Argoravinia (Raviniopsis) aurea ( Townsend, 1918 )

Filho, Fernando Da Silva Carvalho & Esposito, Maria Cristina, 2012, Revision of Argoravinia Townsend (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) of Brazil with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 3256, pp. 1-26 : 16-19

Argoravinia (Raviniopsis) aurea ( Townsend, 1918)

( Figs. 5 , 10 , 15 , 38–42 , 45 , 46, 54 , 57, 58 , 66–69 )

Raviniopsis aurea Townsend, 1918: 160 . Peru, Piura. Type locality: Peru, Piura. Lopes 1969: 46 (catalogue); Lopes 1979: 159 (redescription of holotype female).

Pachygraphomyia spinosa Hall, 1933: 260 . Type locality: Panama, Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island. Raviniopsis spinosa: Lopes 1969: 46 (catalogue); Lopes 1988: 309 (redescription of male). Argoravinia aurea: Pape 1996: 175 (catalogue, synonymy); Evenhuis 2011 (catalogue)

Male— Length = 7.5–9.0 mm (n = 13).

Head. Parafacial and fronto-orbital plate with golden microtomentum, with a row of black setulae along eye margin and many scattered setulae around reclinate fronto-orbital bristles; frontal vitta reddish-brown, black on anterior one-third; frons at vertex 0.32x head width; frontal row of 12–15 convergent bristles; one reclinate frontoorbital bristle, proclinate fronto-orbital bristles absent; inner vertical bristle about 2.5x as long as frontal bristles; outer vertical bristle divergent and differentiated from postocular setae; gena and postgena golden with slender and light long setae; scape and pedicel reddish, pedicel with short black setae and one long and slender seta on posterior margin, first flagellomere black with whitish microtomentum, about 3x as long as pedicel; arista plumose; palpus brown with black apex.

Thorax. Dark brown with silvery grey microtomentum. Postpronotal lobe with golden microtomentum. Pleura dark-brown with golden scattered microtomentum. Spiracular fringe light-brown. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals = 0+1 (weakly differentiated), dorsocentrals = 2+3 (first one weaker), intra-alars = 1+1, supra-alars = 2+3, postpronotals = 3, postalars = 2, notopleurals = 4, scutellum with marginal bristles = 2, apicals = 1, discals = 1–2, meropleurals = 11, katepisternals = 3–4 (in a line). Wing hyaline, R1 setulose in proximal half, R4+5 setulose in basal 2/3 to crossvein r-m, costal spine not differentiated, third costal sector without ventral setulae, r4+5 open. Legs black with silvery grey microtomentum on femora; fore femur with a row of long setae dorsally and ventrally, one row of anterior bristles in the middle; fore tibia with two antero-ventral bristles and one apical postero-dorsal bristle; mid femur with one row of ventral setae on basal half, one row of anterior bristles in middle and two pre-apical anterior bristles, ctenidium absent; mid tibia with one anterior bristle on apical third and two postero-dorsal bristles in the middle; hind femur with a row of bristles dorsally and ventrally, a row of anterior bristles in the middle and one preapical postero-dorsal bristle; hind tibia with two anterior bristles and four setae dorsally.

Abdomen. Reddish with the usual pattern of silvery gray microtomentum ( Fig. 66 ), covered with short black setae dorsally and laterally, and long light setae ventrally; T1 with lateral margin darkish, T4 with posterior margin darkish, T5 with dark spots on anterior margin; T1+2–3 without median marginal bristles and with 2–3 lateral discal bristles; T4–5 with a row of six marginal bristles. ST1–4 rectangular and with long and light setae; ST5 with posterior arm wide and slightly lobed at apex, anterior median margin between arms with a narrow cleft situated between two setulose lobes ( Figs. 15 , 42 ).

