Transactions of the American Entomological Society Volume 134, Number 3+4: 465-469, 2008

Species of Psilonyx from China (Diptera: Asilidae)

Lili Zhang and Ding Yang

[LIZ] Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;

e-mail: tolily@126.com
[DY] Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193,
China; e-mail: dyangcau@yahoo.com.cn

ABSTRACT

Two new Asilidae species, Psilonyx flavicoxa sp. n. and P. dorsiniger sp. n. are described
from China. A key to the Chinese Psilonyx is given in the present paper.

Psilonyx is a small genus and belongs to subfamily Leptogastrinae. Pres

ently, 11 species are known to occur worldwide, with 5 species distributed in the
Oriental Realm (Oldroyd, 1975;Hsia, 1949; Shi, 1993), 3 species in the Palearc
tic Realm (Lehr, 1988; Nagatomi, Ohishi and Yang, 2002), 1 species in the Ne
arctic Realm (Martin and Wilcox, 1965) and 5 species in the Neotropical Realm

(Martin, 1968). Hsia (1949) firstly described three species of Psilonyx from China.
Shi described the other twospecies in 1993. Presently, 5 species are known to
occur in China. In the present paper, two new species are described. A key to the
Chinese Psilonyx is given for the first time. The types are deposited in the Insti
tute of Zoology (CAS) and the Entomological Museum of China Agricultural
University, Beijing (CAU).

Key to species of Psilonyx from China

1. Coxae blackish.P. nigricoxa

? Coxae not blackish.2
2. Antennal scape and first flagellomere yellow, pedicel black.P. flavican
? Antenna yellow or twany, at most apical half of third segment more or less dark 3
3. Hind tibia without dark ring.P. hsiai
?
Hind tibia with dark ring .4
4. Pleuron black .5
? not black.6
Pleuron
5. Hind tibia with broad ring at basal half.P. humeralis
?
Hind tibia with broad ring at basal 1/3 and apex.P. annuliventris
6. Mesonotum brownish yellow with three black stripes.P. flavicoxa
? Mesonotum black.P. dorsiniger
 466 PSILONYXFROMCHINA

Psilonyx dorsiniger sp. n.

Fig. 1-2

Diagnosis.? Antennal first flagellomere mostly black except base, 1.4 times

longer than scape and pedicle; stylus black, as long as first flagellomere.
Mesonotum black. Hind femur with a wide blackish brown ring at basal half of
clavate part. Hind tibia blackish brown nearly at basal half (except narrow base)
and brown at apical 1/3.
Male.? Body length 13 mm, wing length 7.9 mm.
Head black; face black, mystax with 4 long thin pale bristles arched down

ward; postocular bristles brown and hair-like. Antenna broken off. Proboscis stout,
reddish brown, with pale hairs at apex; palpus brown.
Mesonotum black, covered with whitish gray tomentosum and pale bristles;
scutellum reddish yellow with pale hairs on disc and margin. Pleuron reddish
brown.
all coxae reddish brown. Hind femur with a wide blackish brown
Legs yellow,
ring at basal half ofpart. Hind
clavate tibia blackish brown nearly at basal half

(except narrow base) and brown at apical 1/3. Fore and mid tarsi yellow except
narrow apex of tarsomere 5 brown. Hind tarsus brown to blackish brown from
tarsomere 2 onward. All tarsomeres 5 with 2 rows of black inner spine-like bristles.
Hairs and bristles on except bristles on tarsi brown to black
legs mostly yellow,
ish brown. Claws black. Wing hyaline, veins brown; anal cell open. Halter with

pale yellow long stalk and reddish brown knob.

Abdomen reddish brown with fine pale hairs. Male genitalia (Figs. 1-2) mostly
dark brown to blackish brown with yellow to brown hairs and bristles; epandrial
lobe wide basally and finger-like apically, hypandrium narrowing to apex, cercus
rounded apically in ventral view.
Female.? Body length 12 mm, wing length 8.0 mm. Similar to male. An
tenna yellow, scape and pedicel globular, bearing short yellow bristles; first

flagellomere mostly black except base, 1.4 times longer than scape and pedicle;

black, as long as first flagellomere.

stylus
Holotype male: Sichuan, Emeishan, Xixiangchi, 17. VIII. 1957,
Type.?
Zhu. Paratype 1 female: Sichuan, Emeishan, Xixiangchi, 20. VIII. 1957,
Fuxing
Keren Huang (deposited in the Institute of Zoology, CAS).
Distribution.? China (Sichuan).
The specific name refers to the black mesonotum.
Etymology.?
Remarks.? The new species is somewhat similar to P. humeralis, but itmay

be separated from the latter by the pleuron reddish brown (Hsia, 1949). The new
is also similar to P.flavicoxa sp. n., but itmay be separated from the latter
species
by the mesonotum black. In P.flavicoxa, the mesonotum is brownish yellow with
three black stripes.

Psilonyx flavicoxa sp. n.

