Introduction

Among some Asilidae from Spain in the collection of HRADSKÝ, the authors found two specimens of the tribe Atomosiini (subfamily Laphriinae). Comparison with the descriptions of the known genera shows that they are new species of the genus Goneccalypsis HERMANN (1912), which is known from the Afrotropical and the East Palaearctic regions.

Material: Holotype male, Spain, prov. Teruel, Moscardon, 1600m, 40º 20'N 1º 32'W, 27. VII. 1965, leg. V.S. V. GOOT. Paratype male with the same locality. Both types are currently deposited in the collection of M. HRADSKÝ (Zásmuky). A future deposition will be provided in a public collection.

Description

Male
Head black; face flat, silvery pruinose, somewhat darker between base of antenna and ocellar tubercle; two small and shiny spots below antenna (Fig. 1); back of head pale pruinose in lower part, brownish in upper part; ocellum shiny. Mystax composed of long, dorsoventrally flattened, shiny, silver-white, scale-like bristles divided apically and occupying lower frons, with a few pale hairs; upper frons below antenna with two long, downcurved, yellow-whitish hairs and a few short, fine, silvery hairs of normal type; postgenal beard white; hairs at base of proboscis, palpi, and back of head silver-white; ocellum with two long and black bristles, and two small brown hairs standing behind; five yellow occipital bristles restricted to lower 1/3 back of head on each side. Antenna black with a brownish tomentum (Fig. 2); ratio of segments: 1 to 0.5 to 1.8 to 0.4 (1st, 2nd, 3rd, microsegment); segment 1 with fine brown hairs and a longer hair on ventral side; segment 2 with brown hairs and black bristles; segment 3 lacking bristles except for a single, black, distodorsal bristle at base of microsegment.
Thorax black. Front border of pronotum with a silvery tomentum. Mesonotum shiny, without tomentum, punctate only on humeral callus; yellow hairy on humeral callus and between dorsocentral bristly hairs behind transverse suture; dorsal bristles: 1 black presutural, 1 black supra-alar, 1 yellow postalar, and fine, yellow, dorsocentral bristly hairs reaching the hairy area on humeral callus. Pleura silvery pruinose except for a large, shiny, bare area that includes parts of mesopleuron and most of sternopleuron; postnotal fan (metapleural tuft) and short hairs yelowish-white. Scutellum shiny black, not punctate, with a groove in front of hind border; with a few yellow hairs at its base and hind border, and with two strong, black, marginal bristles. Metanotum silvery pruinose with two stout yellow bristles and a group of fine yellow hairs on each callosity. Legs dark brown and yellow; short hairs and bristles white, except for some bristles on tarsi and hind tibiae. Coxae black, yellow apically; with a silvery tomentum and white hairs. Femora and tibiae dark brown, their bases, tips and a posteroventral stripe yellowish. Tarsi dark brown. Hind tibiae a bit more robust than other tibiae. Wings somewhat brownish, infuscated by microtrichia; venation usual (Fig. 3). Costal margin with brownish hairs, hind border with yellow hairs.
Abdomen black. Tergites shiny, distinctly punctate and covered with fine, laterally longer, and yellow latero-discal bristles, latter a little darker in the paratype. Sternites brownish with a pale tomentum and a few short yellow hairs. Hypopygium brown with yellow hairs, somewhat rotated and poorly visible in dorsal view (Figs. 4-6). Basistyles (gonopods) without stout bristles at apex, strong hairs only on outer surface except for base.
Body length: 4.6 mm; wings: 3.1 mm.
Female
Unknown.
Derivatio nominis: The species is named after mister V.S. V. GOOT (Amsterdam).
Condition of types: The left hind leg of the holotype is lacking. The paratype is broken, the abdomen and legs are separated on two plates, and the right 3rd antennal segment, the right hind leg and the left middle leg are lacking.

