Metasiphonella magnifica Duda, 1930: 107

Riccardi, Paula Raile, Bazyar, Zeinab & Ismay, Barbara, 2020, A revision of the Neotropical genus Metasiphonella Duda, 1930 (Diptera Chloropidae), Zootaxa 4885 (3), pp. 437-446 : 438-440

Metasiphonella magnifica Duda, 1930: 107 .

( Figs. 1–2, 5, 7 , 9–10, 13–19 )

Type locality: Not stated in the original description, but Sabrosky & Paganelli (1984) listed specimens from Costa Rica, Farm La Caja , near San José, from presumed syntypes at Hamburg, now destroyed, and a presumed syntype from Turrialba, at Budapest .

Distribution. Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, French Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil (Amazonas, Ceará).

Type specimen examined: Lectotype ♀ (here designated, see Fig. 19 ) ( HNHM), with following labels: “ Costa Rica, Suiza De Turrialba ”, “ 1921. v. 1. ”, “ Siphonella magnifica , n.sp. ♀, det. Duda ” [in Duda’s handwriting], “ TY-PUS ” [red label], “ HNHM-DIP _46” [green label].

Other specimens examined: BRAZIL: 5 ♀ 5 ♂ ( MZUSP) , 1 ♀ 1 ♂ ( INPA), Amazonas, Manaus , ZF- 2 km 14, 2°35’21”S 60°09’55”W, 24 m, 17–31.viii.2017, Malaise trap 6m, J.A. Rafael & F.F. Xavier leg. ; 3 ♂ 3 ♀ ( MZUSP) 1 ♀ ( RPSP), Ceará, Guaramiranga , 4°16’13”S 38°54’21”W, 880 m, 10.v.2014, Malaise trap, Almeida, Lucena & Tavares leg. ; 1 ♀ ( MZUSP), Ceará, Ubajara, Parque Nacional Ubajara, Cachoeira Cafundó , 3°50’13”S 40°54’35”W, 1–15.xii.2012, Malaise trap, F. Limeira-de-Oliveira & J.S. Pinto leg. FRENCH GUIANA: 1 ♀ 1 ♂ ( MNHN) , 1 ♀ 1 ♂ ( MZUSP), Mitaraka , MIT-E-savanna roche 2, 2°13’59.8”N 54°27’46.5”W, 471 m, 13–20.viii.2015, Malaise trap 6m, Pierre-Henri Dalens leg. NICARAGUA: 1 ♀ ( MZUSP), no further data . PERU: 1 ♀ ( MZLU), Madre de Dios, Puerto Maldonado , 6–11.i.1984, L. Huggert leg.

Diagnosis. Facial carina narrowed centrally; arista basally yellow; inner longitudinal stripes on scutum reaching the posterior margin; anepisternum with a more or less conspicuous dark spot; scutellum with a dark central longitudinal stripe on the disc; base of surstylus the same width as the remainder; cercus about as long as broad in terminal view, proximal half with one lobe.

Redescription. Body length, 2–2.7 mm. Wing length, 1.9–2.5 mm.