Figs. 3-4

Diagnosis.? Antenna yellow. Mesonotum brownish yellow with three stripes,

All coxae Hind femur with a wide blackish brown ring
pleuron yellow. yellow.
band at middle of clavate part. Hind tibia blackish brown at basal half (except
extreme base) and black nearly at apical 1/4.
 L. ZHANG AND D. YANG 467

Male.?
Body length 12.5 mm, wing length 8.0 mm.
Head face black, white
black; tomentose, mystax with 4 long thin pale bristles
arched downward; postocular bristles pale and hair-like. Antenna yellow, scape
and pedicel globular, bearing short yellow bristles; first flagellomere long oval,
1.4 times longer than scape and pedicel; stylus brown, 0.8 times as long as first

flagellomere. Proboscis stout, brownish yellow, with pale hairs at apex; palpus
pale, with yellow hairs.
Mesonotum brownish yellow, densely covered with whitish tomentum and

pale bristles at side, anterior and posterior parts; disc with 1 black middle stripe
narrowing backward and 2 wide blackish brown lateral stripes (slightly concaved
inward at posterior 1/3); wide apex of scutellum blackish brown with pale mar
ginal hairs. Pleuron yellow.
Legs yellow, all coxaeyellow. Hind femur swollen from apical half, tinged
with brownish near the beginning of clavate part and with a wide blackish brown

ring at middle of clavate part. Hind tibia blackish brown at basal half (except
narrow base) and black nearly at apical 1/4. Fore and mid tarsi yellow except
apical half of tarsomere 5. Hind tarsus yellow except apex of tarsomeres 1-4
blackish and entire tarsomere 5 black.
Hind tarsomere 5 slightly thickened. All tarsomeres 5 with 2 rows of black
inner bristles. Hairs and bristles on legs mostly
spine-like yellow, except bristles
of apical tarsomeres 3-5 brown. Claws black. Wing veins brown; anal
hyaline,
cell open. Halter with pale yellow long stalk and brownish knob.
yellow
Abdomen blackish brown dorsally, segments 4-5 mostly blackish brown

except base,
segments 6-8 black, Male genitalia (Figs. 3-4) mostly dark brown,
with yellowhairs and bristles; hypandrial lobes wide in lateral view,
basally
hypandrium nearly truncated apically, cercus rounded in ventral view.
apically
Female.? Unknown.

Type.? Holotype male: Hainan, Jianfengling, Nantianchi, 5-7. VI. 2007,

Jingxian Liu (deposited in the Entomological Museum of China Agricultural
University).
Distribution.? China (Hainan).
Etymology.? The specific name refers to all coxae
yellow.
Remarks.? The new species is somewhat similar to P. humeralis, but itmay
be separated from the latter by the pleuron yellow (Hsia, 1949). The new species
is also similar to P. dorsiniger sp. n., but it may be separated from it by the
mesonotum brownish yellow with three black In P. dorsiniger, the
stripes.
mesonotum is wholly black without stripes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are very grateful to Dr. Fritz Geller-Grimm (Museum Wiesbaden, for

Germany)
providing vast valuable references. Our many thanks also goes to Dr. Charles Young
(Wonkwang University, South Korea) for his kind help inmany ways. We are very grateful
to Mr. Keren Huang and Mr. Fuxing Zhu (IOZ, CAS), Mr. Jingxian Liu
(Zhejiang
University, Hangzhou) for their collecting specimens. The research was supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30600056; 30225009).
 468 PSILONYXFROMCHINA

REFERENCES

Hsia, K. L. 1949. Studies on Chinese Asilidae I. Leptogastrinae. Sinensia 19: 23-56.

Lehr, P. A. 1988. Family Asilidae. 197-326. In Soos, A and Papp L. [Eds.]. Catalogue of
Palaearctic Diptera. Volume 5. Athericidae-Asilidae. Elsevier Science Publishers &
Akademiai Kaido, Hungary. 446pp.
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the United States. Sao Paulo.
Martin, C. H. and J.Wilcox. 1965. Family Asilidae. 360-401. In Stone, A. C. W.

Sabrosky, W. W. Wirth, R. H. Font and J. R. Coulson [Eds.]. A catalogue of the

Diptera of America north of Mexico. United States Department (Agriculture
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Nagatomi, A., Ohishi, H. and D. Yang. 2002. A review of the genera of Leptogastrinae

(Diptera: Asilidae) through the literature. The Kagoshima University Museum

Monographs No. 1: 1-111.

Oldroyd, H. 1975. Family Asilidae. 99-156. In Delfinado, M. D. and Hardy D. E. [Eds.].

A catalog of the Diptera of the Oriental Region. Vol. II. The university Press of
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Shi, Y. S. 1993. Diptera: Asilidae. 669-679. In Huang, C. M. [ed.]. Animals of Longqi
Mountain. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing. 1105pp.
 L. ZHANG AND D. YANG 469

Figs. 1-2 Psilonyx dorsiniger sp. n. (male). 1. male genitalia (lateral view), 2.
male genitalia (ventral view).

Figs. 3-4. Psilonyx flavicoxa sp. n. (male). 3. male genitalia (lateral view). 4.
male genitalia (ventral view).