Copestylum puyarum, Rotheray & Hancock & Marcos-García, 2007

Rotheray, G. E., Hancock, E. G. & Marcos-García, M. A., 2007, Neotropical Copestylum (Diptera, Syrphidae) breeding in bromeliads (Bromeliaceae) including 22 new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 150 (2), pp. 267-317 : 304-306

020. COPESTYLUM PUYARUM SP. NOV.

ROTHERAY & HANCOCK

Diagnosis – female holotype: Face yellow and yellow haired, with vague and indistinct central vitta only reaching as far as central tubercle from the mouth; sides of face heavily dusted and pruniose; genae with narrow, black vittae ( Fig. 18 ); eyes coated in yellow hairs; frons orange behind ocelli and black beyond; frons black haired to base of antennae; central strip of yellow dust obscuring black ground colour; width of vertex about 10% of width of head; mesonotum dark with yellow lateral vittae and yellow triangular mark on posterior margin; mixed length hairs on mesonotum; yellow hairs anteriorly, black posteriorly; one black bristle on dark posterior anepisternum; pleurites dark and mostly dusted with black and yellow hairs; scutellum yellow with mixed length hairs; yellow hairs basally, otherwise black; scutellum without apical depression, but coracious oval-shaped mark present; legs yellow except base of femorae black, and mid and hind tibiae fuscous; legs black haired except for underside of tarsi; wings extensively microtrichose with maculae over the crossveins; cell R1 open; abdomen – tergites 1–4 yellow except for black posterior margin of tergite 4; tergites 1 and 2 mostly yellow haired except for posterior margin; tergites 3 and 4 with crescentshaped anterior bands of yellow hairs reaching to about half the length of each tergite, otherwise black haired; sternites yellow with yellow hairs, except on posterior margins of sternites 3 and 4; male – unknown. Length: body, 12 mm; wing, 10 mm (N = 1).

Diagnosis – larva and puparium: Basal projection bearing antennomaxillary organs nodulate; dorsal lip with tuft of setae; lateral lips with spicules basally, and long, fine setae apically, not meeting apically; feeding channel not deep because of small size of lateral lips; thorax broad, wider than abdomen; anterior fold with a band of between seven and nine rows of brown spicules, spicules shortening posteriorly and reaching anterior sensilla 3 of prothorax; anterior spiracles short, about as long as wide, with either four or five openings across the apex; vestiture of long, stout, upright setae coating dorsum and lateral margins of the body ( Fig. 92 ), longer and stouter on the anal segment, setae shorter between folds and forming microspicules on the ventral surface; vestiture of prothorax without longer setae at posterior margin; lateral margin of mesothorax and metathorax with groups of 12–15 and 6–9 spicules, respectively, and bands of spicules on the antero-ventral margins; segmental sensilla on short projections, about as long as vestiture, with between one and five thick, pale coloured, apical setae; these setae much shorter than transverse folds across the dorsum; mesothoracic prolegs comma-shaped with four rows of brown crochets; either four or five primary crochets clustered at inner end of proleg; prolegs only on abdominal segments 1–5, and much less developed on segments 4 and 5; transverse in shape, not well developed with three straight rows of brown crochets; sensilla 5–8 of abdominal segments 5–7, but not sensilla 9 of anal segment, on particularly elongate, more so than segments 1–4, fleshy projections; projections tapering and coated in conspicuous stout setae; anal segment extended up to more than 1.5 times as long as sixth abdominal segment; lappet 1 on dorso-lateral margin of anal segment, and a little shorter than lappet 2, more than half as long; lappets 2 and 3 on mid-lateral margin; lappets tapering and coated in conspicuous stout setae; posterior breathing tube long, about 1.5 times body width, parallel sided, orange, above transverse ridge smooth and shiny, without punctures; three pairs of sinusoidal spiracular openings; pupal spiracles long, longer than distance apart, pale yellow, slightly curved, nodulate basally shiny above with openings on not particularly widened apical half; head skeleton – ventral cornu about seven times shorter than dorsal cornu; dorsal cornu less than half as wide as ventral cornu; dorsal bridge present; sclerotized tentorial bars narrow apically beyond ventral bridge; mandibles and mandibular apodeme either as narrow as tentorial bars or narrower.

Material examined – holotype: Female with puparium, Costa Rica, Cartago P.N. Cerro de la Muerte, February 1999, ex wet decay between basal leaves and base of dead flowering spike of P. dasylirioides ( Bromeliaceae ), EGH & GER ( INBio) .

Material examined – paratypes: two females with puparia, same data as holotype ( INBio) .

Material examined – additional material: Five larvae, same data as holotype, as follows: two larvae collected by APC, 0013.8 & 0013.1; one larva, MLV 24.1 ( INBio) ; two larvae GER ( NMS) .

Etymology: The name ‘ puyarum’ is descriptive of the colloquial name of the host plant.

Taxonomic notes: C. puyarum is similar to the boqueronense group in size and general appearance. However C. puyarum does not have a flattened face and the tubercle is well produced. In comparison with other Copestylum species , C. puyarum is most similar to C. brunnigaster in being a large species with a narrow dusted face, thoracic pile of mixed size, prescutellar bristles, and with an extensively yellow abdomen. C. puyarum differs from C. brunnigaster in having a shorter face with black vittae, a broader band of apical black setae on tergite 2, about a quarter the length of the tergite, and well developed prescutellar bristles. The larva and puparium of C. puyarum is most similar to C. louisae among those considered here. They both share a thorax broader than the abdomen, an elongate anal segment, and sensilla 5–8 of abdominal segments 5–7 on elongate fleshy projections. The ridge-shaped as opposed to spherical prolegs, and lappets covered in stout as opposed to fine setae, distinguish C. puyarum from C. louisae .

A larva similar to puyarum was found, but not reared, in the decaying bases of puya plants at the base of Mount Cotapaxi, near Quito, Ecuador in August 2000. This larva can be distinguished from puyarum by the vestiture, which is only about half as long.

Biology: Larvae were collected in wet decaying leaves at the base of dead flower spikes of puya plants ( Bromeliaceae ). Sometimes the level of decay was extensive and pools of water were present. Nonetheless, decay was generally deep down and often underground, and was located only with considerable effort.

Figures

Figures 15–18. Adult Copestylum, lateral view of the head; scale line = 3.5 mm. 15. Copestylum joei sp. nov., male holotype; 16. Copestylum louisae sp. nov., male holotype; 17. Copestylum otongaensis sp. nov., male holotype; 18. Copestylum puyarum sp. nov., female holotype.

Figures 86–92. Third stage larvae of Copestylum. 86. Copestylum lousiae, whole larva, head to the right, ventral view, length = 14 mm. 87. Copestylum tapia, whole larva, head to the right, dorsal view, length = 11 mm. 88. Copestylum barbara, crenate papillae from the dorsal surface of the anal segment. 89. Copestylum xalapensis, dentate spicules from the anterior fold of the prothorax. 90. Copestylum mamorum, vestiture of stout setae from the dorsal surface of the second abdominal segment. 91. Copestylum louisae, vestiture of long, fine setae from the dorsal surface of the second abdominal segment. 92. Copestylum puyarum, tapering spicules from the anterior fold of the prothorax.