Bezzia (Homobezzia) pulchripes Kieffer, 1917

Huerta, Herón, Spinelli, Gustavo R. & Grogan Jr, William L., 2023, New records of predaceous midges in Bezzia Kieffer and Phaenobezzia Haeselbarth from Mexico with description of two new species of Bezzia (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 5323 (4), pp. 535-552 : 545-546

Bezzia (Homobezzia) pulchripes Kieffer

( Fig. 4A–D )

Bezzia pulchripes Kieffer, 1917: 330 (female; Paraguay). Lane 1958: 27 (key); Mayer 1959: 232 (pupa; Brazil); Wirth 1959: 234 (male; Brazil); Wirth 1974: 14.53 (catalogue of the Americas south of USA); Spinelli & Wirth 1989a: 768 (female, male, pupa; redescription; figures; distribution); Dippolito & Spinelli 1995: 54 (record Rondonia, Brazil); Borkent & Wirth 1997: 128 (world catalog); Borkent & Spinelli 2000: 61 (catalog of new world south of the United States); Borkent & Spinelli, 2007: 94 (Neotropical catalog; distribution); Anjos et al. 2018: 152 (diagnostic characters of pupae); Borkent & Dominiak 2020: 203 (world catalog); Santarém & Felippe˗Bauer 2021: 34; Spinelli et al. 2023: 63 (catalog of biting midges from Argentina).

Diagnosis. Only species in the glabra group with the following combination of characters: palpal segment 5 reduced, shorter than segment 4; thorax dark brown with small anteromedian vertical spine; legs dark brown with narrow subapical pale bands on femora and tibiae, sub-basal on tibiae; bases of fore and mid femora broadly pale ( Fig. 4A ); tarsomeres 1–4 yellowish brown with apices infuscated, tarsomeres 5 darker; female abdomen with a pair of long sclerotized gland rods; two unequal-size spermathecae with long slender necks; male sternite 9 with shallow caudomedian excavation, tergite 9 with two apical lobes; aedeagus triangular, slightly longer than basal breadth; parameres with bilobed anterolateral plates.

Material examined. MEXICO, Yucatan, Reserva Ría Lagartos, Peten “Tucha”, 30-nov-1995, light trap, GPS [21° 35′ 46″ N, 88° 08′ 47″ W], Huerta, H., 1 female CAIM [CAIMCrt/lam-00266]. New record from Yucatan.

Distribution. Widespread, from Mexico (Tabasco, Yucatan) to northeastern Argentina.

Remarks. Spinelli & Wirth (1989a) indicated that the subapical pale band on the hind tibiae is not present in some specimens from Belize and Jamaica, and it is absent in the above specimen from Yucatan.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Bezzia (Homobezzia) pulchripes (female). A. Thorax and legs, lateral view; B. Wing, lateral view; C. Abdominal segments, ventral view. D. Last abdominal segments, ventral view. Scale bars: A, B = 0.5 mm; C, D = 0.1 mm.