Key to the species of Goneccalypsis HERMANN, 1912

Figs 1-6: Goneccalypsis gooti spec. nov., male. - 1: head in frontal view; - 2: head in lateral view; - 3: right wing; - 4: hypopygium in ventral view; - 5: hypopygium in dorsal view; - 6: hypopygium in lateral view. Scale bars = 0.2 mm.

Additional comments

HERMANN (1912) placed Atomosia argenteoviridis (HERMANN, 1907), a species from Transvaal, in a new genus, Goneccalypsis, and added a second species, G. lucida, from Formosa (= Taiwan). LONDT (1982) redescribed G. argenteoviridis, based primarily on newly collected material from Malawi and South Africa. He described a third species, G. montanus, from Lesotho and South Africa, which was similar to G. argenteoviridis, but differed in colour of the mystax and in structure of the male genitalia. NAGATOMI & IMAIZUMI (1986) and NAGATOMI & NAGATOMI (1989) published a redescription of G. lucida, based on Japanese material.
HERMANN (1912) separated Goneccalypsis from the very similar genus Loewinella by the presence of scale bristles in the mystax of males, the somewhat longer 2nd antennal segment, and lack of dots on the scutellum. Londt (1982) found that the width ratios of eye to frons were less than 1.5 in Goneccalypsis but greater in Loewinella, whereas NAGATOMI & IMAIZUMI (1986) deny this for G. lucida. The ratio is nearly 1.6 in G. gooti spec. nov. The new species is the first record of an Atomosiini in Europe, except for the fossil record of Protoloewinella keilbachi SCHUMANN, 1984, described from Saxonian and Baltic amber (GELLER-GRIMM, 1998). Another Palaearctic representative of this tribe is Amathomyia persiana HERMANN, 1912, which is known ranging from North Africa to Central Asia. Members of the tribe Atomosiini (subfamily Laphriinae) are predominantly distributed in the tropics, mainly South America. Spain supports a very interesting fauna, because it has long been known as a refugium during the Ice Age. So there we can find some relict insects which might have become extinct in Middle Europe. A similar situation is found in the tribe Isopogoninae. Thus, GELLER-GRIMM (1997) has described a new species of Paraphamartania from Spain, a genus in which the congeners are known from Syria and Israel.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Mrs. K. GOTTSCHALK (Frankfurt) and Dr. S. GOLOVATCH (Moscow) for valuable critical comments and linguistic help, respectively.

Literature

GELLER-GRIMM, F. (1997): A new species of Paraphamartania from Spain (Diptera: Asilidae). - Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie A (Biologie) 563: 1-5; Stuttgart.
GELLER-GRIMM, F. (1998): Protoloewinella keilbachi SCHUMANN, 1984 aus dem Baltischen Bernstein (Diptera: Asilidae). - Studia Dipterologica 5(1): 84; Halle.
HERMANN, F. (1907): Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Asiliden III. (Fortsetzung). - Zeitschrift für systematische Hymenopterologie und Dipterologie 7: 65-78, pl.; Teschendorf.
HERMANN, F. (1912): Beiträge zur Kenntnis der südamerikanischen Dipterenfauna auf Grund der Sammelergebnisse einer Reise in Chile, Peru und Bolivien, ausgeführt in den Jahren 1902-1904 von W. SCHNUSE. Fam. Asilidae. - Nova Acta Academiae Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolinae Germanicum. Naturae Curiosorum 96: 1-275; Halle.
LONDT, J.G.H. (1982): Afrotropical Asilidae (Diptera) 6. The tribe Atomosiini (Laphriinae). - Annals of the Natal Museum 25(1): 221-240; Pietermaritzburg.
NAGATOMI, A. & IMAIZUMI, H. (1986): Redescription of Goneccalypsis lucida (Diptera, Asilidae). - Memoirs of the Kagoshima University Research Center for the South Pacific 7(2): 106-118; Kagoshima.
NAGATOMI, H. & NAGATOMI, A. (1989): Female terminalia of Goneccalypsis lucida and Laphria nigrovittata (Diptera, Asilidae). - South Pacific Study 9(1-2): 1-10; Kagoshima.