Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis (Curran & Walley)

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 : 49

Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis (Curran & Walley)

( Fig. 22 )

Sarcophagula orbitalis Curran & Walley, 1934: 478 (description of male). Type locality: Guyana, Kartabo .

Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis: Lopes (1936: 85 ; redescription of male, description of female, description of puparium, and key); Dodge (1968a: 279; key); Lopes (1969: 28, catalog); Pape (1996: 261; catalog); Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001: 309; redescription of female).

Material examined. Brazil. Pará: Bragança, Mata do Lob „o, 14–15.VIII.2008, butterfly trap baited with banana, leg. R . C.O. Santos (2 ♀♀, MPEG) . Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro, 23.XI.1971, H.S. Lopes leg. (1 ♁, MNRJ); same data but 1935 (1 ♁, MNRJ) .

Redescription. Male. Length = 4.5–5.0 mm (n = 6).

Head. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates and postocular strip with silvery yellow microtomentum. Frontal vitta black. Five frontal setae. Gena and postgena with silvery-yellow microtomentum. Palpus brown.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two shorter); intra-alars 3+2; supra-alars 1+3, notopleurals 1 subprimary, anepisternals 5; merals 5. Mid femur with two median setae and without differentiated posteroventral seta. Ctenidium consisting of three spines. Wing hyaline with dark spot beginning in the terminal portion of vein R 1, filling the distal third of r 1 and the upper half of the distal half of cell r; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

2+3

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of golden microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces. Sternites 1 to 4 rectangular, yellow with a median brown strip, covered with yellowish setulae and with marginal setae.

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown; with a deep cleft, nearly reaching middle of sternite; lobe rounded and with a tuft of short setulae; arms divergent, short and narrow ( Fig. 22E ). Cercus shorter than epandrium with dorsal margin with two rounded projections and pointed apex curved ventrally in lateral view ( Fig. 22A ). Cercal prongs widely separated in dorsal view, with a rounded projection on the inner lateral margins ( Fig. 22B ). Cercal prong with small spines, with setulae restricted to cercal base ( Figs 22 A–B). Pregonite shorter than postgonite, with pointed apex perpendicular to base; posterior margin with small pointed setae ( Fig. 22C ). Postgonite almost straight, tapering distally, with a long seta on anterior margin ( Fig. 22D ). Basiphallus short, about half as long as distiphallus length; with narrowed distal half ( Fig. 22F ). Distiphallus with enlarged distal portion, with dorsal margin sinuous, apical surface rounded and ventral margin serrated ( Fig. 22F ). Vesica elongate, angled in lateral view ( Fig. 22F ). Inner process of vesica rectangular in lateral view ( Fig. 22F ). Median and lateral styli inserted medially in distiphallus ( Fig. 22F ).

Female. Terminalia as described by Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001, figs 17–18, 37).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Minas Gerais, Pará, Rio de Janeiro), Guyana (Bartica).

Remarks. Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis is very similar to N. psittacocercus sp. nov., from which differs by the shape of the cercus and pregonite (see remarks under N. psittacocercus sp. nov.). Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis , N. affinis , N. cyaneiventris , N. psittacocercus sp. nov., N. coendu sp. nov. and N. subaurata are the only species that have cercal prongs with spines. Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis differs from these species in having two rounded projections in the distal portion of the cercus and by the overall shape of the cercus.

The holotype of N. orbitalis was not studied. Even though the illustration of the terminalia in the original description by Curran & Walley (1934) is not detailed, the two characteristic lobes of the cercus are evident in the analyzed specimens from the Brazilian Amazon (Pará), relatively close to the type locality in Guyana. The redescription provided by Lopes (1936) was also not based on the holotype. We analyzed the specimens studied by Lopes (1936), and they are similar to those from the Brazilian Amazon.

Figures

FIGURE 22. Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis Curran & Walley, 1934, male terminalia. Specimen from Bragança, Pará, Brazil (MPEG). A. Epandrium, surstylus and cercus, left lateral view; arrows showing rounded projections of cercus. B. Cerci, dorsal view (spines and setation omitted on the right side). C. Pregonite, lateral view. D. Postgonite, lateral view. E. Sternite 5, ventral view (setation omitted on the right side). F. Phallus, lateral view. Abbreviations: bp = basiphallus; dp = distiphallus; ip = inner process of vesica; ls = lateral stylus; ms = median stylus; ve = vesica. Scale bars: A, B, E = 0.1 mm; C, D, F = 0.05 mm.