Lonchaea grandiseta (Classification and species information.)
Lonchaea grandiseta MacGowan.
Description. Male: Head: Eyes bare, face and parafacials with a silvery white tomentum.Frons wide, above antennal bases about 25% of the head width, with a slight depressioncentrally. Hairs on upper part of frons very short, not more than one quarter the length of the orbital bristle. Antennae with first flagellomere very long and narrow, approximately 3.5 x as long as wide, reaching well below mouth edge, all black apart from basal half being orange ventrally and basally on its inner surface. Arista yellow orange at base, microscopically pubescent.
Thorax: One propleural and one stigmatical bristle. Katepisternum with one strong bristle with no hairs posterior to it. Anepisternum with three strong
anterior bristles and four strong posterior bristles. Disc of scutellum bare. Scutellar margin with two hairs on the right side and one on the left side between the lateral and apical bristles. One hair between apical bristles (this only occurs in the holotype).
Legs: Tarsomeres all yellow with slight darkening on apical segments.Squamae and fringes whitish, wings clear with veins light yellow. Pterostigmal
section 1.5 times the length of the cross vein. Male genitalia.. Cerci large and broad, forming a hood-like structure.Epandrium wider than high with three exceptionally strong bristles at posteroventral corner which are almost as long as epandrium is high, a small group of hairs
anteriorly below these. Surstyli extending posteriorly from the shell of the epandrium as a rounded process produced into elongate spinules of various shape. Aedeagus U-shaped, without projections, basal portion relatively broad, apical part short and tubular.Female similar to the male. Frons width approximately 30% of head width Ovipositor rather simple, apical segment ventrally with two strong hairs subapically, these just over half the length of the segment.
Differential diagnosis: This species belongs to the Lonchaea impressifrons group of species identified by McAlpine (1964). This group is composed of a
number of very similar small species which have a combination of yellow tarsomeres, clear wings and pale squamae, antennae with first flagellomere quite long, reaching to or beyond mouth margin and the frons marked by a more or less distinct, oval depression just below anterior ocellus.
The scutellum has one or more lateral setulae on each side in addition to four scutellar bristles; without apical or discal setulae.
L. grandiseta is perhaps most similar to L. teratosa McAlpine, 1964 and L. polyhamata McAlpine, 1964 which both have spinules on the surstyli, both these species however lack the distinctive large bristles on the epandrium and both have a more complex aedeagus.