Bittacus rafaeli Machado & Ramos-Pastrana, 2022

Machado, Renato Jose Pires, Higinio, María Fernanda Bermúdez, Guevara, Yennifer Andrea Carreño & Ramos-Pastrana, Yardany, 2022, A new species of Bittacus Latreille (Mecoptera: Bittacidae) from the Andean-Amazonian foothills, Caquetá, Colombia, Zootaxa 5209 (4), pp. 476-482 : 477-480

Bittacus rafaeli Machado & Ramos-Pastrana sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–12 )

Diagnosis. Wings maculated, 1 costal crossvein, pterostigma elongated, forewing origin of Rs 1+2 much basal to the level of Sc end, hind wing with Rs 1+2 not forked. Head with frons and vertex light brown. Male epandrial lobe in dorsal view with the internal margins almost parallel at the base, followed by a large concavity; medial area of the concavity with a rounded lobe; apex curving inwards and ending in a rounded protuberance covered by long and robust black setae. Epandrial lobe in lateral view, shorter than basistylus.

Description. Male holotype ( Figs. 1–7 ): Body length 15.6 mm, forewing length 18.9 mm, hind wing length 15.6 mm.

Head with frons and vertex light brown; ocellar triangle, gena, clypeus, and labrum dark brown ( Fig. 2 ). Mouth parts light brown, except for the two basal palpomeres of the maxillary and labial palpi. Three distinctive ocelli, lateral ones slightly larger than median. Antennae long, filiform, covered with yellowish pubescence, light brown at the basal half, darkening in the distal half towards the apex. Number of flagellomeres 30 or more.

Thorax ( Fig. 3 ) dark brown with some lighter areas, particularly at the pleural region, pronotum, and medial area of the meso and metanotum, covered with yellowish pubescence. Legs ( Fig. 1 ) With coxa and trochanter dark brown in all legs. Femur, tibia and tarsi of fore and mid legs mostly light brown, except for some dark areas on femur apex, tibia base and apex, and distal three tarsomeres. Hind leg slightly darker than anterior legs, particularly the femur and tarsi. Femur and tibia with sparse short black setae. Tibia with two long apical spurs; spurs dark brown and shorter than basitarsus. Fore and mid tarsi with tarsomere II longer than tarsomeres III‒V, basal tarsomere twice length of tarsomere II, tarsomere V prehensile. Hind tarsus dark brown, less than half the length of hind tibia; tarsomeres II–V about same length, basitarsus about twice as long as tarsomere II and slightly lighter than the others; tarsomere V prehensile.

Wings ( Fig. 4 ) Narrow with apex rounded. Membrane mostly hyaline but with many dark brown marks surrounding some of the transversal veins and major longitudinal bifurcations. Pterostigma dark brown, elongate; thyridium present. Forewing with one subapical costal crossvein; humeral crossvein present; Sc ending beyond first fork of Rs; Rs fork nearly forming a right angle; Rs 1+2 forking near the end of pterostigma; Rs 3+4 forking at level of M 1+2 and M 3+4; one pterostigmal crossvein; M origin basal to Rs origin; Cu 1 ending beyond the apex of Sc; A 1 ending near the level of Rs first fork. Hind wing similar to forewing, except Rs 1+2 not forked.

Male abdominal tergites I‒VI brown to light brown medially and dark brown laterally, remaining tergites dark brown ( Fig. 1 ). Sternites mostly light brown except distal sternites dark brown.

Terminalia ( Figs. 5–7 ) with epandrium light brown except dorsal margins black, covered with yellowish pubescence. In dorsal view epandrium with a basal medial lobe covered with small setae; epandrial lobe internal margins almost parallel at the base, followed by a large concavity; medial area of the concavity with a rounded lobe; apex curving inwards and ending in a rounded protuberance covered by long, robust black setae. Epandrial lobe in lateral view shorter than basistylus; straight ventrally, but in dorsal view with the posterior half expanded dorsally. Epandrial lobe in posterior view with ventral margin expanding inwards, and apex covered by long, robust black setae. Cercus about as long as sternite IX, dark brown, with yellowish setae. Basystilus in lateral view light brown ventrally and dark brown dorsally; with long yellowish setae; posterior margin with a small concavity at the dorsal half. Penisfilum broad at base, narrowed medially, tapering towards apex, curving backwards at medial region.

Holotype male. COLOMBIA: Caquetá, El Doncello, Vda. [ Vereda ] Villa Rica , Fca.[ Finca ] La Gabela , 01º36′59″N / 75º09′55″W, 294 m [eters], 17.vii.2021, Captura manual en Theobroma cacao ( Malvaceae ), Y. Carreño (1♂, LEUA –00000035892). Holotype condition very good, with only the apical ventral margin of the right forewing missing.

Female paratype ( Figs. 8–10 ): Body length 17.2 mm, forewing length 19.2 mm, hind wing length 16.8 mm.

Identical to the male holotype, except abdomen ( Figs. 9–10 ) with basal segments brown, distal segments mostly dark brown, medial tergites lighter.

Terminalia ( Figs. 9–10 ) with cercus shorter than subanal plate and tergite XI in lateral view, dark brown, covered with yellow setae. Subanal plate and tergite XI dark brown, with short yellow setae. Gonocoxosternite dark brown, with yellowish setae, those in the posterior margin longer; gonocoxosternite not fused ventrally, in lateral view with a subapical membranous concavity.

Paratype female. COLOMBIA: Caquetá, El Doncello, Vda.[Vereda] Maguaré, Fca.[Finca] Parcela No.[Número] 4, 01º38′40″N / 75º09′34″W, 287 m [eters], 17.vi.2021, Captura manual en dosel de Theobroma cacao, M. Bermúdez (1♀, LEUA –00000035891). In perfect condition.

Type locality. Colombia: Caquetá: El Doncello ( Fig. 11 ).

Etymology. Named after the entomologist and friend Dr. José Albertino Rafael, for his valuable mentoring to the authors and his significant contribution to the development of Neotropical entomology.

Habitat. The specimens were collected with forceps on a cocoa plantation ( Theobroma cacao ) in the Colombian Amazon foothills at the Departament of Caquetá ( Fig. 12 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Bittacus rafaeli sp. nov., male holotype. 1) Habitus, lateral view. 2) Head, frontal view. 3) Head and thorax, dorsal view.

FIGURES 4–7. Bittacus rafaeli sp. nov., male holotype. 4) Wings. 5) Terminalia, dorsal view. 6) Terminalia, posterior view. 7) Terminalia, lateral view. A = anal vein; B = basistylus; C = cercus; Cu = cubital vein; E = epandrium; G = gonostylus; M = medial vein; p = penisfilum; pt = pterostigma; R = radial vein; Rs = radial sector; Sc = subcostal vein.

FIGURES 8–10. Bittacus rafaeli sp. nov., female paratype. 8) Habitus, lateral view. 9) Terminalia, posterodorsal view. 10) Terminalia, lateral view.

FIGURE 11–12. Bittacus spp. in Colombia. 11) Geographical records. 12) Bittacus rafaeli sp. nov. habitat, cocoa plantation (Theobroma cacao).