Alipumilio femoratus Shannon, 1927

Parada-Marin, Henry Mauricio, Mengual, Ximo & Ramos-Pastrana, Yardany, 2024, A new species of Alipumilio Shannon, 1927 (Diptera: Syrphidae), with the description of the male of A. avispas Vockeroth, 1964 and A. femoratus Shannon, 1927, Zootaxa 5506 (3), pp. 350-368 : 358-362

Alipumilio femoratus Shannon, 1927

( Figs 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 )

Alipumilio femoratus Shannon, 1927: 12 ; Hull 1949: 333 (description), 336 (figure 16a–d); Vockeroth 1964: 922 (key reference); Thompson et al. 1976: 92 (catalog citation); Rotheray et al. 2000: 134 (immature stages); Marín-Armijos et al. 2017: 163 ( Ecuador checklist).

Examined material. ECUADOR: Napo Prov., from Jatun Sacha Biological Station to Shinquipino River , 01°03’58.4’’S 77°37’0.6’’W, 430 m., 27-viii-2019, X. Mengual Leg., hand-net (1♂, ZFMK-DIP-00061254) ; Napo Province, Grand Selva Lodge , forest trail, -1,098175, -77,544532, 500 m., 8/ 12-ix-2023, X. Mengual Leg., malaise trap (1♂, ZFMK-DIP-00103716) .

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from other Alipumilio species by the combination of the following characters: scutum and scutellum covered with thin black and white hairs, thick golden yellow hairs on tergites 2–4, and wing membrane entirely slightly infuscate, without contrasting hyaline basal half.

Description. MALE. Head. Face bluish black, concave without facial tubercle, slightly white pruinose with white to yellow-white hairs on the ventral half directed ventrally and yellow-white hairs on the ventrolateral half directed laterally; parafacia shiny with white hairs. Gena bluish black, with white hairs anteriorly. Head holoptic, with enlarged ommatidia in the anterodorsal part; eyes with short and dense hairs: white hairs on ventral half and black hairs on dorsal half. Antennae dark brown to black; postpedicel lighter apically, brown on dorsoapical half; scape and pedicel yellow-white haired at the inner side and black haired at the outer side; arista as long as the antenna, micropubescent, yellow basally, brown medially and darkening towards the apex. Frontal triangle bluish black, with yellow-white, thick (setose) hairs directed anteriorly covering the background coloration, except for a dorsomedial, roundish, small shiny bare area. Vertical triangle long (longer than eye contiguity), slightly grey pruinose, with yellow-white hairs. Occiput reduced ( Figs 7A, D–E ). Thorax. 1.5 times wider than long, strongly punctate, black with short adpressed golden yellow hairs anterior to transverse suture and short adpressed black hairs on posterior half, except for the longer golden yellow hairs along the posterior scutal margin (anterior to the scutellum) and a few long yellow hairs where the transverse suture ends medially. Postpronotum grey pruinose. Scutellum black, with a distinct marginal rim, with short adpressed black hairs, except for slightly longer golden yellow hairs on the anterior margin and for the erected golden yellow hairs along the posterior margin; without subscutellar fringe. Pleuron black; posterior anepisternum and anterior anepimeron punctate and with white hairs; katepisternum ventrally pruinose and dorsally shiny, with a few white hairs posterodorsally. Ventral calypter white with long black hairs at the fringe; dorsal calypter blackish with a fringe of golden yellow hairs. Halter white. Plumula black ( Figs 7A–B, E ). Legs. Black, except for the tibial apex and tarsi of all legs that are orange-yellow, with white to yellow hairs. Hind coxa enlarged and thickened, with long thick (setose) white hairs on anterior half. Hind trochanter shiny and bare posteriorly, with dense brownish hairs mixed with some black hairs anteriorly and a patch of white setose hairs basally. Hind femur extremely swollen, black in color, with two ventral rows of short spines, with yellow-white setose hairs on the anterior and posterior surface and some black hairs dorsoapically. Hind tibia with two ridges with short black setae running along the entire tibia length. Hind basitarsomere slightly swollen ( Figs 7A, D ). Wing. Entirely microtrichose, except for cell bm with a small bare area basally; pterostigma brownish, hyaline with a slightly infuscate apical area (apical to bifurcation of vein RS covering the cells r 1, r 2+3 and r 4+5); spurious vein absent; alula broad, broader than cell bm, microtrichose ( Figs 7A , 6C ). Abdomen. Compact, tergites short and broad, black, punctate. Tergite 1 grey pruinose with short golden yellow hairs. Tergite 2 with adpressed black hairs medially and golden yellow setose (thicker) hairs on lateral margins. Tergite 3 similar to tergite 2, but with some golden yellow setose hairs medially. Tergite 4 entirely covered with golden yellow setose hairs. Postabdominal tergites with golden yellow hairs. Sternites black ( Figs 7A–C ). Genitalia. Cercus subquadrate to trapezoidal, narrower basally than apically. Surstylus divided into two lobes: the dorsal lobe is trapezoidal, narrower basally than apically, with the posterior margin bent; the ventral lobe is elongated and wrinkled (curved), with a central protuberance bearing long and numerous hairs, a medial area strongly curved, and the apical part expanded, axe-shaped with numerous shorter hairs. Hypandrium massive, without lingula, with two long lateral expansions at the level where hypandrium narrows, directed towards the middle line ( Fig. 8 ).

