Psychoda litotes Quate

Cordeiro, Danilo, Bravo, Freddy & De, Claudio J. B., 2011, Taxonomy of Brazilian Psychoda Latreille, 1796 (Diptera, Psychodidae) with the description of thirteen new species, Zootaxa 3101, pp. 1-37 : 13

Psychoda litotes Quate

( Figs 23–31 )

Psychoda litotes Quate, 1996: 64 . Type Locality: Costa Rica (Heredia, Estación Biol. La Selva)

Diagnosis. Antenna with 13 flagellomeres, 13th smaller than 12th, and 12th smaller than 11th flagellomere; palpal formula: 1.0:1.2:1.2:1.6; radial and medial forks incomplete; subgenital plate subquadrate, wider than long, with internal ornamentation chalice-shaped.

Female. Head ( Fig. 23 ): vertex, frons and clypeus pilose; hair patch of frons extending to facet row 1; eye bridge with 4 facets; separated by 1.0–1.6 facet diameters; 6–7 supra-ocular setae; interocular suture absent; clypeus with 1 or 2 stronger lateral alveoli (sometimes not evident); frontoclypeal suture absent; antenna with 13 flagellomeres, the 2 apical reduced ( Fig. 24 ); 12th and 13th flagellomeres fused, 13th shorter than 12th; spines present on 11th and 13th flagellomeres; scape cylindrical, 1.5 the length of the subspherical pedicel ( Fig. 25 ); ascoids in Y; palpal formula 1.0:1.2(1.1–1.2):1.2(1.1–1.2):1.6(1.5–1.7) ( Fig. 26 ); labellum with 4 apical teeth, one shorter, and 2 lateral setae ( Fig. 27 ). Wing ( Fig. 28 ): Sc vein not extending beyond base of vein Rs; radial and medial forks incomplete; veins R5, CuA1, and costal cell slightly darkened. Distitarsus with apical projection ( Fig. 29 ). Terminalia: subgenital plate subquadrate, little longer than wide, bilobed, homogeneously pilose except on the base ( Fig. 30 ); genital digit present; internal ornamentation chalice shaped, as illustrated ( Fig. 31 ); genital chamber oval ( Fig. 30 ).

Male. Unknown.

Material examined. Type material: holotype Ƥ COSTA RICA, Limón, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca , Sealevel, 20–22.vii.1993, Light trap, col. L. W. Quate ( INBio); paratype Ƥ COSTA RICA, Heredia, Puerto Viejo de Sarapaqui, Estación Biol. La Selva, 22–25.vii.1993, Luminosa, col. LWQ ( USNM). Other specimens: 1 Ƥ BRAZIL, Amazonas, Pitinga, Grota (c), 29.vi.1991, 12cdc – m, no collector name ( INPA); 1 Ƥ Amazonas, Silves, Saracá, área alterada, 13.xii.1997, 6cdc/m, col. RF /FLS/LMC (MZUEFS); 1 Ƥ Amazonas, Silves, Saracá, 18.xii.1997, 6cdc, col. RF /FLS/LMC ( INPA); 1 Ƥ Amazonas, Manacapuru, Cajatuba, km 63/3, copa, 10.x.1998, 3cdc, no collector name (MZUEFS).

Distribution. Costa Rica, Nicaragua ( Collantes & Martinez-Ortega 1999), Brazil (Amazonas and Espírito Santo).

Comments. Albeit the figures of the genitalia provided by Quate (1996, figs. 25e-f) show a deeper apical concavity of the subgenital plate, the holotype examined had a shallow concavity, as in the Brazilian specimens. In the original description Quate noted some variations on the shape of this structure, like “the base being broader and the sides more convergent in some species”, but he made no mention to the apical concavity. We believe that the identical internal ornamentation and shape of genital chamber, together with all other characters, is an evidence that this is an intraspecific variation.

The shape of subgenital plate and the incomplete forks in the wing ressemble P. mediocris Quate ( Micronesia) , but the two species can be differenciated by the internal ornamentation of subgenital plate and apical flagellomeres, that are subequal in size and clearly separated in P. mediocris . The number of flagellomeres and shape of ascoid of P. litotes is similar to what is found in the subgenus Ypsydocha, but the 11th and 12th flagellomeres are not fused as described for this subgenus. This is the first record of this species to Brazil.

Figures

FIGURES 23 – 31. Psychoda litotes: 23. Head. 24. Antenna, apical flagellomeres. 25. Antenna: scape, pedicel and basal flagellomeres. 26. Palpus. 27. Labellum. 28. Wing. 29. Distitarsus. 30. Subgenital plate and genital chamber. 31. Subgenital plate, internal ornamentation. [Scale 0.5 mm (28), other pictures 0.06 mm].