Copestylum yowoi, 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 : 308

022. COPESTYLUM YOWOI SP. NOV.

ROTHERAY & HANCOCK

Diagnosis – female holotype: Face shiny metallic blue-black, except for vague yellow central vitta to central tubercle, and pale yellow lateral vittae ( Fig. 22 ); face pale haired; face rounded and sunk below eye margins between base of antennae and tubercle; band of dust across face under base of antennae; eyes coated in thick, white hairs; frons shiny metallic blue-black with hairs at base of antennae, along the eye margins, and behind the ocelli proclined, otherwise hairs reclined; mesonotum shiny metallic blue-black with lines of altenating yellow and black hairs; most yellow hairs reclined, black hairs either reclined or orientated laterally; posterior margin of mesonotum with a band of longer yellow hairs; pleurites shiny metallic blue-black and coated in yellow hairs; one black bristle on dark posterior anepisternum; scutellum shiny and dark yellow with blue-black reflections, apical depression present and coated in yellow hairs of mixed lengths; legs shiny fuscous with yellow tarsi, and coated in black hairs except for basal half of femorae and tarsi; wings clear without maculae and extensively microtrichose; abdomen metallic green and coated in yellow hairs, except for some black hairs on the lateral margins of tergites 3 and 4; male unknown. Length: body, 8–9 mm, wings, 7–8 mm (N = 2).

Diagnosis – puparium: Dorsal lips and antennomaxillary organs not describable because they were 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; anterior spiracles present with three apical openings; dorso-posterior margin of prothorax and mesotheorax with spicules; lateral margin of mesothorax with two groups of seven and three spicules, respectively; antero-ventral margin of metathorax with two rows of either five or six spicules; mesothorax comma-shaped with three rows of brown crochets; primary crochets arranged medially; transverse prolegs on abdominal segments 1–5 with three rows of brown crochets; crochets longer than vestiture, at least on segments 1–3; vestiture of dorsal surface of abdominal segments 1–6 of long, fine setae becoming shorter and stouter on the ventral surface; segmental sensilla not mounted on fleshy projections, not with long apical setae; lappet 1 not longer than lappet 2; lappets 2 and 3 on lateral margin of the anal segment; posterior breathing tube orange, shorter than body width; shining and a few light punctures above transverse ridge; parallel sided; three pairs of sinusoidal openings; pupal spiracles orange, long, longer than distance apart, nodulate basally, with openings clustered at apex on conspicuous raised bands; head skeleton – ventral cornu less than five times as short as dorsal cornu; dorsal cornu about half as wide as ventral cornu; dorsal bridge present; sclerotized tentorial bars width unchanged beyond ventral bridge; mandibles and mandibular apodeme as wide as tentorial bars.

Material examined – holotype: One female with puparium, Costa Rica, Guanacaste, Bosque Nacional Diriá, cerca de Rio Enmedio, 6 November 2000, ex decaying flowers of Bromelia hemispherica (Lamarck, 1811) (Bromeliaceae) , YCN (INBio).

Material examined – paratype: One female with puparium, same data as holotype ( INBio) .

Etymology: This species is named after the Costa Rican parataxonomist, Yow Cárdenas, who collected and reared it for the first time.

Taxonomic notes: The adult of C. yowoi is similar to Copestylum emeralda (Hull, 1934) among species reared from bromeliads. However, C. yowoi is easily separated from C. emeralda by the thick eye hairs of C. yowoi . Among other Copestylum species , C. yowoi is most similar to Copestylum viride (Williston, 1880) , which also has thick eye hairs, metallic body colouration, and wings extensively microtrichose. C. yowoi is most easily separated from C. viride by the blueblack colouration of the head and thorax, which in C. viride are metallic green. The early stages are also similar to C. emeralda , but are easily separated by the posterior breathing tube, which is about as wide as deep in C. yowoi and parallel sided, but in C. emeralda it is about twice as wide as deep and tapers above the transverse ridge. Also, the openings on the pupal spiracles are on the apical half, but in C. yowoi they are clustered at the apex.

Biology: Reared from larvae found in decaying flowers of B. hemispherica (Bromeliaceae) .

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.