Nephochaetopteryx distincta Dodge

Carvalho-Filho, Fernando Da Silva, Esposito, Maria Cristina & Mello-Patiu, Cátia Antunes De, 2021, Revision of Nephochaetopteryx Townsend, 1934 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Zootaxa 4928 (1), pp. 1-83 : 27-29

Nephochaetopteryx distincta Dodge

( Figs 10 , 37 A–B)

Nephochaetopteryx distincta Dodge, 1968b: 423 (key), 436 (descriptions of male and female). Type locality: Panama, Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island. Other references: Pape (1996: 260; catalog); Lopes (1975b: 513–514; redescription of holotype male).

Nephochaetopteryx hyalina Dodge, 1968b: 423 (key), 436 (description of male). Type locality: Panama, Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island. Other references: Lopes (1975b: 513; proposal of synonymy, examination of holotype male).

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♁ ( SEMC): Barro Colo. Is., C. Z. / 12.II.1955 No. 1955 / Carl W. Retten- meyer [printed on rectangular white label] // From over swarm / raid of Eciton / burchelli [printed on rectangular white label] // HOLOTYPE / Nephochaetopteryx / distincta / Dodge [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label bordered with red]. [Holotype in good condition, lacking left mid leg, with abdomen cleared and glued to thorax; terminalia (including sternite 5) glued to a card triangle pinned beneath the specimen.]

PARATYPE. ♀ ( SEMC): PANAMA-Canal Zone / Barro Colorado Is. / 28.III.63 No. / CW & ME Rettenmeyer [printed on rectangular white label] // Take in/ Malaise trap [printed on rectangular white label] // Nephochaetopteryx / distincta / Det. 1964 / Dodge ALLOTYPE [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label bordered with red]. [Paratype in good condition.]

HOLOTYPE ♁ of N. hyalina (SEMC) : Barro Colorado I / Canal Zone, Panama / 16.II.1956 No. 1171 / C.W. & M.E. Rettenmeyer [printed on rectangular white label] // From over swarm / raid of Eciton / burchelli [printed on rectangular white label] // HOLOTYPE / Nephochaetopteryx / hyaline / Dodge [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label bordered with red] // Nephochaetopteryx / distincta (Dodge) / (= hyalina Dodge ) / VII.74 / Det. H.S. Lopes [printed on rectangular white label]. [Holotype in good condition, lacking right fore leg, with cleared abdomen glued to thorax and terminalia glued to a card triangle pinned beneath the specimen.]

Additional material examined. Panama. Panama: Canal Zone , Barro Colorado Island, 02.III.1967, leg. R. G. Akre (2 ♁♁, WSU) .

Redescription. Male. Length = 6.2–6.3 mm (n = 4).

Head. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates with golden microtomentum. Postocular strip with silvery microtomentum. Frontal vitta black, with basal half reddish. Six frontal setae. Gena and postgena with golden microtomentum. Palpus brown.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 3+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 2+2; supra-alars 2+3; notopleurals 1, subprimary; anepisternals 6; merals 5. Mid femur with two differentiated median setae and without a differentiated posteroventral seta. Ctenidium consisting of four spines. Wing hyaline; vein R 2+3 with setulae ventrally; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of gray microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces. Sternites 1 to 4 yellowish-brown with a median brown spot, covered with yellowish setulae and with marginal setae ( Fig. 37A ). Sternite 4 with a median patch of thick setae near posterior margin ( Fig. 37A ).

