Carreramyia tigrina, Reemer, Menno, 2013

Reemer, Menno, 2013, Taxonomic exploration of Neotropical Microdontinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) mimicking stingless bees, Zootaxa 3697 (1), pp. 1-88 : 14-15

Carreramyia tigrina spec. nov.

Figs 17–22 .

Studied type specimens. HOLOTYPE. Female. PERU, Madre de Dios, Rio Tambopata, Sachavacayoc Centre, 12°51'S- 69°22'W, malaise trap, 16-26.X.2008, leg. J.T. Smit, coll. RMNH.

Description (based on holotype)

Adult female. Body size: 5 mm.

Head. Face occupying almost 3/5 of head width in frontal view; yellow with small black spot laterad of antennal fossa; short yellow pilose. Gena yellow; yellow pilose. Frons yellow, short black pilose. Vertex strongly produced medially; yellow with a wide black transverse fascia; black pilose, with pile getting longer posteriorly. Occiput yellow; black pilose dorsally, yellow pilose ventrally. Eye short pale pilose. Antennal fossa about as wide as high. Antenna with scape and pedicel black, basoflagellomere yellow except black on dorsobasal 2/5; ratio of scape:basoflagellmere approximately as 1:5.5; pedicel very short; basoflagellomere very long and wide; arista absent.

Thorax. Scutum black medially with two narrow submedian yellow vittae, widely pale yellow along margins; yellow pilose, except black pilose posterolaterally. Postpronotum pale yellow; bare. Postalar callus pale yellow; bristly black pilose. Scutellum yellow on median 1/3, black on lateral 1/3; yellow pilose, with some long and bristly pile posteriorly; sulcate posteromedially. Anepisternum a little convex, without sulcus; black, except pale yellow along posterior margin; long black pilose dorsally, shorter and partly pale pilose medially, bare on ventral 1/ 4. Katepisternum black, except for yellow macula at dorsal margin; short yellow pilose dorsally, bare ventrally. Katepimeron pale yellow; convex; bare. Calypter blackish. Halter whitish yellow.

Wing: hyaline, infuscated blackish around veins, with yellow transverse fascia between pterostigma and vein M, also yellow on and around vein CuA; microtrichose, except bare on 1st costal cell, basal 1/4 of cell br, posterobasal 1/3 of cell bm, anterobasal 1/4 of cell cup.

Legs: front and middle legs yellow, except basal 1/3 of femora blackish; hind femur blackish except yellow on subbasal 1/5, on narrow stripe dorsally and on postero-apical 1/3; hind tibia blackish except narrowly yellow at apex; hind tarsus yellow. Coxae and trochanters blackish; black pilose.

Abdomen. Tergite 1 black; other tergites yellow with black median vitta and widely black lateral margins; short black pilose. Tergite 2 wider than thorax, widest point at posterior 1/3. Sternites yellow, except for small dark lateral macula on tergite 5. All sternites short black pilose.

Etymology. The name tigrina (L., ‘of tigers’) is inspired by the pattern of black and buff spots and stripes on head, wings and abdomen.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from C. megacephalus and C. megacera by the striped pattern of the abdomen. From C. flava it differs by the mostly black scutum, the laterally black scutellum, the hind leg with its tibia wider than its femur, the absence of an arista in the female and the shape of the female basoflagellomere.

Notes. The male is unknown, so whether it has the furcate basoflagellomere characteristic for this genus or not can only be guessed at. Nevertheless the female is very similar to C. megacephala in the diagnostic and other important characters: basoflagellomere very long, vertex strongly produced, face very wide, scutellum sulcate, vein R4+5 without appendix, crossvein r-m close to base of cell dm. Therefore, this new species is placed in Carreramyia .

Unfortunately, after description and taking photographs, the holotype was severely damaged by accident. The head and a large part of the thorax are lost.

Distribution. Only known from Peru.

Ecology. The holotype was collected in a malaise trap at the edge of primary rainforest (varzea forest) in the Amazonian part of Peru.

Figures

FIGURES 11 – 21. 11 – 12. Carreramyia megacephalus. 11. head male lateral; 12. head female frontal (Costa Rica, coll. RMNH). 13 – 16. Carreramyia megacera female (holotype). 13. habitus dorsal; 14. habitus lateral; 15. head lateral; 16. wing. 17 – 21. Carreramyia tigrina female (holotype). 17. habitus dorsal; 18. habitus lateral; 19. head frontal; 20. head lateral; 21. head dorsal.

FIGURES 22 – 31. 22. Carreramyia tigrina (holotype), scutellum. 23. Carreramyia megacephalus male (Costa Rica, coll. RMNH), genitalia lateral. 24 – 28. Ceratophya argentinensis female (holotype). 24. habitus dorsal; 25. habitus lateral; 26. head frontal; 27. head lateral; 28. wing. 29 – 31. Ceratophya carinifacies female (holotype). 29. habitus dorsal; 30. abdomen dorsal; 31. abdomen lateral.