Sphyracephala babadjanidesi Zaitzev 1919

Sphyracephala babadjanidesi Zaitzev, 1919 Figs 5, 6, 7, 8–11, 12, 13, 14–17, 18–23, 24–28, 29–31, 32, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110–112, Tables 1, 2, 3, 4 Sphyracephala babadjanidesi Zaitzev, 1919: 3 (in Russian), 5 (in English), fig. 1. Hennig 1941 a: 60, 1941 b: 6, fig. 6 (repetition of Zaitzev’s description); Steyskal 1972: 13; Feijen 1989: 67; Papp et al. 1997: 137; Hilger 2000: 340; Simova-Tošić and Stojanović 2000: 149; Nartshuk 2003: 179, pl. 44, fig. 13, 2017: 128. Sphyracephala europaea Papp & Földvári, 1997: 138, figs 1–13. Simova-Tošić and Stojanović 2000: 149, figs 1–5, table 1 (as S. europea [sic]); Hilger 2000: 338, figs 7.1, 7.2; Földvári and Meier 2002: 71; Carr et al. 2006 a: 5, figs 1 h, 2; Oosterbroek 2006: 130, fig. 496; Carr 2008: 114, fig. 1, table 1; Kotrba 2014: 98, fig. on p. 99; Nartshuk 2017: 129; KMNP 2018: 10 th p. (unpaginated); Kutsarov and Hubenov 2019: 145, figs 1–3); Jackson 2019: 61, suppl. fig. 1, 2; Turista Magazin 2023: unpag., fig. 4 / 6. Syn. nov. Link. https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=sphyracephala%20europaea. Type series. Sphyracephala babadjanidesi. Azerbaijan: 6 syntypes (♂ and ♀), Elizavetpol [later Ganja, then Kirovabad, now Ganja], vi.1916, vi.1917; type series lost according to Nartshuk (2017), who designated a neotype, ♂, Azerbaijan, окр. Ганжи, р. Качкарка [okr. Ganzhi, r. Kachkarka, 40°40'12"N, 46°16'33"E], 2.vii.1933, Lukyanovich (ZIN). Type location and the nearby neotype location are well into the Asian part of Azerbaijan. Sphyracephala europaea. Hungary: holotype, ♂, Szeged, Maros-torok, magaspart [~ 46°14'24"N, 20°14'14"E ~ 100 m], 26. iv. 1997. Paratypes, 10 ♂, 7 ♀, same locality and date; 1 ♀, same locality, 16. x. 1996 (all in HNHM). Material examined. Azerbaijan: 1 ♀, 1 ♂, Болчалы ЮЗ Гянджи, Азербайджан, Лукъянович 17.vii.1933, Sphyracephala babadjanides [sic], det. Nartshuk (RMNH) [Bolchaly (= Balchili), sw Ganja, Lukyanovich, 40°40'12"N, 46°16'33"E, 17.vii.1933, ~ 500 m]. Azerbaijan is mainly located in West Asia, but a small part (5 ½ districts) in the North is part of Europe as the Caucasus form the division between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. From 1920 to 1991, Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union (USSR). Fyodor K. Lukyanovich (1904–1942) was a Russian entomologist. Hungary: paratypes of S. europaea, 2 ♀, 2 ♂, Szeged, Maros-Torok, magaspart, 26.iv.1997, Paulovics and Földvári (HNHM); Georgia: 1?, Kakheti, Signagi, Vakiri, 41°38'43.368"N, 45°55'27.3"E [390 m], 17.vii.2024, S. Kiladze (photographs, see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/229960704). Diagnosis. Sphyracephala babadjanidesi can be recognised by the following set of characters: head mainly blackish brown, face and anterior edge of frons brown; thorax and abdomen blackish; clothed in sparse, small white setulae; eye stalk very stout (~ 0.94–1.02 × the widest sagittal eye diameter); very small eye span (~ 1.7–2.2 mm) in ♀ and ♂ (respectively ~ 52 % and ~ 60 % of body length); very low rate of dimorphism D = 0.39; rectangular basiliform prosternum; apical seta / scutellar spine ratio: 5.4–5.5; scutellar spine / scutellum ratio: 0.43 in ♀ and 0.41 in ♂; very small, scutellar spines whitish but darker basally ~ 0.13 mm; wing almost transparent with brown central and apical spots; fore femur brown with apical third blackish brown, inner side centrally with dark brown diagonal transverse band, strongly incrassate (l / w ratio: 2.7–2.8), two rows of pale slender spinous setae, inner row with ~ 4.5 setae and outer row with ~ 4.0 hardly spinous setae; tergite 1 with distinct subcircular groove; intersternite 1-2 a solid, straight, rod-like sclerite, laterally linked to sternite 2; ♀ tergite 7 consisting of two anteriorly located, triangular sclerites; ♀ sternite 7 with anteriorly two subtriangular plates, posteriorly connected to two subrectangular plates; ♀ sternite 8 two large elongate sclerites; ♀ cerci rather elongate, l / w ratio: ~ 3.2, sharply tapering apically, remarkably curled upward; small sclerotised ring present; surstyli articulate, medially directed, subrectangular with slightly concave apical side, without microtrichia, clothed in setulae, diagonal ridge on basal half of inner side. Sphyracephala babadjanidesi belongs to the S. brevicornis species group and comes closest to S. munroi. Redescription. The following redescription considers the original descriptions by Zaitzev (1919) and Papp et al. (1997), and especially also the description and illustrations by Simova-Tošić and Stojanović (2000). Philipp Adamovich Zaitzev (1877–1957) was the founder of research on the insect fauna of the Caucasus. Measurements. Zaitzev (1919) studied six specimens and gave as length of body 3.7–4.2 mm, eye span 2.2–2.5 mm and wingspan 7–8 mm. Papp et al. (1997) gave as length of body 3.48 mm (holotype ♂), 3.10–3.50 mm (paratype ♂♂), 3.38–4.05 mm (paratype ♀♀); as wing length 3.13 mm (holotype), 2.75–3.20 mm (paratype ♂♂), 3.05–3.65 mm (paratype ♀♀); and as eye span 2.20 mm holotype), 1.90–2.20 mm (paratype ♂♂) and 1.70–2.15 mm (paratype ♀♀). The best series of measurements were given in Simova-Tošić and Stojanović (2000: table 1). However, measurements were given in μm and not, as stated, in mm, so values given must be divided by 1000 to get mm). Their most important measurements are body length ♀ 3.92 mm ± SE 0.05 (range 3.33–4.38, n = 35), ♂ 3.69 mm ± 0.04 (range 3.15–4.13, n = 38), eye span ♀ 2.05 mm ± 0.03 (range 1.68–2.28, n = 35), ♂ 2.21 mm ± 0.04 (range 1.75–2.83, n = 38). We measured the two flies from Azerbaijan and four paratypes from Hungary. For comparison, relevant measurements are summarised in Table 1. All data points for body length and eye span are plotted in Fig. 5. The actual Azerbaijan measurements for the ♀ fit well with the measurements of Zaitzev, but the ♂ is clearly at the lower end of the size range (Fig. 5). In general, measurements for the three countries are well in agreement with each other (Table 1). * Eye span / body measures by Zaitzev 0.59 and 0.60 (unsexed, but can be assumed to be males). Head. Face and anterior edge of frons brown (Figs 6, 7, showing head of flies from Azerbaijan and Hungary); arcuate groove blackish brown; remainder of frons and stalks blackish brown, occiput brown but blackish medially (Figs 8, 9); head uniformly pruinose (Figs 6 – 9), clothed in sparse white setulae; frons flat; face flat, no facial teeth, lateroventral corners rounded, facial sulcus absent, but ventral facial edges slightly turned upward medially; eye stalk very stout, ~ 0.94–1.02 × the widest sagittal eye diameter; eye span very small in both