Oxysarcodexia diana ( Lopes, 1933 )

Souza, Carina Mara De, Pape, Thomas & Thyssen, Patricia Jacqueline, 2020, Oxysarcodexia Townsend, 1917 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) - a centennial conspectus, Zootaxa 4841 (1), pp. 1-126 : 49-50

Oxysarcodexia diana ( Lopes, 1933)

( Figs 102–104 )

Sarcophaga diana Lopes, 1933: 154 ; Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro. Holotype male and one male paratype in MNRJ.

Diagnosis. Male. Length 6.0–7.0 mm. Postocular plate with golden pollinosity. Ocellar bristles weakly developed. Thorax with golden pollinosity more intense at humeral portion. Two well-differentiated posterior and 1–3 smaller anterior post-sutural dorsocentrals. Apical scutellar bristles absent. Legs brownish. Abdomen grayish with silvery pollinosity and some golden pollinosity laterally, T5 with golden pollinosity along the entire extension. T3 with 3 pairs of lateral marginal bristles, T4 with 1 pair of median marginal and 1 pair of lateral marginal bristles. ST5 with deep median cleft with margins almost parallel and with pilosity and bristles at apex of arms. Cercus sinuous in lateral view, with expanded obliquely cut apex and dorsal subapical barb. Cercus with bristles ventrally only in distal third. Cerci with distal third narrower than middle part in posterior view; parallel. Pregonite with expanded base, gradually narrowing to apex, which is darker than base. Postgonite with expanded base and sudden narrowing at apex; unicolorous. Distiphallus with smooth ventroapical margin, rounded apex and sinuous dorsal outline. Vesica symmetrical, with rounded median projection of main branch; distal lobes well developed, rounded, membranous, with spines only on ventral surface.

Remarks. A detailed comparison of the male terminalia of O. diana with those of the sympatric species O. avuncula , O. confusa and O. parva , with which it is frequently confused, was provided by Silva & Mello-Patiu (2008). See also remarks under O. admixta . The female of O. diana has an undivided T7 ( Tibana & Mello 1985).

Distribution. NEARCTIC. Mexico (Morelos, San Luis de Potosí). NEOTROPICAL. Argentina (Misiones), Brazil (Bahia, Distrito Federal, Ceará, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo), Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico (Chiapas), Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago ( Trinidad).

