Nephochaetopteryx similis sp. nov.

(Fig. 29)

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♁ (MPEG): Brasil Pará / Paragominas / Faz. [= Farm] Cachoeira / do Rio Vermelho / 15 a [= to] 18.I.1991 [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] // Brasil Pará / J. Dias [printed on rectangular white label] // Armadilha Malaise [= Malaise trap] [printed on rectangular white label]. [Holotype in good condition, with left mid leg lacking and abdomen and terminalia cleared and preserved in glycerin in a plastic microvial pinned beneath the specimen.]

PARATYPES (7). ♁ (MPEG): Brasil Pará / Paragominas / Faz. [= Farm] Cachoeira / do Rio Vermelho / 15 a [= to] 18.I.1991 [rectangular white label with printed and handwritten data] // Brasil Pará / R .B. Neto [rectangular white label with printed data] // Armadilha Malaise [= Malaise trap] [rectangular white label with printed data] [paratype in good condition, with left fore leg lacking and abdomen and terminalia glued to a card triangle pinned beneath the specimen]. ♁ (MPEG): Brasil Pará / Paragominas / Faz. [= Farm] Cachoeira / do Rio Vermelho / 15 a [= to] 18.I.1991 [rectangular white label with printed and handwritten data] // Brasil Pará / J. Dias [rectangular white label with printed data] // Armadilha Malaise [rectangular white label with printed data] [paratype covered with fungal hyphae, with mid legs and left hind leg missing and abdomen and terminalia cleared and stored in a plastic microvial pinned beneath the specimen]. ♁ (MPEG): Brasil Pará / Paragominas / Faz. [= Farm] Cachoeira / do Rio Vermelho / 18 a [= to] 21.I.1991 [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] // Brasil Pará / R . B. Neto [printed on rectangular white label] // Armadilha Malaise [= Malaise trap] [printed on rectangular white label] [paratype in good condition]. 3 ♁♁ (MPEG): BRASIL-PARÁ / São Geraldo do Araguaia / Serra das An- dorinhas-Sta. Cruz / S6°12’58.8” W48°26’1.6” / 08 a [= to] 22-V-2001 [printed on rectangular white label] // S. Andorinhas-Sta. Cruz- 08-22/ V /2001 / Mata de Encosta [= hillside forest], Malaise / Cols: I.S. Gorayeb, E.M. Santos, / N. Bittencourt, J.M.F. Ribeiro [printed on rectangular white label] [paratype 1 covered with Lepidoptera scales, with right fore leg and right mid leg missing and terminalia glued to a card triangle pinned beneath the specimen; paratype 2 missing left mid leg and terminalia; paratype 3 in good condition, covered with Lepidoptera scales]. ♁ (MPEG) : Brasil Amazonas / Humaitá / 54 B16 / 17 a [= to] 21-IX-1990 [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] // Armadilha / 1,6m / Suspensa [= suspended trap at a height of 1.6 meters] [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] // Brasil AM / R. Constantino [printed on rectangular white label] [paratype covered with fungal hyphae, lacking left fore leg and mid legs, with terminalia cleared and preserved in glycerin in a microvial pinned beneath the specimen.]

Description. Male. Length = 4.8–5.0 mm (n = 8).

Head. Fronto-orbital, parafacial plates, gena and postgena with silvery yellow microtomentum and postocular strip silvery. Frontal vitta black with basal half reddish-brown. Six frontal setae. Palpus yellow.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 3+3; supra-alars 2+3, notopleurals 2 subprimaries; anepisternals 5; merals 5. Ctenidium consisting of four or five spines. Mid femur with two median setae and without a differentiated posteroventral seta. Wing hyaline, with dark spot beginning in the terminal portion of vein R 1, filling the distal third of vein r 1 and the upper half of the distal half of vein r 2+3; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of silvery microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces. Sternites 2 to 4 yellow with a median brown strip, covered with yellowish setulae and with marginal setae.

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown, longer than wide, with small setae restricted to posterior half; cleft shallow, extending a little beyond base of lobe; lobe rounded, with a tuft of short setulae; arm elongate, with quadrate apex (Fig. 29E). Cercus elongate and narrow in lateral view (Fig. 29A). Cercal prongs with tips parallel in dorsal view (Fig. 29B). Cercal base without setulae on inner lateral margin and outer lateral margin; with long and small setae (Figs 29 A–B). Surstylus conical, with a quadrate apex and with a patch of setulae on posterobasal corner (Fig. 29A). Pregonite elongate and curved anteriorly, with some small pointed setae on posterior margin (Fig. 29C). Postgonite conical, slightly curved anteriorly with a long seta and some small pointed setae on anterior margin (Fig. 29D). Basiphallus elongate, curved dorsally, about two-third of width of the wider portion of distiphallus (Fig. 29F). Distiphallus with dorsal margin almost linear and apical margin rounded in lateral view (Fig. 29F). Ventral margin of distiphallus bearing a small curved finger-like projection in lateral view (Fig. 29F). Vesica angled, with a basal triangular projection and with distal portion with small setulae in lateral view (Fig. 29F). Inner process of vesica longer than wide in lateral view (Fig. 29F). Lateral and median styli short, of about one-fourth of width of widest portion of lateral wall of distiphallus, and both inserted in the middle of distiphallus (Fig. 29F). Median stylus with a projection basally (Fig. 29F).

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. From the Latin “similis” (= similar), in reference to the strong similarity of its male terminalia to those of N. tinguensis .

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Amazonas, Pará).

Remarks. This species is very similar to N. tinguensis in the shape of the male terminalia. However, in N. similis sp. nov. the lobe of sternite 5 is not united with the arm; the vesica is slightly curved; the posterodorsal corner of the distiphallus is angled in lateral view and the postgonite is entirely conical. In N. tinguensis the lobe of sternite 5 is united with the arm; the vesica is strongly angled; the posterodorsal corner of the distiphallus is rounded in lateral view; and the distal half of the postgonite is conical.