Posted by jonas on 22-11-2022 10:42
#5
christoophe wrote:
Thank you Theo for your help. This is the male Pandivirilia melaleuca.
Thank you Theo for your help. This is the male Pandivirilia melaleuca.
Which I identified for you
thanks for the acknowledgement
I hereby copy my email to you, for other users this is most certainly interesting.
These are beautiful species for sure.
I have to admit, I don't recognize it as Spiriverpa lunulata but that's difficult to assess on the pictures alone.
There are some characteristics, which are slightly wrong for Spiriverpa (lunulata):
1. The halter knob is not dark enough for Spiriverpa (indicates Pandivirilia or Acrosathe).
2. the face and frons are not hairy (the length of the hairs should be equivalent to the length of the hairs on the scutum) - this indicates Pandivirilia or Acrosathe. This is a very strong character, so it's especially this one you need to check.
3. the posterior cell is open (which is good for Spiriverpa) - this indicates Pandivirilia (nearly always closed in Acrosathe)
As pictures are sometimes a bit difficult, be sure to check them.
4. uniserial row of AV on F3; and two clear DV
Anyhow; the point is, i think it's Pandivirilia melaleuca - which is an amazing species of which not many male specimens are known. The terminalia are fuzzy on the pictures, but seem to be a match. You will need to check one character: is the frons devoid of any setulation (-> is it entirely bare? or are there two small patches with hairs?)
But, feel free to check the features against the material you have in collection. Always better to see material of Therevidae in hand
I have attached a PDF with the terminalia of Spiriverpa lunulata (you can examine externally) (and a generic revision).