Terminalia. Syntergosternite 7+8 very large and globulous, reddish with scattered short black setulae situated on anterior half; epandrium reddish with short black setulae; cercus short, narrow, and almost straight, bearing short and scattered bristles on distal portion and long setae on basal portion ( Figs. 5 , 41 ); surstylus with narrow base and enlarged apex, with long and slender setae at apex. Postgonite shorter than pregonite, claw-shaped, with large base and narrow acute apex, gently curved forward, and with a strong and long median bristle on anterior margin ( Fig. 10 ). Pregonite long and narrow, with rounded apex ( Fig. 10 ). Phallus reddish with articulation between basiphallus and distiphallus; distiphallus with narrow base and enlarged apex, distiphallus with a very long and tubular ventro-median projection ( Fig. 38 ); basal process of lateral stylus almost straight ( Figs. 39, 40 ); lateral plate membranous, with lobed margin ( Figs. 38, 39, 40 ); vesica composed of two membranous lobes with rounded apex ( Figs. 38, 40 ); lateral stylus short and striated at apex ( Figs. 39, 40 ), median stylus very long and slender, glans sclerotized and large, composed of two elongate and dark structures bent back on themselves ( Fig. 46 ); glans in lateral view represented by a narrow, dark region restricted to anterior margin of distiphallus ( Fig. 45 ).

Female— Length = 6.5–7.0 mm (n = 12).

As described for male except as follows: two well developed proclinate fronto-orbital bristles; T3 without marginal lateral bristles, T5 with six marginal bristles; T6 divided into two plates and with a series of marginal bristles; spiracle 6 situated in membrane and 7 within the sclerite ( Fig. 58 ); T8 divided into two narrow and long plates, without setae ( Figs. 57, 58 ); ST1–2 quadrangular and covered with short and light setae, ST2 with six marginal bristles; ST3 rounded; ST4–5 rectangular; ST3–5 with four marginal bristles, lateral ones stronger ( Fig. 57 ); ST6–7 larger than other sternites, with long marginal bristles and short scattered setae on posterior half, ST6 shorter than ST7, shield-shaped ( Figs. 57, 58 ); ST7 with lateral margins laterally projected ( Figs. 57, 58 ); ST8 very short, with two long bristles on posterior margin ( Figs. 57, 58 ); hypoproct membranous and covered with short setae and with long marginal bristles ( Figs. 57, 58 ); cercus rounded, with long and short setulae ( Fig. 58 ); epiproct membranous and divided into two small plates, each bearing two long and narrow setae ( Figs. 57, 58 ); spermathecae rounded, strongly striated, constricted where each receives the spermathecal duct ( Fig. 54 ).

Material examined. BRAZIL: Amazonas: Manaus, 3.IX.1962. K. Lenko leg. (13, MZUSP). Pará: Abaetetuba, 29.XII.2005, F.S. Carvalho-Filho leg., flor de [= flower of] Borreria (1 3; MPEG); Belém, Bosque Rodrigues Alves, 11.XII.2005, F.S. Carvalho-Filho leg., coleta manual, atacando ninho de Stictia [= attacking Stictia nest] (1 Ƥ, MPEG); Benevides, PA-408 Km06, 23.VI.1981, mata de terra firme, armadilha Malaise [= Malaise trap] (1 Ƥ, MPEG); Bragança-Ajuruteua, 1–4.IX.1998, armadilha Malaise [= Malaise trap] (1 3, MPEG); ibidem, 30.VIII – 1.IX. 1988, A.N. Pena leg. (1 3, MPEG); ibidem, 30.VIII–1.IX. 1988, F.F. Ramos leg. (1 3, MPEG); Gorotire, S1W85, 29.VII.1978, D.A. Posey leg. (1 3 and 1 Ƥ, MPEG); Santana do Araguaia, Fazenda Fartura, 1–13.VIII.1992, D. Pimentel leg. (1 3 and 1 Ƥ, MPEG); São Geraldo do Araguaia, Serra das Andorinhas, Sta. Cruz, 6°12'58.8"S 48°26'1.6"W, 24–28.VII.2000, B. Mascarenhas, J. O. Dias, J.M. Ribeiro and D. Dalcides leg. (1 3, MPEG); Serra Norte, Salobo, 20–23.VIII.1984, Fligth Trap (1 Ƥ, MPEG); Tucuruí, Rio Tocantins, Saúde, 9–11.VI.1984, armadilha Malaise [= Malaise trap] (1 3, MPEG); Viseu, Fazenda Ema, 52°21'29,6"S 01°25'13,5"W, 24.IX–7.XII.1999, Malaise na mata [= Malaise trap in the forest], I.S. Gorayeb, T. Pimentel, R.N. Bittencourt and J. O. Dias leg. (3 3 and 4 Ƥ, MPEG). Espírito Santo: Linhares, VII.1972, P.C. Elias leg. (1 3 and 1 Ƥ, MNRJ). São Paulo: Onda Verde, Fazenda São João, I.1946, F. Lane leg. (1 Ƥ, MZUSP).