female (52.3 % ± SE 0.2 % of body length, n = 38) and male (59.7 % ± SE 0.5 % of body length, n = 41); a dimorphic species, rate of dimorphism very low D = 0.39 (Fig. 5, 105, 106, Table 2) [Carr et al. 2006 a also indicated this species as mildly dimorphic]; inner vertical seta long, ~ 0.50 mm, 1.3 × diameter of eye stalk; outer vertical seta long, ~ 0.35 mm, 0.9 × diameter of eye stalk (Figs 6, 7). For additional figures of the head refer to Zaitzev (1919: fig. 1 a), Papp et al. (1997: figs 1–3) and Simova-Tošić and Stojanović (2000: figs 1, 2 b, 2 c (antennae), 4 a, 4 b, 4 c). Thorax. Collar and scutum uniformly black, pruinose (Figs 6, 7, 31), scutellum slightly more blackish brown, pruinose; scutellar spines whitish but darker basally, densely pruinose (Figs 8, 9); scutum and scutellum with sparse setulae; pleura dark black, largely pollinose, only katepisternum and ventral section of anepimeron glossy (Fig. 9); posterior notopleural seta long, infra-alar seta very long (Fig. 8), infra-alar seta more than twice longer than posterior notopleural seta (Simova-Tošić and Stojanović (2000) give for the notopleural seta a length of ~ 0.29 mm and for the infra-alar seta a length of ~ 0.67 mm); supra-alar carina just visible; basiliform prosternum large, rectangular, with deep medial groove, prosternum laterally close to propleuron but distinct; scutal length / scutal width ratio: ~ 0.9; scutellum trapezoid; scutellar spines very small, straight, slightly turned upward, diverging at angle of ~ 50 °; scutellar spine / scutellum ratio: 0.43 in ♀ and 0.41 in ♂ (Table 3); scutellar spine / length of body ratio: 0.055 in ♀ and 0.051 in ♂; apical seta / scutellar spine ratio: 5.4 in ♀ and 5.5 in ♂; scutellar length / scutellar width (at base) ratio: 0.57 in ♀ and in ♂. For additional figures of the thorax can be referred to Simova-Tošić and Stojanović (2000: figs 3 e, 3 f, scutellum and postscutellum). * Both from Sulawesi, but perhaps not conspecific. Wing. Almost transparent with brown central and apical spots (Figs 12, 13 showing wing of flies from Azerbaijan and Hungary); apex with rounded spot in cells r 2 + 3 and r 4 + 5 just extending in cells r 1 and m 1; central irregular spot running from posterior end of crossvein dm-m to almost vein R 2 + 3, section in cell r 2 + 3 rounded, section in cell r 4 + 5 running from crossvein r-m to crossvein dm-m, section in cell bm + dm in anterodistal corner and along crossvein dm-m; vein CuA + CuP from vein CuP onward extending under angle of 45 ° to just past halfway wing margin in straight line; vein M 4 continuing distal of crossvein dm-m to almost three-quarters the wing margin; cell cua slightly broadening distally, apically rounded (Figs 12, 13); crossvein h distinct; glabrous area only includes tiny basal spot in cell br. Legs. Fore coxa and trochanter brown, especially anteriorly pruinose, clothed in some white setulae; fore femur (Figs 14, 15 showing femora of flies from Azerbaijan and Hungary) brown, apical third blackish brown on inner and outer side, inner side centrally with dark brown diagonal transverse band, thinly pruinose, sparsely clothed in small setulae; fore tibia dark brown, thinly pruinose; basitarsus dark brown, other tarsomeres brown (Figs 16, 17), thinly pruinose and with rows of blackish setulae; mid and hind legs brown, femora with darker brown apices, hind