Miltogramma szpilai Zhang & Xu & Pape & Pei & Zhang 2021, sp. nov.

7. Miltogramma szpilai sp. nov.

(Figs 11, 12A)

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished by the tufts of elongated anterior setae on the first and second tarsomeres of the fore tarsus.

Description. Male (Fig. 11). Body length 9.5 mm.

Head. Eye bare. Fronto-orbital plate and parafacial with silvery gray pollinosity. Fronto-orbital plate with 2 proclinate and 1 reclinate orbital setae. Frontal vitta narrowed anteriorly, with silvery pollinosity, except anteriormost part with visible yellowish integument. Twelve pairs of frontal setae. Parafacial bare. Gena and postgena with white setulae. Scape, pedicel, postpedicel, and arista black. Tip of pedicel brownish. Postpedicel 1.2 × as long as pedicel. Vibrissa undeveloped. Subvibrissal setae in 1 row. Proboscis long; palpus yellow.

Thorax ground color black, covered with dense gray pollinosity. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals 2+2, dorsocentrals 2+3, intra-alars 1+2, supra-alars 3, postalars 2, postpronotals 3, notopleurals 2; scutellum with two pairs of lateral, one pair of discal, and one pair of apical setae. Wing. Tegula black, basicosta yellow, costal spine not developed, base of vein R 4+5 with 2 setulae dorsally and 1 setula ventrally. Legs dark, claws and pulvilli small. Coxa, femur, and tibia with gray pollinosity. Fore femur with rows of ventral and posterodorsal setae; fore tibia with a dorsal seta at base and a median posterior seta, fore tarsus with long and dense setae on anterior surface of first to fourth tarsomere and fourth tarsomere with a tuft of six long and strong setae reaching beyond and curving around claws and pulvilli (Fig. 11C). Mid femur with 4 posteroventral setae, 2 posterordorsal setae, and 3 anteroventral setae; mid tibia with 4 anterior setae, 2 ventral setae, and 3 median dorsal setae. Hind femur with a row of anterodorsal setae and a row of 6 ventral setae in basal half; hind tibia with a row of anterodorsal setae, a row of 4 ventral setae, a row of 5 posterodorsal setae, and 2 basal dorsal setae. Abdomen ground color black, with gray pollinosity. Color pattern on syntergite 1+2 and tergites 3–5 well-defined, each with three distinct black spots in dorsal view.

Female. Unknown.

Remarks. This species is evidently closely related to a number of species showing a similar fore tarsus chaetotaxy and abdominal pattern, which have often been separated in their own (sub) genus, Stephanodactylum Rohdendorf. Apart from the type species Miltogramma punctata Meigen, 1824 (Fig. 12B), this taxon contains an additional five species described by Rohdendorf (1930): M. alajica Rohdendorf, 1930, M. asiatica Rohdendorf, 1930, M. dzhungarica Rohdendorf, 1930, M. obscura Rohdendorf, 1930, and M. sogdiana Rohdendorf, 1930 [female only]. The fore tarsus of these species is equipped with long and dense setae on the anterior surface of one or more tarsomeres, combined with a cluster or tuft of six very long and strong setae, which emerge distally from the posterior part of tarsomere 4, reaching beyond and curving around the claws and the pulvilli (Rohdendorf 1930; K. Szpila, pers. comm.). However, in spite of the fore tarsal ornamentation being very characteristic and highly species-specific, Rohdendorf (1930) made only simple notes on this feature, and it has been documented only for M. punctata within this group of species (e.g., Séguy 1941: 273, fig. 382; Pape 1987: 28, fig. 26). The abdominal pattern with three distinct, subequal black spots on tergite 3–5 is reminiscent of that of M. asiatica and M. punctata, but these have the frontal vitta yellowish (posterior half in M. asiatica, entirely in M. punctata), while it is entirely silvery in M. szpilai sp. nov.

Type material. Holotype ♂ [BFUM]: Xinjiang, Altay, Kalamaili, 1.VIII.2017, Y-Q Ge leg.

Etymology. The specific name “ szpilai ” refers to the family name of Prof. Krzysztof Szpila, in appreciation of his substantial contributions to our knowledge of Palaearctic Miltogramminae.

Distribution. China (Xinjiang).