Distribution. NEARCTIC: Mexico (Chihuahua). NEOTROPICAL: Belize, Brazil (Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Pará, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Roraima, São Paulo), Colombia (Cali), Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, French Guyana, Guyana, Mexico (Veracruz), Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago ( Trinidad), Venezuela. OCEANIAN: Marshall Islands (introduced).

Remarks. This species is similar to A. brasiliana and differs only in the shape of the male glans (see comments under A. brasiliana ) and by the presence of two bristles situated in the membrane between T6 and T 8 in the female ( Figs. 57, 58 ).

Lopes (1988: 310) considered the lateral plate of the nominal species Raviniopsis spinosa (= A. aurea ) to be composed of three apophyses: “distal one bearing two apical points, median rounded and basal apophysis with long curved arm, directed outwards”. We consider the “long curved arm” as being a ventro-median projection of the phallic tube, and the lateral plate as being the membranous plate-like rounded structure under the ventro-median projection, which Lopes called the distal and median apophysis. These structures are membranous and arise from under the phallic tube, and they are not connected with the ventro-median projection. The ventro-median projection of the distiphallus is present in A. aurea , A. brasiliana , and A. candida ( Lopes 1988) .

The nominal species Raviniopsis spinosa was not examined. We decided to accept R. spinosa as junior synonym of A. aurea , as proposed by Pape (1996), since Lopes (1979, 1988), who analyzed many specimens of aurea and spinosa (including the female holotype of aurea ), did not find significant differences between these species.

Biology. Adult females of A. aurea were found close to nests of solitary wasps of the genus Bembix Fabricius ( Hymenoptera , Cabronidae) ( Lopes 1969, 1973) in Brazil, and of Rubrica surinamensis (DeGeer) ( Hymenoptera , Sphecidae ) in Trinidad and Venezuela ( Vesey-FitzGerald 1940; Callan 1954).

The larvae of A. aurea appear to be kleptoparasitic in wasp nests. First instar larvae obtained from a live adult female of A. aurea were not able to develop when placed only on larvae of the host wasp Rubrica surinamensis . However, when placed on dead horse-flies ( Diptera , Tabanidae ), which are the common prey found in R. surinamensis nests, the larvae pupated and adults of A. aurea were obtained ( Evans et al. 1974).

In the Brazilian Amazon, a female of A. aurea was observed by one of us (FSCF) attacking a nest of Stictia Illiger sp. (Cabronidae) that was provisioned with large horse-flies of the genus Tabanus Linnaeus. The nest was along a sand trail in an urban park (Bosque Rodrigues Alves, Belém, Pará). On this occasion, the female of A. aurea was observed settling on a twig about 15 cm from a wasp nest that was closed with sand. The fly entered the nest only when the wasp returned with prey and opened it. The fly remained only a few seconds inside the wasp nest and left before the wasp.

On another occasion many specimens (males and females) of R. aurea were observed by FSCF on a sand mound that was being used for a construction project on the research campus of Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (Belém, Pará). In the sand mound there were many nests of Stictia sp. The male flies were seen patrolling the area around the wasp nests searching for females ( Fig. 67 ), and a female fly was observed invading an abandoned nest ( Fig. 68 ). Females of Stictia sp. were observed blocking their nest entrances with temporary closures ( Fig. 70 ). This behavior has been assumed to impede entry by intruders while the female is hunting ( Sheehan 1984). Three adult A. aurea emerged from the nest ( Fig. 69 ). The wasp nest was examined and contained only the remains of hover flies ( Diptera , Syrphidae ), mainly of the genera Ornidia Lepeletier & Serville and Palpada Macquart.

Lopes (1973) was not able to rear the larvae of A. aurea on dead bugs (Heteroptera) found inside nests of a Bembix wasp, since the larvae were not able to perforate the rigid integument of the dead bugs. Wasps of the genera Stictia and Bembix are from the same tribe ( Bembicini ), and most genera in this tribe hunt for flies to provision their nests, although a few species provision their nests with Heteroptera and Hymenoptera ( O’Neil 2001) . Since flies have a soft integument, wasp nests that use flies to feed their larvae may be anticipated to yield the most A. aurea .

