Oxysarcodexia confusa Lopes, 1946

Souza, Carina Mara De, Pape, Thomas & Thyssen, Patricia Jacqueline, 2020, Oxysarcodexia Townsend, 1917 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) - a centennial conspectus, Zootaxa 4841 (1), pp. 1-126 : 43

Oxysarcodexia confusa Lopes, 1946

( Figs 82–84 )

Oxysarcodexia confusa Lopes, 1946b: 96 ; Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Miguel Pereira. Holotype male, female allotype, 29 male paratypes and 7 female paratypes in MNRJ.

Diagnosis. Male. Length 7.0–9.0 mm. Postocular plate with golden pollinosity. Ocellar bristles well developed. Thorax with golden pollinosity, contrasting with the silvery pollinosity of the abdomen; T5 normally without golden pollinosity, in a few cases a pale golden pollinosity can be present laterally. Two well-differentiated posterior and 1–3 smaller anterior post-sutural dorsocentrals. Apical scutellar bristles absent. Legs brownish. T3 with 2 pairs of lateral marginal bristles, T4 with 1 pair of median marginal and 3 pairs of lateral marginal bristles. ST5 with deep median cleft with margins almost parallel and with pilosity. Cercus straight in lateral view, with expanded obliquely cut apex and dorsal subapical barb. Cercus with bristles ventrally absent only on middle portion. Cerci with distal third as broad as middle part in posterior view; parallel and with a distinct constriction mid length. Pregonite and postgonite both with expanded base, gradually narrowing smoothly to apex; unicolorous. Distiphallus with smooth ventroapical margin, rounded apex and straight dorsal outline. Vesica symmetrical, with rounded median projection of main branch; distal lobes reduced, rounded, partially membranous, with spines on both dorsal and ventral surfaces.

Remarks. A detailed comparison of the male terminalia of O. confusa and the sympatric species O. avuncula , O. diana and O. parva , with which it is frequently confused, was made by Silva & Mello-Patiu (2008). The distiphallus of O. confusa ( Fig. 83 ) is very similar in lateral view to that of O. molitor ( Curran & Walley, 1934) ( Fig. 189 ), differing by the morphology of the median area, spinous in O. molitor (ventral view), and by the structure of the lateral and median styli ( Lopes 1975c). The lateral stylus of O. confusa has a rounded base, short apex, and spines; and the median stylus is larger than the lateral one and has pilosity in its basal area ( Silva & Mello-Patiu 2008). The lateral stylus of O. molitor is curved and larger than the median stylus ( Lopes 1975c). See also remarks under O. comparilis . The female of O. confusa has an undivided T7 ( Tibana & Mello 1985). The first, second and third larval instars were described by Lopes & Leite (1986), Leite & Lopes (1987), and Lopes & Leite (1987), respectively.

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL. Argentina (Misiones), Brazil (Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná , Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina , São Paulo).

Biology. This species has been collected from human feces, chicken viscera, mouse, pig and fish carcasses, rotten squid, and rotten bananas mixed with yeast or brown sugar ( Lopes 1973b; Dias et al. 1984c; Mendes & Linhares 1993; Vairo et al. 2014; Dufek et al. 2016). It has been reared from human feces under natural conditions; in the laboratory it has been reared on agar and powdered milk for 24h, then transferred to meat to complete development ( Lopes 1973b). In a study on the synanthropy of flesh flies from Curitiba, Brazil, Ferreira (1979) collected O. confusa using a trap baited with fish, chicken liver and human feces, observing that this species was rarely associated with inhabited areas. Dufek et al. (2016) considered it to be hemi- and non-synanthropic in Argentinean wetlands.

Type material examined. Holotype ♂: [ Brazil] INS.OSW.CRUZ N.-10.802. / M. PEREIRA EST. RIO H. S. LOPES -6.933 CULT. N. 78 / Holotype / Oxysarcodexia confusa [no italics] sp. n. Lopes. det 1944 / MNRJ 2237 [typed vertically on left side of label] [ MNRJ] // paratype ♂: [ Brazil] Est. Exp. Loreto 1936. VI Dr. A. Ogloblin / Paratype / Oxysarcodexia confusa [no italics] sp. n. Lopes. det 1944 [ MNRJ] // paratype ♂: [ Brazil] S. Paulo— Cantareira Serra L. Trav. F. Q. 30.VIII.935 / Paratype / Oxysarcodexia confusa sp.n. Lopes—det 1944 [ MNRJ] .

Other material examined. [ ♂] Petrópolis, Tq; E. do Rio, Brasil, H. S. Lopes, 2.69 / Oxysarc. confusa, Lop. , ♂, Det. H. S. Lopes / NRM-DIPT 0014285 [ NRM] // [♂] [ Brazil] IGUASSÚ, Paraná XII-941, Com. E. N. V. / NRM-DIPT 0014287 [ NRM] // [♂] Taquara, Petrópolis, E. do Rio, Brasil / H. S. Lopes, 16.II.75 / Oxysarcodexia confusa, Lopes. Det. H. S. Lopes [ NHMD] .

Figures

FIGURES 79–89. Oxysarcodexia spp., males. 79–81. Oxysarcodexia conclausa (Walker) (USA, Texas, Hidalgo County, NHMD). 79. Habitus, lateral view. 80. Terminalia, lateral view. 81. Terminalia, posterior view. 82–84. Oxysarcodexia confusa Lopes (Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis, NHMD). 82. Habitus, lateral view. 83. Terminalia, lateral view. 84. Terminalia, posterior view. 85–89. Oxysarcodexia corolla Dodge, holotype (Jamaica, Saint Andrews, Second Breakfast Spring, WSU). 85. Habitus, lateral view. 86. Terminalia (without cerci), lateral view. 87. Cerci and surstyli, lateral view. 88. Terminalia (without cerci), posterior view. 89. Cerci, posterior view. Figs 85–89 by R.S. Zack (WSU).

FIGURES 182–191. Oxysarcodexia spp., males. 182–184. Oxysarcodexia mitifica Lopes (Colombia, Antioquia, CE-TdeA). 182. Habitus, lateral view. 183. Terminalia, lateral view. 184. Terminalia, posterior view. 185–187. Oxysarcodexia modesta Lopes (Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, NMR). 185. Habitus, lateral view. 186. Terminalia, lateral view. 187. Terminalia, posterior view. 188–191. Oxysarcodexia molitor (Curran & Walley), holotype (Guyana, Kaieteur, AMNH). 188. Head and thorax, lateral view. 189. Terminalia (without cerci), lateral view. 190. Cerci, posterolateral view. 191. Distiphallus, postgonites and pregonites, posterior view. Figs 188–191 by D. Grimaldi (AMNH).