Milichiella archaia
Description
Female coloration: Black except for yellow base and tip of fore and mid tibia, and all tarsi. Yellow setulae ventrally on distal tip of tibia and first tarsomere of foreleg and on first two tarsomeres of hindleg. Wing hyaline, veins yellow to light brown; halter black.
Head: Eye about 1.7x as high as long. Notch and emargination in posterior eye margin about 0.08x the length of eye (Fig. 8). Setae on middle and right lateral side of head reclinate, probably a preservational artefact. Posterior orbital seta present. Frons with interfrontal setulae on interfrontal stripes, foremost setulae longest, pair of setulae between these and frontal setae at anterior margin. Palpus with setulae on lateral side and tip.
Thorax: One long and 1 short dorsocentral, 1 prescutellar, 1 presutural, and 1 long and 1 short katepisternal setae.
Wing: R4+5 and M1 slightly converging, costal section between R4+5 and M1 0.7x as long as section between R2+3 and R4+5. Ultimate section of M1 about 1.5x length of penultimate section. Notch at subcostal break extending about breadth of costa into wing plane. Wing length: 2.1 mm.
Abdomen: Cercus short, about as long as wide (Fig. 9).
Body length: 2.4 mm.A
A. Brake 2006: Diverse Milichiella Giglio-Tos (Diptera: Milichiidae) in Miocene Dominican amber. – Insect Syst. Evol. 37: 17-26
Head: Eye about 1.7x as high as long. Notch and emargination in posterior eye margin about 0.08x the length of eye (Fig. 8). Setae on middle and right lateral side of head reclinate, probably a preservational artefact. Posterior orbital seta present. Frons with interfrontal setulae on interfrontal stripes, foremost setulae longest, pair of setulae between these and frontal setae at anterior margin. Palpus with setulae on lateral side and tip.
Thorax: One long and 1 short dorsocentral, 1 prescutellar, 1 presutural, and 1 long and 1 short katepisternal setae.
Wing: R4+5 and M1 slightly converging, costal section between R4+5 and M1 0.7x as long as section between R2+3 and R4+5. Ultimate section of M1 about 1.5x length of penultimate section. Notch at subcostal break extending about breadth of costa into wing plane. Wing length: 2.1 mm.
Abdomen: Cercus short, about as long as wide (Fig. 9).
Body length: 2.4 mm.A
Discussion
There are three extant species of Milichiella with partly yellow or red tibiae: M. dimidiata Wiedemann, 1830, M. hendeli Brake, 2000, and M. pseudodectes (Séguy, 1933). Milichiella dimidiata differs from M. archaia n. sp. by the presence of parallel R4+5 and M1, from M. hendeli in the presence of red palpi with black tip, and from M. pseudodectes in the assumed presence of strongly converging R4+5 and M1 (I assume that M. pseudodectes has strongly converging R4+5 and M1 though the state of this character is not mentioned in the species description. Instead the similarity of M. pseudodectes to M. lacteipennis Loew, 1866 is mentioned, in which this character state is developed). Additionally M. archaia differs from all extant species of Milichiella studied by the author by the presence of short cerci, which is a plesiomorphic character for Milichiinae (Brake 2000). Milichiella archaia therefore probably belongs to the stemline of Milichiella + Ulia. Apomorphic characters for the stemspecies of Milichiella + Ulia are a notch in the posterior eye margin, a triangular projection in the middle of the posterior margin of the first tergite in males, and the reduction of the secondary ovipositor and long cerci in females. Milichiella archaia probably speciated after the development of a notch in the eye but before the development of long cerci. B
B. Brake 2006: Diverse Milichiella Giglio-Tos (Diptera: Milichiidae) in Miocene Dominican amber. – Insect Syst. Evol. 37: 17-26
Citation
?Milichia cf. ludens: Brake 2000: Phylogenetic systematics of the Milichiidae [Diptera, Schizophora]. – Ent. scand. Suppl. 57: 1-120: 79 (as ?Milichia cf. ludens)