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown, with a deep cleft, nearly reaching middle of sternite; lobe rounded and with a tuft of short setulae and several long and short setae; arm wide, with rounded apex, covered with setae. Syntergosternite 7+8, epandrium and cercus brown. Cercus shorter than epandrium, tapering distally in lateral view, with an apical pointed projection ventrally ( Fig. 10A ). Cercal prongs parallel in dorsal view, with a preapical tuft of long setulae on inner lateral margins ( Fig. 10B ). Surstylus almost triangular, without setulae on basal margin and with some scattered fine setae ( Fig. 10A ). Pregonite wide and short (shorter than postgonite), with apex perpendicular to base; ventral and posterior margins with short and pointed setae ( Fig. 10C ). Postgonite elongate with apex slightly curved anteriorly and posterior margin with a long seta (longer than postgonite) and some small, pointed setae ( Fig. 10D ). Basiphallus short, about half as long as distiphallus, with proximal region narrowed and curved dorsally ( Fig. 10E ). Distiphallus elongate, with dorsal margin sinuous and apical margin rounded ( Fig. 10E ). Ventral margin of distiphallus with two prominent projections, a proximal projection that is glossiform, serrated apically and strongly curved toward the base of the distiphallus and a distal projection that is rounded and placed below vesica base ( Fig. 10E ). Vesica dome-shaped ( Fig. 10E ). Median and lateral styli small, of about one-third of width of widest portion of lateral wall of distiphallus, and both inserted close to apical surface of distiphallus ( Fig. 10E ).

Female. Terminalia not described.

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Panama ( Panama).

Remarks. This species is similar to N. travassosi and N. sofiae sp. nov. in having vein R 2+3 with setulae ventrally and vesica dome-shaped. However, it differs from the other two in having glossiform projection of ventral margin of distiphallus strongly curved toward the base of the distiphallus. Nephochaetopteryx distincta differs from N. travassosi in having sternites 1 to 4 yellow with a brown strip and cercal prongs parallel. In N. travassosi the sternites are brown and the cercal prongs are strongly divergent. The differences between N. distincta and N. sofiae sp. nov. are discussed in the remarks on the latter species.

The nominal species N. hyalina and N. distincta were described by Dodge (1968b), both based only on male specimens from Panama. Dodge (1968b) pointed out that both are very similar, differing only in the presence of a median patch of setae on sternite 3 and the wing lacking a brown spot in N. hyalina . Lopes (1975b) analyzed the holotypes of these species and considered N. hyalina a junior synonym of N. distincta , since he did not find differences in the male terminalia.

The wing spot is a variable feature that may change during the lifetime of specimens, since newly emerged specimens of Nephochaetopteryx show wings without or with a faint brown spot (FSCF, personal observation). The median patch of setae on sternite 3 of N. hyalina is different to the patch on sternite 4, since the setae are only weakly differentiated from the others on the same sternite ( Figs 37 A–B). We examined the holotypes of N. hyalina and N. distincta and did not find differences in the male terminalia. Therefore, the synonymy proposed by Lopes (1975b) is maintained.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Nephochaetopteryx distincta Dodge, 1968, male terminalia. Specimen from Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island, Panama (WSU). A. Epandrium, surstylus and cercus, left lateral view. B. Cerci, dorsal view (setation omitted on the left side). C. Pregonite, left lateral view. D. Postgonite, left lateral view. E. Distiphallus, left lateral view; arrow showing glossiform lobe. Abbreviations: dp = distiphallus; ls = lateral stylus; ms = median stylus; ve = vesica. Scale bars: A, B = 0.1 mm; C, D, E = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 37. Nephochaetopteryx species. A. Abdomen of the holotype male of N. distincta Dodge, 1968 (WSU), lateroventral view. B. Abdomen of the holotype male of N. hyalina Dodge, 1968 (= N. distincta) (SEMC), lateroventral view. C. Female abdomen of N. limpidipennis Lopes, 1976, dorsal view. Specimen from Chiapas, Mexico (MNRJ). D. Male abdomen of N. travassosi Lopes, 1938, dorsal view. Specimen from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (MNRJ). E. Male abdomen of N. flavipalpis Lopes, 1936, dorsal view. Specimen from Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil (MNRJ). F. Female head of N. limpidipennis Lopes, 1976, lateral view. Specimen from Chiapas, Mexico (MNRJ). G. detail of anterior portion of the body of female paratype of N. coxalis Dodge, 1968, lateral view. Paratype from Minas Gerais, Brazil (MNRJ). Scale bars:1 mm.