Eucelatoria gladiatrix (Townsend, 1917)

Burington, Zelia L., 2022, A taxonomic revision of the Eucelatoria ferox species group (Diptera: Tachinidae), Zootaxa 5143 (1), pp. 1-104 : 20

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5143.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F71553B2-7D58-4E61-A883-546B2A0124D5
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6958384
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038687B6-6959-8F5E-FF1B-FCFFFC62818B
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Eucelatoria gladiatrix
status

Treatment

E. gladiatrix View in CoL subgroup

Recognition. All E. gladiatrix subgroup species have four thoracic vittae on both the presutural and postsutural area of the thorax (e.g., Figs 1F–I View FIGURE 1 , 5–20 View FIGURES 2–5 View FIGURES 6–9 View FIGURES 10–13 View FIGURES 14–17 View FIGURES 18–21 ), but otherwise species vary widely in appearance. Females of three species, E. charapensis , E. falcata sp. nov., and E. fordlandia sp. nov., have the end tergite fused at base and apically forked ( Figs 113–115 View FIGURES 109–123 ), a characteristic also shared by the E. ferox subgroup. The remainder of E. gladiatrix subgroup species have paired female end tergites, which range in length relative to the length of the piercer (e.g., Figs 116–120 View FIGURES 109–123 ).

Relationships and ecology. This subgroup includes the majority of known E. ferox group species; species for which sequence data is available are well supported as a clade ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 ). As in the E. kopis sp. nov. subgroup, the average distance between E. gladiatrix subgroup species (0.0236) is much lower than the distance between the E. kopis sp. nov. and E. gladiatrix subgroups (0.04). They are unified by their ecology, as all known hosts of the E. gladiatrix subgroup are Crambidae caterpillars. Several species, including E. strigata , E. aurata , and E. woodorum sp. nov., appear to be closely related, as females of these species possess short piercers ( Figs 95, 103 View FIGURES 94–108 ) and the male cercus is bent at mid length ( Figs 140, 148, 150 View FIGURES 136–155 ). Total data suggest that all Nearctic E. ferox group species belong to the E. gladiatrix subgroup, although genetic data from the key species E. texana is missing. Furthermore, the deep nesting of these species within the otherwise entirely Neotropical clade ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 ) suggests that the E. ferox group likely originated in the tropics and later dispersed to the temperate zone.