Santarosamyia erecta (Coquillett, 1902), 2025

Fleming, A. J., Smith, M. Alex, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel, 2025, A new genus and a new species in the tribe Eryciini (Diptera, Tachinidae) from Area de Conservación Guanacaste in north-western Costa Rica, Biodiversity Data Journal 13, pp. e 161853-e 161853 : e161853-

Santarosamyia erecta (Coquillett, 1902) comb. nov.

erecta Coquillett, 1902: 112 ( Phorocera ). Holotype female by designation of Coquillett, 1902: 112 ( USNM: USNMENT 01789077 ) (Examined by: AJF and DMW). Type locality: USA, California, Camden Ark. comb. nov.

loxostegeae Reinhard, 1922: 331 ( Exorista ). Lectotype male by present designation ( CNC: CNC 1175758). Type locality: USA, Texas, College Station.

Materials

Type status: Lectotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: H. J. Reinhard; occurrenceID: 0F8D89CC-56C4-5E2B-95E0-6D8ED2D4BD99; Taxon: scientificNameID: Exorista loxostegae ; namePublishedInID: Reinhard, 1921; scientificName: Exorista loxostegae Reinhard, 1921 ; nameAccordingTo: Reinhard, 1921; order: Diptera ; family: Tachinidae ; genus: Exorista ; specificEpithet: loxostegae ; taxonRemarks: Lectotype of Exorista loxostegae (Reinhard, 1922) by present designation of Fleming & Wood; Location: continent: North America; country: United States of America; countryCode: US; stateProvince: Texas; locality: College Station ; verbatimLocality: College Station, Texas; Identification: identifiedBy: Reinhard; dateIdentified: 1921; Event: year: 20; month: 6; day: 14; verbatimEventDate: 6-14 - 20; Record Level: type: pinned adult specimen; collectionID: CNC 1175758; institutionCode: CNC; basisOfRecord: Preserved specimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: J. I. Beauine; sex: M; preparations: terminalia dissected; occurrenceID: 5BA60566-D9B7-501C-8994-0036E842D866; Taxon: scientificName: Nilea erecta (Coquillett, 1902) ; kingdom: Animalia; class: Insecta; order: Diptera ; family: Tachinidae ; genus: Nilea; specificEpithet: erecta; Location: continent: North America; country: Canada; countryCode: CA; stateProvince: Quebec; municipality: Hull; verbatimLocality: Hull, P. Q.; Identification: identifiedBy: H. J. Reinhard; Event: eventDate: 18 July 1914; year: 1914; month: July; day: 18; verbatimEventDate: 18. VII. 1914; eventRemarks: Compare with the type in USNM; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Description

Male (Fig. 8), Head: head slightly wider than thorax when viewed dorsally; vertex 1 / 3 head width; gena 1 / 6 of head height, approximately 1 / 5 of eye height; with one row of frontal setae, these extending below base of pedicel and two pairs of reclinate orbital setae, nearly in line with frontal row; ocellar setae strong and proclinate, inserted directly adjacent to anterior ocellus; eye setulose; parafacial bare and narrow, slightly grey tomentose; gena grey, covered in short black setulae; fronto-orbital plate grey tomentose, covered in black setulae surrounding frontal setae; lower margin of face level with vibrissa; facial ridge setose, along most of its length, almost reaching lowest frontal seta; pedicel black; postpedicel black, 4 x as long as pedicel; arista bare, distinctly-thickened on basal half. Palpus dark brown, almost black, densely setulose, digitiform, not distinctly clubbed.

Thorax: scutum black ground colour, grey tomentose; four dorsal vittae, almost indistinct, outer pair broken at suture, vittae becoming more prominent under certain angles of light; postpronotum bearing four setae, middle basal seta in line with outer and inner basal setae; anterior margin of anipemeron with only 2–4 long setae. Chaetotaxy: acrostichal setae 3: 3; dorsocentral setae 3: 4; intra-alar setae 3: 3; supra-alar setae 2: 3; 3 katepisternal setae; scutellum black with dark maroon along basal edges, with one pair of discal setae and three pairs of long flat marginal setae.

Abdomen: ground colour reddish-brown to black (original description states black, discrepancy could be due to the age of the specimens examined, lightening as they age); tergites 3–4 thinly grey tomentose, extending almost to the apex of the tergites; median discal setae present T 3 and T 4.

Male terminalia (Fig. 9): sternite 5 with a deeply excavated median cleft along posterior edge, approximately 1.4 x as wide as long, U-shaped, inner margins covered in light tomentum; posterior lobes flattened somewhat apically, two strong setae surrounded by many shorter, weaker setulae; unsclerotised " window " on anterior plate of sternite 5 almost entirely translucent, directly basal to posterior lobes. Epandrium setulose, cercus triangular, slightly longer than surstyli; cercus apically pointed, completely separate along most of their length. Cercus in lateral view, with a slight downward curve at apex, densely setulose along basal 2 / 3. Surstylus in lateral view, wide and robust, round medially, rounded and blunt at apex, slightly tapered basally, giving the structure a wide digitate to slightly spatulate appearance; surstylus not fused with epandrium; when viewed dorsally surstyli wide, slightly divergent, bearing a slight outward bend at apices. Pregonite broad, well-developed, apically rounded, blunt, with 6–7 setae along margin. Postgonite, up to 1 / 2 as wide as pregonite, curved apex. Basiphallus with a well-developed narrow and erect epiphallus, distiphallus broad with a thick median longitudinal sclerotised reinforcement on its posterior surface pointed with a distinctive downward curve at apex and a broad, anterolateral, sclerotised acrophallus, on the anterior surface also curving downwards at the apex.

Female, as in male differing in the following traits: Head: bearing two pairs of proclinate orbital setae and two pairs of reclinate orbital setae, palpus dark ochraceous appearing brown to black, antennal pedicel dark orange almost brown, but distinctly lighter than postpedicel. Abdomen: overall appearing more globose than males and in its terminalia.

Diagnosis

Santarosamyia erecta (Coquillett, 1902) comb. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by the apparent and thick vestiture of grey tomentum, which is gold in S. woodorum sp. nov. and the presence of four katepisternal setae, only three in S. unipilum comb. nov. It is distinguished from both of its congeners by its CO 1 sequence.

Distribution

Widely distributed throughout North America, Canada ( British Columbia, East, Ontario, Prairies) and USA ( California, Florida, Great Plains, Northeast, Northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, Texas) ( O'Hara et al. 2020).

Ecology

Nilea erecta has been recorded parasitising larvae in the lepidopteran families: Tortricidae , Pyralidae , Noctuidae and Notodontidae ( Arnaud 1978) .