Nephochaetopteryx travassosi Lopes

Carvalho-Filho, Fernando Da Silva, Esposito, Maria Cristina & Mello-Patiu, Cátia Antunes De, 2021, Revision of Nephochaetopteryx Townsend, 1934 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Zootaxa 4928 (1), pp. 1-83 : 75-77

Nephochaetopteryx travassosi Lopes

( Figs 35 , 37D )

Nephochaetopteryx travassosi Lopes, 1938: 279 (description of male). Type locality: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara, Gávea. Other references: Dodge (1968a: 279; key); Lopes (1969: 28; catalog); Pape (1996: 262; catalog); Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001: 312; description of female).

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♁ ( MNRJ): Rio de Janeiro / Jardim Botânico / H.S. Lopes [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label bordered with black] // Holotype [printed on rectangular red label bordered with black] // Nephochaetopteryx / ♁ travassosi n. sp. / Holotypo / 8.9.37 Det. H.S. Lopes [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] // MNRJ / 2205 [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label bordered with black]. [Holotype lacking left mid leg, hind leg, abdomen and terminalia.]

Additional material examined. Brazil. Paraná: Jundiaí do Sul, Fazenda Monte Verde [= Monte Verde Farm], 02.XI.1987, PROFAUPAR, Malaise trap, [no collector] (1 ♁, DZUP) . Rio de Janeiro: Alto da Boa Vista , 08.II.1985, leg. Guimarães (1 ♀, MNRJ) . São Paulo: Ribeir „o Grande , 24°15’S 48°10’W, 13–16.XII.2000, Malaise trap, leg. M. T . Tavares (1 ♁, MZUSP); same data but 10–13.XII.2000 (2 ♀♀, MZUSP) .

Redescription. Male. Length = 6.8–7.0 mm (n = 4).

Head. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates, postocular strip, gena and postgena with golden microtomentum. Frontal vitta reddish-black with basal half reddish. Six frontal setae. Palpus brown.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 2+2; supra-alars 1+3, anepisternals 5, notopleurals 1 subprimary; merals 5. Mid femur with three median setae and without differentiated posteroventral seta. Ctenidium consisting of three to six spines. Wing hyaline with dark spot beginning in the terminal portion of vein R 1, filling the distal third of cell r 1 and the upper half of the distal half of cell r 2+3; vein R 2+3 with setulae ventrally; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of gray microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces ( Fig. 37D ). Sternites 1 to 4 brown with grayish-blue microtomentum, quadrate, covered with yellowish setulae and marginal setae. Sternite 4 with a median patch of thick setae near posterior margin.

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown, with a deep cleft, nearly reaching middle of sternite; lobe rounded and with a tuft of short setulae and several long and short setae; arms convergents, short and glossiform, covered with setae ( Fig. 35E ). Cercus shorter than epandrium, almost straight, with a minute preapical protuberance on ventral margin ( Fig. 35A ). Cercal prongs separated with tips strongly convergent ( Fig. 35B ). Cercus with a preapical tuft of long setulae on inner lateral margin, without setulae apically and with long and thick setae basally ( Figs 35 A–B). Surstylus almost triangular, covered with setulae, except on lateral margins ( Fig. 35A ). Pregonite wider than long, with rounded apex perpendicular to base; ventral and posterior margins with short and pointed setae ( Fig. 35C ). Postgonite straight, tapering distally, with pointed apex; posterior margin with a long seta (longer than postgonite) and small pointed setae ( Fig. 35D ). Basiphallus short, about half as long as distiphallus, with proximal region narrowed and curved dorsally ( Fig. 35F ). Distiphallus elongate, with dorsal margin sinuous, with apical margin rounded ( Fig. 35F ). Ventral margin with a conspicuous glossiform projection directed anteriorly with serrated margin, with a large, rounded projection just above the base of vesica ( Fig. 35F ). Vesica dome-shaped. Lateral and median styli short, of about one-third of width of widest lateral wall of distiphallus, and both inserted close to apical surface of distiphallus ( Fig. 35F ).

Female. Terminalia as described by Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001, figs 25–26, 41).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, S„o Paulo).

Remarks. This species is similar to N. distincta and N. sofiae sp. nov. in the shape of the distiphallus and differs from these by the features mentioned in the remarks under N. distincta and N. sofiae sp. nov.

The holotype of N. travassosi has no associated abdomen and terminalia. Nevertheless, it is possible to determine in the figure of the terminalia provided by Lopes (1938) that the vesica of this species is dome-shaped. In addition, the holotype shows R 2+3 with setulae ventrally. We analyzed specimens with these features from Brazil’s Atlantic forest (biome of the type locality) and they were identified as N. travassosi . Therefore, this species is recorded for the first time from S„o Paulo and Paraná.

Figures

FIGURE 35. Nephochaetopteryx travassosi Lopes, 1938, male terminalia. Specimen from Jundiaí do Sul, Paraná, Brazil (DZUP). A. Epandrium, surstylus and cercus, left lateral view. B. Cerci, dorsal view (setation omitted on the left side). C. Pregonite, left lateral view. D. Postgonite, left lateral view. E. Sternite 5, ventral view (setation omitted on the left side). F. Phallus, left lateral view; arrow showing glossiform lobe of ventral margin of distiphallus. Abbreviations: bp = basiphallus; dp = distiphallus; ip = inner process of vesica; ls = lateral stylus; ms = median stylus; ve = vesica. Scale bars: A, B, E = 0.1 mm; C, D, F = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 37. Nephochaetopteryx species. A. Abdomen of the holotype male of N. distincta Dodge, 1968 (WSU), lateroventral view. B. Abdomen of the holotype male of N. hyalina Dodge, 1968 (= N. distincta) (SEMC), lateroventral view. C. Female abdomen of N. limpidipennis Lopes, 1976, dorsal view. Specimen from Chiapas, Mexico (MNRJ). D. Male abdomen of N. travassosi Lopes, 1938, dorsal view. Specimen from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (MNRJ). E. Male abdomen of N. flavipalpis Lopes, 1936, dorsal view. Specimen from Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil (MNRJ). F. Female head of N. limpidipennis Lopes, 1976, lateral view. Specimen from Chiapas, Mexico (MNRJ). G. detail of anterior portion of the body of female paratype of N. coxalis Dodge, 1968, lateral view. Paratype from Minas Gerais, Brazil (MNRJ). Scale bars:1 mm.