Simulium (Trichodagmia) nigrimanum Macquart

Hernández, L. M. & Shelley, A. J., 2005, New specific synonymies and taxonomic notes on Neotropical blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae), Zootaxa 853, pp. 1-46 : 11-12

Simulium (Trichodagmia) nigrimanum Macquart

(Figs. 31, 32, 49, 63, 77, 91)

Simulium nigrimanum Macquart, 1838: 88 . LECTOTYPE Ψ (not ɗ as published), BRAZIL: São Paulo State; [Collection date and collector unknown.], (MNHN) [Lectotype designation by Shelley et al., 1984: 146.] [Publication date incorrectly cited as 1837 by Vargas (1945a: 169) and D’Andretta & D’Andretta (1945: 113).] [Examined.]

Simulium pruinosum Lutz, 1910: 250 . LECTOTYPE Ψ, BRAZIL: Minas Gerais State, Lassance, Rio das Velhas; [Collection date and collector unknown.] (IOC, no. 141) [Lectotype designation by Vulcano, 1959: 41.] [Synonymy by Shelley et al., 1984: 146.] [Examined.]

Trichodagmia spadicidorsum Enderlein, 1934b: 194 . LECTOTYPE Ψ, BRAZIL: São Paulo; [Collection date and collector unknown.] (NMHU). [Examined.][Synonymised with doubt with S. distinctum Lutz by Coscarón (1987: 26); removed here from this synonymy.] New synonymy. New type designation.

Simulium nigrimanum was described by Macquart (1838) based on specimens collected from the north of São Paulo, Brazil, at a locality referred to as “Nord de la Capitaineire de Saint­Paul”. In their paper on specific synonymies of Neotropical species, Shelley et al. (1984) examined the two extant female types of S. nigrimanum in the MNHN and concluded that in Macquart’s description the reference to male (as ɗ) was a typographical error, and synonymised S. pruinosum Lutz with S. nigrimanum . This has not been accepted by two authorities ( Py­Daniel, 1989, Coscarón, 1991) who preferred to maintain S. pruinosum as a valid species and S. nigrimanum as a species inquirendae, but Crosskey and Howard (1997, 2004) maintained this synonymy. Full descriptions of S. nigrimanum may be found in Coscarón (1991) [as S. pruinosum ], Shelley et al. (2000), and Vulcano (1959) [as S. pruinosum ].

Enderlein (1934b) described T. spadicidorsum based on three syntype females collected in Brazil. One was collected in São Paulo and deposited in the NMHU. The other two were referred to as “Alte Sammlung”(= old collection) in his paper and were deposited in the NM and NMHU. Coscarón (1987) included S. spadicidorsum as a possible synonym of S. distinctum , but omitted it from his 1991 review paper. Crosskey and Howard (1997, 2004) followed Coscarón (1987) and included S. spadicidorsum (Enderlein) as a possible synonym of S. distinctum . We have examined the two females deposited in the NMHU, which are covered in fungal hyphae and pinned through the thorax, as well as the other female housed in the NM. We have designated and labelled the specimen from São Paulo as lectotype, and the other two from an undisclosed locality as paralectotypes. The head, abdomen, genitalia, legs, and one wing of the lectotype and one paralectotype from NMHU have been dissected and mounted on two slides. The coloration of the scutum and legs of S. spadicidorsum (Figs. 31, 32), as well as the morphology of the cibarium (Fig. 49) and genitalia (Figs. 63, 77, 91), fall within the variation found in S. nigrimanum . Hence, we are removing S. spadicidorsum from its synonymy with S. distinctum and placing it as a junior synonym of S. nigrimanum .

The females of S. nigrimanum are easily distinguished from other Trichodagmia species by the brown to brownish black thorax with no pattern and quadrangular paraprocts ( Shelley et al., 2000).