Nephochaetopteryx limpidipennis Lopes

(Figs 16, 37C, F)

Nephochaetopteryx limpidipennis Lopes, 1976: 70–72 (descriptions of male and female). Type locality: Mexico, Sonora, Bahia San Carlos. Other references: Pape (1996: 260; catalog); Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001: 307; description of female).

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♁ (CAS): MEX.: Sonora / Bahia San Carlos / 1.III.1936 / P.H. Arnaud Jr. [printed on rectangular white label] // PAUL H. ARNAULD, JR. / COLLECTION / Gift to California / Academy of Sciences / San Francisco, CALIF. [printed on rectangular white label] // HOLOTYPUS [handwritten on rectangular red label] // Nephochaetopteryx / limpidipennis / Holotypus ♁ / Det. H.S. Lopes [printed on rectangular white label] // California Academy / of Sciences / Type No. 12390 [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label]. [Holotype in good condition, with cleared abdomen glued to the specimen label and terminalia and sternite 5 glued to a card triangle pinned beneath the specimen.]

PARATYPES (3). ♀ (CAS): MEX.: Sonora / Alamos / 21.II.1936 / P.H. Arnaud Jr. [printed on rectangular white label] // PAUL H. ARNAULD, JR. / COLLECTION / Gift to California / Academy of Sciences / San Francisco, CA- LIF. [printed on rectangular white label] // Collected at / flr [flower] Mangifera / indica [printed on rectangular white label] // Allotypus [handwritten on rectangular red label] // Nephochaetopteryx / limpidipennis / n. sp. Allotypus ♀ / Det. H.S. Lopes [printed on rectangular white label] // Collection of the / CALIFORNIA ACADEMY / OF SCI- ENCES, San / Francisco, California [printed on rectangular white label] [paratype in good condition, lacking left mid leg, with cleared abdomen glued to specimen label and terminalia and sternites glued to a card triangle pinned beneath the specimen]. ♁ (MNRJ): MEX.: Sonora / Alamos / 5.I.1971 / P.H. & M. Arnaud / Collectors [printed on rectangular white label] // Paratype [printed on rectangular green label] // Nephochaetopteryx / limpidipennis / Paratypus ♁ / Det. H.S. Lopes [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] [paratype in good condition, with left wing broken, cercus and sternite 5 glued to a card triangle pinned below the specimen and missing phallus and gonites]. ♀ (MNRJ): MEX.: Sonora / Alamos / 21.II.1963 / P.H. Arnaud Jr. [printed on rectangular white label] // Collected at / flor [= flower] Mangifera / indica [printed on rectangular white label] // PAUL H. ARNAULD, JR. / COLLECTION / Gift to California / Academy of Sciences / San Francisco, CALIF. [printed on rectangular white label] // Paratype [printed on rectangular green label] // Nephochaetopteryx / limpidipennis / Paratypus ♀ / Det. H.S. Lopes [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] [paratype in good condition, missing right mid leg, with abdomen and terminalia cleared and preserved in glycerin in a microvial pinned beneath the specimen].

Additional material examined. Mexico. Chiapas: San Cristobal de las Casas, 20. V .1969, leg. B. V. Peterson (1 ♁, MNRJ). Jalisco: Puerto Vallarta, 31.XII.1970, leg. P.H. Arnaud & M. Arnaud (1 ♀, MNRJ) .

Redescription. Male. Length = 4.0– 5.5 mm (n = 3).

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

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 2+2; supra-alars 2+3, notopleurals 2 subprimaries; anepisternals 5; merals 5. Ctenidium consisting of four spines. Mid femur with two median setae and without a posteroventral differentiated seta. Wing hyaline; vein R setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

4+5

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of grayish microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces. Sternites 1 to 4 brown with yellowish setulae and with marginal setae.

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown, with small setae restricted to posterior half; cleft deep, nearly reaching middle of sternite; lobe rounded and with a tuft of short setulae; arms divergent, small and narrow, with rounded apex (Fig. 16E). Cercus shorter than epandrium, with cercal prongs slight curved posteriorly with rounded apex bearing a small pointed projection on posterior margin in lateral view (Fig. 16A). Cercus with lateral margin of cercal base projected laterally and cercal prongs separated and parallel in dorsal view (Fig. 16B). Cercal prong with a preapical tuft of setulae; long and thick setae restricted to cercal base (Figs 16 A–B). Surstylus conical with rounded apex; anterior margin concave, with a narrow strip of setulae close to posterior margin of basal half and with small setae restricted to distal half (Fig. 16A). Pregonite short (shorter than postgonite), with distal half perpendicular to base, with few pointed setae on posterior margin (Fig. 16C). Postgonite tapering distally and curved anteriorly, with small pointed setae and with a strong median seta on anterior margin (Fig. 16D). Basiphallus short, about half as long as distiphallus, inverted L-shaped (Fig. 16F). Distiphallus L-shaped, with apical surface concave (Fig. 16F). Ventral margin of distiphallus corrugated with pointed projections (Fig. 16F). Vesica L-shaped, with apical portion serrated and with a middle triangular projection in basal half (Fig. 16F). Inner process of vesica narrowed (Fig. 16F). Lateral and median styli elongate, and both inserted close to apical surface of distiphallus (Fig. 16F).

Female. Differs from male as follows: palpus spatulate (Fig. 37F), tergite 5 reddish with golden microtomentum (Fig. 37C). Terminalia as described by Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001, figs 11–12, 34).

Distribution. NEARCTIC—Mexico (Sonora). NEOTROPICAL—Mexico (Chiapas, Jalisco).

Remarks. The female of this species differs from the others in the genus in having tergite 5 reddish with golden microtomentum and the palpus enlarged and spatulate. In the other species, tergite 5 is brown with golden or grayish microtomentum and the palpus is club-shaped. However, the females of many species remain unknown. The distiphallus of this species shows apical surface with a prominent concavity and ventral margin corrugate and with pointed projections, features found only in N. fuscipennis . However, N. fuscipennis differs from N. limpidipennis in having an elongate surstylus (see remarks under N. fuscipennis).

Males and females of this species were collected on mango flowers ( Mangifera indica: Anacardiaceae) in Mexico. This is the first record of N. limpidipennis from Chiapas and Jalisco.