameters; index of distance from tangential points of eye apices to minimum of frons 8.6, to facet diameter 26.9.Setae alveoli of frontoclypeus arranged in triangular, centrally placed patch near base of antennae, tapering to irregularly arranged and interrupted dorsoventral stripe of hairs below frontal suture (Figs 1, 7).Antenna with 15 articles; scape almost cylindrical (Fig. 2), 2.5 times as long as its maximum width, narrowed at base, somewhat widened apically, with two tapering lobes to which pedicel is jointed; pedicel almost globular, slightly asymmetrical.Flagellomere 1 pear-shaped (as long as three following fl agellomeres together), with fl agellomere 2 inserted at mid length, with pointed protuberance extending beyond fl agellomere 2; postpedicel with six conspicuous, strong bristles arranged in row, inserted in longitudinal axis (Figs 2, 3); scape and pedicel with stiletto-shaped scales in contrast to needle-shaped macrosetae of fl agellomeres (Fig. 4); fl agellomeres 2-14 ovoid, apical fl agellomere twice length of previous one, with conical apiculus in longitudinal axis; ascoids almost straight, needle-shaped, paired, 1.2 times as long as fl agellomeres in which they are inserted.Mouthparts extending beyond basal palp segments; length ratio of maxillary palp segments 1.0 : 1.6 : 1.5 : 1.6; apical segment annulated (Fig. 5); terminal labial lobes (Fig. 8) without rows of spines; ratio of maximum length of cibarium (Fig. 12) to length of epipharynx 2 : 1.
Aedeagal complex (Figs 11,17) with smooth surface exteriorly (only small distal part is inconspicuously wrinkled), almost oval in dorsal view with apical cleft (Fig. 11), compressed in lateral view (Fig. 17); internal aedeagal structure with T-shaped sclerite proximally and pair of ligaments fused medially (Fig. 11), ended by paired sclerotized ribs proximally and distally.Ejaculatory apodeme spatula-shaped, almost circular proximally, tapering in middle and divided distally (Fig. 11); apodeme not quite straight in lateral view, narrow (Fig. 17).Gonocoxites almost cylindrical, only slightly infl atedat mid-length (Figs 11,18), 1.2 times as long as gonostyli, both parts haired.Gonostyli slightly sinuous in dorsal view, bulky basally, tapering to apex, with apical ¼ bifurcated (Figs 11,18).Epandrium (Figs 15,16) not bare (see two divided areas of insertions of hairs distally), with posterior margin emarginate; basal, paired apertures conspicuous, separated, with irregular margins; ventral epandrial plate almost entirely reduced (Fig. 15), equilateral triangular, only inconspicuously marked in a rough outline.Hypandrium narrow, slightly lengthened at median, bare (Fig. 11).Epiproct inconspicuous, setose, almost rhomboidal; hypoproct conspicuous, setose, tongue-shaped, rounded apically (Figs 15,16).Surstyli approximatelly C-shaped in lateral view (Fig. 16), almost straight in dorsal view (Fig. 15), widened in basal two thirds, divergent in dorsal view, 1.6 times as long as epandrium, without apices bifurcated, subapically with cluster of 9-11 tenacula inserted; tenacula gradually shortening in length from those inserted more basally to those inserted more apically (Fig. 16), with their apices pointed, not frayed; longest tenacula twice as long as diameter of surstylus (as measured exactly below the cluster of tenacula).Female.Unknown.Differential diagnosis.Important diagnostic characters of fi ve species from Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Central Asia, are compared in the Table 1.This includes Thornburghiella jankai Ježek, 1992 from Turkey, Anatolia; T. kovari Ježek, 1993 from Tajikistan; T. navoii from Kazakhstan; T. umbrosa Ježek, 1992 from Uzbekistan, and T. veve sp.nov.from Armenia.Selected diagnostic characters detailed in the table are as follows: shape of fl agellomere 1 and number of bristles, wing angle (BCD), patterns of wing membrane, aedeagal structures, shape of ventral plate of epandrium, and number and shape of tenacula.Etymology.The new species name is dedicated to the daughter of the fi rst author, whose nickname Veve is derived from her name Veronika; noun in apposition.Biology.Unknown.Adults were collected near a small tributary of a mountain river, at an elevation greater than 1000 m.Distribution.Currently recorded only from Armenia.
No. = Inventory Slide Number of the family Psychodidae and Cat.No. = Catalogue Number of the slide to be included in the NMPC Diptera collection (see TKOČ et al. 2014).Wing indices are based on distances between the following points: A = tip of R 5 , B = radial fork, C = medial fork, D = tip of CuA 2 .Maximum wing length is approximately equal to the distance from the line connecting the bases of the basal costal node and neala to the wing top.Terminology used in the species description generally follows CUMMING & WOOD (2009), general terms follow CURLER & MOULTON (2010).Special terms are applied in sense of DUCKHOUSE (1987) -ventral plate of epandrium, STARK et al. (1999) -wing venation, KVIFTE (2014) -parameral sheath and surstyli.Ratios of the lengths of the femur, tibia and fi rst tarsomere, and one of the fore, middle and hind legs were indicated by P 1 , P 2 and P 3 , respectively.The following abbreviations were used throughout the text: NMPC = collection of the National Museum in Prague, SW = by sweep netting.

Fig. 19 .
Fig. 19.Photographs of the landscape (left) and detailed view (right) of the type locality of Thornburghiella veve Oboňa & Ježek sp.nov.Photo by P. Manko.

Table 1 .
Comparison of diagnostic characters for males of selected species of Thornburghiella from Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Central Asia.