A new stalk-eyed fly: Teleopsis sorora

Stalk-eyed flies have eyestalks on which their eyes are mounted. These projections stick out from the sides of the head. Both males and females have eyestalks, but hey are much longer in males. Species are growing up to a cm in length and are known to feed on both decaying plants and animals.

Todays new species was found around Kandy, a major city in Sri Lanka. It is considered the sister species of Teleopsis ferruginea, hence the name sorora (sister).

For the experts: The literature on Sri Lankan Diopsidae is reviewed. Eight Diopsidae are now known to occur in Sri Lanka, five species in the genus Teleopsis and one species each in the genera Sphyracephala, Diopsis, and Cyrtodiopsis. The presence of Cyrtodiopsis requires confirmation to exclude the possibility of mislabelling. All five Teleopsis species are endemic, as are the Diopsis species and probably the Cyrtodiopsis species. Only Sphyracephala bipunctipennis Senior-White has a larger distribution as it also occurs in India. A key is presented for the Diopsidae of Sri Lanka. Three Teleopsis species were already known to occur in Sri Lanka: T. ferruginea Röder, T. krombeini Feijen and T. maculata Feijen. These species form the T. ferruginea species group. Two new species are now described for this group: Teleopsis neglecta sp. nov. and Teleopsis sorora sp. nov. Teleopsis ferruginea is redescribed, as an earlier redescription turned out to be based on a series of specimens of its sister species T. sorora sp. nov. The other three Diopsidae of Sri Lanka are listed and illustrated. Allometric aspects of the five Teleopsis species are discussed. Three Teleopsis species are sexually dimorphic with regard to eye span, while two species are monomorphic. It is assumed that sexual dimorphism developed independently in the T. ferruginea species group. This brings the number of known cases of independent development of sexual dimorphism in the Diopsidae to ten.

A new fish: Lucifuga gibarensis

Lucifuga is a genus of cusk-eels that give birth to young that developed within their mothers body.  Most of the species are native to caves and sinkholes in Cuba and the Bahamas. There is one exception, a species that was found in deep waters off the Galapagos Islands.

The new species was found in an isolated karst patch of marine caves in Eastern Cuba. It was named after the village of Gibara, where the three caves inhabited by this species are located.

For the experts: Recently, a barcoding study and a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Cuban species of the cave-fish genus Lucifuga Poey, 1858 revealed the existence of different evolutionary lineages that were previously unknown or passed unnoticed by morphological scrutiny (i.e., cryptic candidate species). In the present study, Lucifuga gibarensis is described as a new species restricted to anchialine caves in the northeastern karst region of the main island. The species was earlier described as a variety of Lucifuga dentata, but since the name was introduced as a variety after 1960, it is deemed to be infrasubspecific and unavailable according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Art. 15.2. The new species differs from L. dentata by pigmented eyes vs. eyes absent and lack of palatine teeth vs. present. Lucifuga gibarensis seems to be most similar to the Bahamian species L. lucayana by showing pigmented eyes, 13 or 14 precaudal vertebrae and ten caudal fin rays. However, differs from it by a larger size of the pigmented eye (1.1–1.9 vs. 0.9–1.0% SL) and number of posterior lateral line neuromasts (30–33 vs. 34–35).