Adult males of A. aurea were found visiting flowers of Borreria verticillata (Linnaeus) (Rubiaceae) during dusk (17:30h to16:00h) in Abaetetuba, in the state of Pará. Males of some species of Helicobia Coquillett have also been collected on flowers of Borreria G. Mey. ( Lopes 1939) .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Epandrium and cercus, lateral view. 1. Argoravinia alvarengai Lopes. 2. Argoravinia catiae sp. nov. 3. Argoravinia rufiventris (Wiedemann). 4. Argoravinia paraensis sp. nov. 5. Argoravinia aurea (Townsend). Scale bars = 0.2 mm. Abbreviations: C = cercus; E = epandrium; LA = lateral apophysis; S = surstylus.

FIGURES 6 – 10. Postgonite and pregonite, lateral view. 6. Argoravinia alvarengai Lopes. 7. Argoravinia catiae sp. nov. 8. Argoravinia rufiventris (Wiedemann). 9. Argoravinia paraensis sp. nov. 10. Argoravinia aurea (Townsend). Scale bars = 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: PRG = pregonite; PTG = postgonite.

FIGURES 11 – 15. Fifth sternite, ventral view. 11. Argoravinia alvarengai Lopes. 12. Argoravinia catiae sp. nov. 13. Argoravinia rufiventris (Wiedemann). 14. Argoravinia paraensis sp. nov. 15. Argoravinia aurea Townsend. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 38 – 42. Argoravinia aurea (Townsend), male. 38. Distiphallus, lateral view. Scale bar = 60 µm. 39. Distiphallus apex without ventro-median projection of phallic tube (VMP), lateral view. Scale bar = 20 µm. 40. Distiphallus without ventromedian projection (VMP), lateral view. Scale bar = 30 µm. 41. Epandrium and cercus, lateral view. Scale bar = 50 µm. 42. Fifth sternite. Scale bar = 200 µm. Abbreviations: BPS = basal process of lateral stylus; LP = lateral plate; LS = lateral stylus; MS = median stylus; V = vesica; VMP = ventro-median projection of phallic tube.

FIGURES 43 – 46. 43 – 44. Argoravinia brasiliana (Lopes), male. 43. Distiphallus, lateral view; 44. Distiphallus, ventral view. 45 – 46. Argoravinia aurea (Townsend), male: 45. Distiphallus, lateral view; 46. Distiphallus, ventral view. Abbreviations: GL = glans; LP = lateral plate; LS = lateral stylus; MS = median stylus; V = vesica; VMP = ventro-median projection of phallic tube.

FIGURES 47 – 54. 47 – 49. Argoravinia alvarengai Lopes, female. 47. Terminalia and abdominal sternites, ventral view. 48. Terminalia, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 49. First and second abdominal sternites. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 50 – 53. Argoravinia rufiventris (Wiedemann), female: 50. Terminalia and abdominal sternites, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 51. Terminalia, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 52. First and second abdominal sternites. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 53. Spermatheca. Scale bar = 0.1 mm. 54. Argoravia aurea (Townsend), female, spermatheca. Scale bar = 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: ce = cercus; ep = epiproct; hy = hypoproct; St = sternite; T = tergite.

FIGURES 55 – 60. 55 – 56. Argoravinia paraensis sp. nov., female. 55. Terminalia and abdominal sternites, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 56. Terminalia, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 57 – 58. Argoravinia aurea (Townsend), female. 57. Terminalia and abdominal sternites, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 58. Terminalia, ventral view. Scale bars = 0.3 mm. 59 – 60. Argoravinia brasiliana (Lopes), female. 59. Terminalia and abdominal sternites, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.3 mm. 60. Terminalia, ventral view Scale bar = 0.3 mm. Abbreviations: ce = cercus; ep = epiproct; hy = hypoproct; St = sternite; T = tergite.

FIGURES 61 – 66. Male abdomens of Argoravinia species. 61 – 62. Argoravinia rufiventris (Wiedemann). 63. Argoravinia catiae sp. nov. 64. Argoravinia alvarengai Lopes. 65. Argoravinia paraensis sp. nov. 66. Argoravinia aurea (Townsend). Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 67 – 70. 67. Male of Argoravinia aurea (Townsend) perched in a nesting area waiting for females. 68. Female of A. aurea entering a wasp nest. 69. Newly emerged adults of A. aurea. 70. Female of Stictia Illiger sp. blocking the nest entrance with a temporary closure.