Geographical distribution. Amazon region ( Shannon 1927), and Ecuador ( Marín-Armijos et al. 2017; here). Occurs in tropical rainforests ( Fig. 1 ).

Habitat. Both studied specimens were collected in well-preserved, lowland (below 500 meters a.s.l.) tropical rainforest in the Napo Province, Ecuador.

Biology. Immature stages (larvae and puparia) were collected in Ipecac sap ( Rubiaceae ) in Puyo, Pastaza Province, Ecuador ( Rotheray et al. 2000).

Taxonomic notes. See Taxonomic notes under A. aureus sp. nov. to distinguish both speceis. Alipumilio femoratus is known from a single female specimen collected by Bates and described by Shannon (1927), which was later illustrated by Hull (1949). The holotype is labelled ( Fig. 7D ): “ Holo- // type” [round red BMNH type label] “Amazon. // 66·53” “ quite distinct—all ... v. cheilosinia ? // S. W. W. ” [a note in pencil in Williston’s handwriting] “NHMUK 013700219” [unique identifier with a QR code] “ Alapumilio // femoratus // Snn.” [determination label in Shannon’s handwriting].

Rotheray et al. (2000) described the third stage larva and the puparium of A. femoratus based on material deposited at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., U.S.A.), but they did not explain if the identification of these larvae and puparia was based on reared adults, neither they said where these reared adults are deposited or if they exist.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Geographical distribution of Alipumilio species. The red border on the record of A. femoratus refers to an approximation of the type locality, since the labels mention “Amazon”.

FIGURE 6. Alipumilio avispas Vockeroth, 1964, holotype female. A. Habitus, lateral view; B. Head, frontolateral view; C. Habitus, dorsal view; D. Abdomen, posterior view; E. Labels.

FIGURE 7. Alipumilio femoratus Shannon, 1927, male ZFMK-DIP-00103716. A. Habitus, lateral view; B. Habitus, dorsal view; C. Abdomen, posterior view; D. Head, frontal view; E. Head and thorax, anterodorsal view. Scale = 1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Alipumilio femoratus Shannon, 1927, ZFMK-DIP-00103716, male genitalia. A–B. Epandrium, A. Lateral view; B. Ventral view; C–D. Hypandrium, C. Lateral view; D. Ventral view. Scale = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 9. Alipumilio femoratus Shannon, 1927, holotype female NHMUK013700219. A. Habitus, lateral view; B. Head, frontal view; C. Habitus, dorsal view; D. Labels and holotype, general view.