Copestylum conabioi, 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 : 300-302

018. COPESTYLUM CONABIOI SP. NOV.

MARCOS- GARCÍA & ROTHERAY

Diagnosis – male holotype: Face yellow and yellow haired with well-developed central tubercle; black central vitta from mouth to base of antennae and black lateral vittae ( Fig. 20 ); face shiny, only dusted below antennae, and pruinosity confined to small patches either side of the antennae and at base of genae; frons black with yellow hairs; eyes with yellow hairs ending before the lower margin; mesonotum shiny black with two broad yellow marginal vittae; mesonotum coated with long black and short yellow hairs, prescutellar bristles absent; scutellum shiny brown, yellow basally and coated in short and long black hairs; scutellum with a narrow, linear ridge round the entire dorso-apical margin; upper pleurites bright yellow, lower half of pleurites black; legs shiny black with black hairs; joints of femora-tibia yellowish; wings with some small maculae about the crossveins; R1 closed; abdomen – tergite 1 white and white haired, tergite 2 white band in apical half, shiny black posteriorly, tergites 3 and 4 shiny black with a cresent-shaped yellow band from anterior corners to posterior half of each tergite; abdominal hairs short and inconspicuous, pale over most of tergites 1 and 2, and dark elsewhere except yellow over cresent-shaped markings; sternite 1 white; sternites 2 and 3 white with black posterior band; sternite 4 black except for narrow, anterior, yellow band; genitalia – surstylus with basal projection coated in long setae; epandrium with projection at point of articulation with hypandrium; hypandrium without windows; superior lobes simple with one hook ( Figs 69, 70, 71 ); female – similar to male; frons entirely black with pale hairs; width of vertex about 9% of width of head. Length: body, 8.50–9.30 mm; wing, 9.00– 9.30 mm (N = 5).

Diagnosis – puparium: Dorsal lips and antennomaxillary organs not describable as a result of being hidden within the dried puparium; lateral lips with stout setae basally and fine setae apically, not meeting apically, feeding channel not deep; thorax not wider than abdomen; anterior fold with a band of between seven and nine rows of brown spicules, becoming shorter anteriorly and not reaching sensilla 3 of prothorax; prothorax without spicules; anterior spiracles about as long as broad with three openings across the apex; vestiture of long, conspicuous setae arranged in transverse rows across the dorsum, shorter and stouter on ventral surface; lateral margin of mesothorax with two groups of five and either two or three spicules, respectively; antero-ventral margin of metathorax without; mesothoraic prolegs comma-shaped with two rows of brown crochets; primary crochets arranged medially; prolegs on abdominal segments 1–6 not developed; segmental sensilla mounted on fleshy projections with long apical setae, these projections longer on lateral margins of the abdomen, but not longer than half the length of lappets; lappet 1 about as long as lappet 2; lappets 2 and 3 on lateral margin of the anal segment; posterior breathing tube orange, less than two times the width of a pupal spiracle, matt and coriaceous basally, shining and heavily punctured above transverse ridge; not tapered at apex; three pairs of sinusoidal openings; pupal spiracles yellow, long, longer than distance apart, slightly curved, punctate basally, smooth and shining with openings spread apart, mostly further apart than their width across, not on raised bands and reaching below halfway point, coated in fine inconspicuous setae that are short, not much longer than width of an opening; head skeleton – ventral cornu less than ten times as long as dorsal cornu; dorsal cornu more 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 ( Fig. 97 ).

Material examined – holotype: Male with puparium, Mexico, Chiapas, Boquerón , 19 April 2002, ex fallen decaying bromeliad, GER, MAM & C. Pérez-Bañón ( NMS) .

Material examined – paratypes: One male and three females, two with puparia ( NMS) ; seven males and 14 females with puparia, same data as holotype ( CIBIO) ; one male with puparium, Mexico, Chiapas, Talquián , 16 April 2002, ex fallen decaying bromeliad, GER, MAM & C. Pérez-Bañón (SI) ; one male with puparium, Mexico, Chiapas, Motozal , 11 April 2002, ex fallen decaying bromeliad, GER, MAM & C. Pérez- Bañón ( NMS) .

Etymology: The name conabioi is in reference to the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, which, in Mexico, helped fund our fieldwork.

Taxonomic notes: The adult of C. conabioi is most similar in overall appearance to C. tapia and C. albertoi among the species considered here. It may be distinguished from these species by the ridge at the apex of the scutellum. Among other Copestylum species C . conabioi is most similar to Copestylum gertschi (Curran, 1939) in general appearance. Both species have a central vitta extending from the antennae to the mouth, lower half of the eyes without hairs, thoracic pile without bristles, and a ridge round the apex of the scutelleum. However, the darker colour of the abdomen and features of the male genitalia separate C. conabioi from this species. The early stages of C. conabioi are easily separated from other bromeliad Copestylum by the lack prolegs with crochets.

Biology: Reared from larvae found in fallen, decaying bromeliads in cloud forest in Mexico.

Figures

Figures 19–22. Adult Copestylum, lateral view of the head; scale line = 3.5 mm. 19. Copestylum albertoi sp. nov., male holotype; 20. Copestylum conabioi sp. nov., male holotype; 21. Copestylum tapia sp. nov., male holotype; 22. Copestylum yowoi sp. nov., female holotype.

Figures 65–74. Adult Copestylum, male genitalia; right- and left-hand figures scale line = 0.50 mm, for middle column figures, left-hand scale line = 0.85 mm. 65–68. Copestylum albertoi sp. nov., male holotype: 65. genitalia and associated structures, lateral view; 66. hypandrium, ventral view; 67. surstylus, ventral view, 68. postanal plate, ventral view. 69–71. Copestylum conabioi sp. nov., male holotype: 69. genitalia and associated structures, lateral view; 70. hypandrium, ventral view; 71. surstylus, ventral view. 72–74. Copestylum tapia sp. nov., male holotype: 72. genitalia and associated structures, lateral view; 73. hypandrium, ventral view; 74. surstylus, ventral view.

Figures 93–98. Third stage larvae of Copestylum, head skeletons, lateral view, anterior end to the right, scale line = 1 mm. 93. Copestylum joei; 94. Copestylum otongaensis; 95. Copestylum mamorum; 96. Copestylum galantei; 97. Copestylum conabioi; 98. Copestylum albertoi.