Head (figs 1–2, 5). Wider than long dorsally and slightly higher than long in profile, entirely yellow except for black ocellar tubercle and a black longitudinal stripe on the ocellar triangle. Head and thoracic setae black. Ocellar setae ca. 1.25 times as long as posterior margin of ocellar triangle, convergent and reclinate, postocellar setae ca. 1.5 times as long as posterior margin of ocellar triangle, cruciate, reclinate. Five to six fronto-orbitals developed, as long as the ocellar setae. Outer vertical seta strongly developed, slightly longer than postocellars; inner vertical seta circa three quarters length of outer vertical seta. Frons slightly longer than broad, lateral margins subparallel, front margin very slightly concave, yellow, pollinose outside the ocellar triangle. Frontal setulae as long as setulae along the outside margin of the ocellar triangle; one pair of setulae on the middle of anterior margin, as long as inner vertical setae. Ocellar triangle bare, extending to three quarters length of frons, but pointed anteriorly and a thin line extend-ing to the anterior margin of the frons, posterior margin two thirds width of frons, lateral margins straight, shiny, yellow, with a black longitudinal stripe, which ends 2/3 width of postpedicel before anterior margin of frons, widening posteriorly to enclose two posterior ocelli. One row of setulae along the outside margin of the ocellar triangle. Eye oval, long axis slightly oblique with short, sparse pubescence. Face broader than deep; carina constricted mesally, reaching the frontoclypeal suture; antennae yellow, postpedicel round, as deep as long and with basal arista; arista yellowish on the basal 1/3 and black apically, with short pubescence (slightly longer than diameter at base), about 3 times as long as postpedicel; clypeus narrow and almost white; gena slightly narrower than length of postpedicel, subshiny, pale yellow, with many irregular dark and a few pale setulae on apical half; dark vibrissa not longer than setulae; occiput yellow, same color as triangle, which is darker than gena, with several rows of small black setulae along eye margin; proboscis yellow, long, thin, sclerotized with distal part of the labrum and proximal part of the labellum dark; palpus pale yellow, small, equal in length to antenna, slightly curved upwards, with four strong black subterminal setulae as long as orbital setae, several dark-brown setulae that are half as long and many pale yellow setulae mostly at base; mouth edge not protruding; clypeus yellow. Thorax (figs. 1–2). Scutum slightly longer than wide, yellow, with four black narrow longitudinal stripes, all slightly narrower anteriorly, all ending the width of the postpedicel before the posterior margin of the scutum, they are in the middle circa as wide as the postpedicel, one dark medial spot at posterior margin (ca. half as wide as the postpedicel), one dark orange stripe on lateral margin of scutum postsuturally; scutum entirely shiny with sparse dark setulae in rows; one posterior dorsocentral seta developed, longer than outer vertical seta, no acrostichal seta developed; postpronotal lobe yellow with one long seta equal to notopleurals and with several setulae; notopleuron with 1 plus 2 setae as long as the dorsocentral seta; anterior post-alar as long as outer vertical seta. Pleuron yellow, shiny, a fine black horizontal stripe on the notopleuron from posterior of postpronotal lobe to above wing base and another along lower margin of anepimeron, a black mark along the anterior edge of anepisternum. No setulae or setae on pleura, one orange mark at lower corner of katepisternum as large as postpedicel. Scutellum yellow with a wide black central stripe (ca. 1.5 times as wide as postpedicel), shiny, slightly broader than long, triangular with three almost equal sides, shield-shaped, slightly convex, with few black setulae on disc; apical scutellar seta with separation equal to that of posterior ocelli, as long as length of scutellum; two pairs of lateral setae developed, inner pair one third of scutellum length and outer pair slightly shorter; postnotum orange-yellow, shiny. Halter pale yellow. Wing. Hyaline with brown veins covered in sparse brown microtrichia; costal sections 1–4: 7: 7: 3.5: 2; cell r 1 slightly wider than cell r 2+3, veins R 4+5 and M 1 almost parallel close to the costal wing margin, where they diverge very slightly; distance between r-m and dm-m four times length of r-m. Legs (figs. 1, 7). Mainly yellow, shiny; posterior tibia black; apical tarsomeres blackish; posterior tibial organ well developed, elongate, occupying slightly more than middle third of tibia and slightly more than half width of tibia, yellow; elongate small bright orange femoral organ (with comb consisting of two rows of setulae), circa 1.5 times width of postpedicel; setulae black. Abdomen (figs. 1–2). Tergites 1 and 2 largely yellow with the lateral margin darkened, the remaining tergites dark brown with yellow lateral margins. Male terminalia (figs. 9–10). Remnant of the 6th sternite about quadrate. Epandrium slightly wider than long, surstylus long, slightly constricted basal dorsally at the base; cercus as long as wide, with one outer and one inner lobe, the latter with a very long basal seta. Hypandrium weakly sclerotized, with inner arm short, faint distally; basiphallus cylindrical; distiphallus short and membranous, longitudinal striate; pre- and postgonite fused, rectangular, with three small setae; phallapodeme short, bifid basally; basal sclerite of sperm pump present. Female. Same as male, except middle tibia also dark brown, four anterior apical tarsi darker yellow, three middle and hind apical tarsi blackish, yellow stripe on thorax paler. Terminalia (figs. 13–15). Segments 6–8 narrow; epiproct bare, with a pair of setae; hypoproct pilose; cerci light brown, long and narrow, with short setae at base. Egg (fig. 16). Length 0.49 mm, width 0.15 mm, mat, milky white, elongate, slightly rounded at both ends; one apical pole with a pair of spine-like structures. Chorionic surface with poorly visible longitudinal ribs connected laterally, forming a grid pattern.

Remarks. The scutellar disc has a central brown stripe with the lateral margins yellow. The dark color on the notopleuron, the edge of the anepisternum and hind tibia is not always very distinguishable, being bleached in the specimens from Manaus, Brazil. Also, the two inner longitudinal stripes of the scutum are somewhat paler anteriorly in the specimens from Ceará, Brazil (fig. 2). However, the diagnostic features such as arista and scutellum, the form of the facial carina and the male terminalia are identical in all specimens analyzed, which is why we interpret the slight differences in the color pattern as variation within the species. Several eggs were extracted from one female and used for the description of the egg. The specimens of Manaus, Brazil were collected in the Amazonian rainforest 16 and 24 meters above the ground.

The female from Peru has zoomable photos, uploaded by the MZLU to an online repository that can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/127240649@N08/with/49596481626/.

The syntype of M. magnifica could not be directly examined, but through the kindness of Dr Soltész, Hungarian Natural History Museum , Budapest we have examined photos of the last remaining syntype (fig. 17–19) and were able to compare this with our specimens and herewith designate it as a lectotype.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Figs 1–2, 5, 7. Metasiphonella magnifica external morphology. 1, habitus. 2, dorsal view. 5, head in frontal view. 7, femoral organ. Figs 3–4, 6, 8. Metasiphonella amorimi sp. nov. external morphology. 3, dorsal view. 4, habitus. 6, head in frontal view. 8, wing. Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURES 9–13. Metasiphonella postabdomen. 9, M. magnifica epandrium in terminal view (arrow points to the remnant of the 6th sternite). 10, M. magnifica male terminalia in ventral view. 11, M. amorimi sp. nov. epandrium in terminal view (arrow points to the remnant of the 6th sternite). 12, M. amorimi sp. nov. male terminalia in apical ventral view (arrow points to the sclerite with a serrated margin). 13, M. magnifica female terminalia in ventral view. Scale bar 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: bas, basiphallus; cer, cercus; dis, distiphallus; ep, epandrium; gon, pre- and postgonite fused; hyp, hypandrium; phal, phallapodeme; spm, sperm pump; sur, surstylus.

FIGURES 14–16. 14–15. Metasiphonella magnifica female terminalia. Scale bar 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: cer, cercus; epi, epiproct; hypo, hypoproct; st, sternite; t, tergite. 16. Metasiphonella magnifica egg. One apical pole is highlighted, showing a pair of hook-like structures (arrow). Scale bar 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 17–19. Metasiphonella magnifica lectotype. 17, habitus. 18, dorsal view. 19, data label. Photos provided by Dr Soltész, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest.