Hemipenthes pullata (Coquillett)

Ávalos-Hernández, Omar, 2009, A review of the North American species of Hemipenthes Loew, 1869 (Diptera: Bombyliidae), Zootaxa 2074, pp. 1-49 : 34-35

17. Hemipenthes pullata (Coquillett)

(Figs. 19, 65–66)

Anthrax pullata Coquillett, 1894 a

Villa (Hemipenthes) pullata (Coquillett) : Painter & Painter, 1965: 436. Hemipenthes pullata (Coquillett) : Hull, 1973: 386.

Holotype in USNM.

Diagnosis: Wing entirely infuscated.

Description: Male. Body length: 10 mm; wing length: 9–10 mm. Head: Eyes separated by a little more than width of ocellar triangle. Front black pilose, yellowish tomentose. Face brown, rounded, with black hairs and yellowish tomentum. Scape fulvous, swollen on inner apical margin, with black hairs, twice as long as pedicel; pedicel brown, twice as wide as long, with short black hairs in dorsal portion, bare in ventral portion; flagellomere brown, longer than scape and pedicel combined; base subconical, tapering to styliform apical two-thirds; stylus minute, terminal. Proboscis short, not projecting beyond oral margin. Palpi cinereous with black hairs. Occiput with short yellowish hairs and pale yellow scales.

Thorax: Mesonotum anterior and lateral margins yellowish pilose; tomentum on disc entirely yellowish, long, hairlike, not dense; bristles black. Mesopleuron yellow pilose with black hairs mixed in on proepisternum and anepisternum, katatergite with yellow hairs, tomentum on katepisternum pale yellow. Proepimeron with yellowish hairs. Mid coxa with mixed black and yellowish hairs, tomentum on all coxae hairlike, pale yellow. Legs fulvous, tarsi black, femora black pilose and yellowish tomentose, black scales may be present on inner surface; bristles black. Halter steam brown, knob yellow. Scutellum brown, black pilose, and yellowish tomentose, a spot of black tomentum in middle at base; bristles black. Black setulae on basicosta. Wing entirely infuscated (Fig. 19); r-m crossvein at or slightly behind middle of cell dm; no crossvein between R4 and R2+3; cell r5 slightly narrowed at wing margin; first section of vein CuA1 one and a half the long of r-m crossvein, second section one and a half the long of r-m crossvein, third section one and a half the long of first two sections combined; cell a as wide as cell cup; alula poorly developed.

Abdomen: Abdominal dorsum with whitish pile on tergite one, rest black pilose; black tomentum overall except, some yellowish scales on apical half of sixth and seventh tergites; sides of abdomen with first and basal half of second tergites whitish pilose, rest yellowish pilose. Venter yellowish pilose, whitish tomentose. Genitalia brown with black hairs. Epandrium in lateral view, rectangular, lower margin concave in middle, basal corner narrowed; gonocoxite narrow, basal half enlarged; gonostylus small, hooked apically; epiphallus in lateral view narrow ( Fig. 65 ) slightly curved, cap-shaped, apex swollen, rounded; with a ventral extension broad at base with apex acuminate, portion of the epiphallus behind ventral extension longer than aedeagus; epiphallus in ventral view broad ( Fig. 66 ), lateral margins not narrowed, with scattered spines all along; aedeagus broad at base narrowed at apex, not swollen dorsally; gonopore terminal.

Female. Nearly identical to male. Eyes separated by twice width of ocellar triangle.

Distribution: USA (Arizona, California).

Specimens examined: USA. California: Lockwood, 24-VII-1935, Jack Beamer (1 male genitalia; USNM); Ribbonwood, San Jacinto Mts., 20-V-1939, B. Brookman (1 male; USNM); Vandevanter Flat, San Jacinto Mts, 11-VI-1939, E.S. Ross (1 female; USNM); Santa Ynez Mts, Sta. Barbara Co., 24-V-1959, T.T. Wong (1 male; USNM).

Remarks: Hemipenthes pullata has the whole wing pigmented, a unique characteristic within the genus. The rounded shape of the face, the cap shaped epiphallus in lateral view, the presence of a ventral extension and spines in the epiphallus, which are present in most species of the genus place H. pullata within Hemipenthes . This species is founded only in California and Arizona.

Figures

FIGURES 65 – 66. Hemipenthes pullata male terminalia. 65, lateral view; 66, ventral view.