Biology. This species has been reared from human feces ( D’Almeida 1989, 1994; Lopes 1973b, 1975c) and shows a strong preference for this substrate ( Mendes & Linhares 1993). It has also been reared from bovine feces in pastures ( Marchiori 2000; Marchiori et al. 2001) and in cattle sheds ( Marchiori 2000), on fish (although with only two specimens reaching the adult stage) ( D’Almeida 1986) and also under laboratory conditions ( Lopes 1973b). D’Almeida (1984) noticed a preference for inhabited areas, where it was collected from human feces, fish, bovine liver and rotten banana mixed with brown sugar (decreasing order of attractiveness). Linhares (1981) observed no differences in attractiveness among mouse carcasses, human feces and chicken viscera. Mendes & Linhares (1993), in a study using the same baits, pointed out a preference for human feces. Oxysarcodexia diana has also been collected from sardines, chicken viscera, bovine lung, mouse and pig carcasses, crab, squid, fermented fruit, and rotten S. comosa ( Lopes 1973b, 1975a; Linhares 1981; D’Almeida 1984; Dias et al. 1984c; Mendes & Linhares 1993; D’Almeida & Lima 1994; Pamplona et al. 2000; Carvalho & Linhares 2001; Leandro & D’Almeida 2005; Barros et al. 2008; Barbosa et al. 2009; Rosa et al. 2011; Ramírez-Mora et al. 2012; Yepes-Gaurisas et al. 2013; Oliveira-Costa et al. 2014; Souza & Von Zuben 2016; Valverde-Castro et al. 2017; Faria et al. 2018; Lopes et al. 2018; Paseto et al. 2019). Sunlight is preferred to shaded areas ( Linhares 1981), especially by males like in most Sarcophaginae , whereas females can be more active in shaded areas in their search for suitable larviposition substrates. The higher frequency of adult females visiting chicken viscera and rodent carcasses used as bait suggests that they use these substrates as protein sources for ovarian development ( Mendes & Linhares 1993). Besides active hand collecting, this fly has been collected using wind-oriented traps baited with the different substrates mentioned above and in Malaise and Shannon traps ( Lopes & Tibana 1991; Pamplona et al. 2000). Paseto et al. (2019) noted this species’ preference for the dry season. Oxysarcodexia diana was the third most abundant species of flesh fly in the Rio de Janeiro Zoological Garden, showing a preference for feces (abundant at the zoo), and with a peak of occurrence in January and February (i.e., local summer), showing a positive correlation with temperature ( Oliveira et al. 2002). In Guajira, Colombia, this species was one of the most abundant species in rural areas, having been collected also in urban and forest areas in smaller numbers ( Valverde-Castro et al. 2017). Oxysarcodexia diana is considered of some forensic importance and was associated with the post-decay and skeletal stages of decomposition of an unburned pig carcasses and with the decay, post-decay and skeletal stages of a burned pig carcasses ( Oliveira-Costa et al. 2014). Lopes et al. (2018) reported O. diana as associated with the butyric fermentation and dry decay stages of decomposition of pig carcasses. Oxysarcodexia diana has been recorded from the Brazilian Cerrado ( Barros et al. 2008; Rosa et al. 2011; Souza & Von Zuben 2016; Faria et al. 2018), Atlantic forest ( Lopes et al. 2018), forest, rural ( Linhares 1981; D’Almeida & Lima 1994; Dias et al. 1984c; Ramírez-Mora et al. 2012; Yepes-Gaurisas et al. 2013; Paseto et al. 2019), and urban areas ( Linhares 1981; Barbosa et al. 2009; Ramírez-Mora et al. 2012; Oliveira-Costa et al. 2014), areas of degraded vegetation ( Pamplona et al. 2000), and from a remnant of a semi-deciduous mesophytic forest ( Carvalho & Linhares 2001; Paseto et al. 2019).

Type material examined. Holotype ♂: INS.OSW.CRUZ N.-10.582 / Typus / H. S. LOPES CULT. N.67 / Trav. 22-7-932 ANGRA DOS REIS S. LOPES -93. / Sarcophaga diana Lopes H S. LOPES-DET—933. / Holótipo [ MNRJ].

Other material examined. [ ♂] Oxysarcodexia diana sp 4 / TdeA 831 [from Antioquia, Colombia] [ CE-TdeA] // [♂] BRAZIL: Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Est. Ecológica, UFMG, Campus , 2–22.vii.1993, S. D. Gaimari / NRM-DIPT 0014598 [ NRM] // [♂] [Brazil] GRAJAÚ Rio de Janeiro Lopes 10.XI.40 [ MNRJ] .

Figures

FIGURES 99–107. Oxysarcodexia spp., males. 99–101. Oxysarcodexia cyaniforceps (Hall), holotype (Panama, Barro Colorado Island, AMNH). 99. Habitus, lateral view. 100. Terminalia, lateral view. 101. Terminalia, posterior view. 102–104. Oxysarcodexia diana (Lopes) (Colombia, Antioquia, Medellín, CE-TdeA). 102. Habitus, lateral view. 103. Terminalia, lateral view. 104. Terminalia, posterior view. 105–107. Oxysarcodexia eberti Lopes & Tibana (Brazil, Mato Grosso, Chapada dos Guimarães, MNRJ). 105. Habitus, lateral view. 106. Terminalia, lateral view. 107. Terminalia, posterior view. Figs 99–101 by D. Grimaldi (AMNH).