Neurosystasis bromeliphila, Wagner, Rüdiger & Hribar, Lawrence J., 2010

Wagner, Rüdiger & Hribar, Lawrence J., 2010, A new species of moth fly (Diptera, Psychodidae, Psychodinae) collected from Bromeliads in Florida, Zootaxa 2662, pp. 66-68 : 66-68

Neurosystasis bromeliphila sp. nov.

Telmatoscopus (Neurosystasis) Satchell, 1955: 86 .

Neurosystasis Duckhouse, 1974: 142.

Type species: Telmatoscopus (Neurosystasis) terminalis Satchell , by original designation

Material: 1 3 (holotype) U.S.A., Florida, Monroe County, Vaca Key, 26 January 2009 ex. Bromeliad. GPS coordinates 24.726737 - 81.062422; paratypes, 2Ƥ, with holotype; all leg. C. Samul.

Etymology: likes bromeliads

Male description: Head poorly preserved so that the amount of facet rows cannot properly be recognized (most probably 3). Eyes not contiguous. Antennae 16-segmented, scapus barrel-shaped, pedicellus spherical, flagellum with 14 bottle-shaped flagellomeres. Relative length of ‘antennal segments’: 1.00 - 1.77 - 1.59 - 2.18 - 2.05 - 2.05 - 2.14 - 2.14 - 2.14 - 2.18 - 2.18 - 2.14 - 2.18 - 1.64 - 1.14 - 0.68. Ascoids on flagellomeres non-existent or indistinguishable from hairs and setae. Palpus three-segmented, relative length of segments: 1 - 0.93 - 1.07.

Thorax and legs elongate without specific features. Wing length 2.5 mm. Wing venation as shown in figure 1, Sc very short; on the lower wing surface at the end of Sc lies a small mushroom shaped ‘scent organ’, with small holes distributed over the entire dorsal surface (fig. 2). R1 elongate, R S with forks R2/R3, and R2+3/R4 very basal; R5 ends in wing tip. Basally stems of veins M1+2 and M3 are separate, but soon joined until the origin of veins M1, M2 and M3 that appear to descent from one spot. CuA1 and CuA2 elongate, anal vein short, all reaching the hind wing margin. Mesothorax with an eversible allurement organ (patagium).

Genitalia asymmetrical (fig. 4). Ventral bridge probably lacking. Gonocoxites basally about globular, with an almost straight elongate distal prolongation, the right appears broader than the left. The left gonostyle is short and strongly bent, sickle-shaped; the right one is straight and lies parallel to the gonocoxite’s prologation. Aedeagus with a broad basal portion, distal part thin, elongate and probably consisting of only a single sclerite. Ninth tergite almost rectangular with a deep basal semicircular notch, parallel margins, distally with robust bipartite surstyles, the dorsal part finger shaped with elongate hairs, the ventral tip with a strongly sclerotized tooth; 10th tergite setose

Female description: Head poorly preserved. Eyes with probably three facet rows (not properly recognized) separate as in male. Antennae: scapus barrel-shaped, pedicellus spherical, flagellum with 14 bottle-shaped flagellomeres; penultimate flagellomere barrel-shaped, without distal neck; distal flagellomere with prolongation. Relative length of ‘antennal segments’: 1 - 0.78 -0.81 - 1.03 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.09 - 1.06 - 0.69 - 0.88. Ascoids, if any, not distinguishable from hairs. Palpus three-segmented, relative length of segments: 1 - 1.04 - 1.25. Tibiae and tarsomeres with some strong, partly elongate spines. Wing length 2.7 mm, with venation similar to male, but without scent organ (fig. 3); M3 descends from a short M1+2 stem, so that these veins do not descent from one spot. CuA1 and CuA2 elongate, anal vein short. Genitalia in bad condition, however, they do not appear remarkably different from those of other female Psychodidae .

Remarks. Genus Neurosystasis was defined by Satchell (1955) and ranked as a subgenus of Telmatoscopus Eaton. The definition was based exclusively on specimens of the type species N. terminalis : Antennae 16 segmented, flagellomeres with basal bulb and apical neck, terminal segments not reduced in size. R5 ends in wing apex, Rs pectinately branched, radial fork close to the origin of R2+3. M3 displaced in its basal portion so as to lie immediately alongside the stem of the medial fork. Male genitalia with a clear asymmetry of styles, surstyles bifurcated.

N. bromeliphila nov. spec. agrees with this definition. Duckhouse (1974) re-described Psychoda amplipenna Knab and included it in Neurosystasis that he raised to generic rank. With the generic key of Quate & Brown (2004) the three species key out in Neurosystasis Satchell, with Alepia Enderlein being the most closely related genus.

Although males of all three species have a scent organ near the tip of the subcosta, N. amplipenna (Knab) differs in some features from N. terminalis and N. bromeliphila . Its wing is infuscate, but translucent in both other species. Its gonostyles are inserted at the base of a pair of styliform coxites and a dorsolateral group of sensory rods lies on the second palpal segment. Sensory rods are missing and gonocoxites are basally small and bulbous with thin elongate, almost straight distal prolongations in N. terminalis and N. bromeliphila . In N. amplipenna gonocoxites are strong, distally wide, elongate and bipartite. Gonostyles are blade-shaped and strongly bent in N. terminalis and N. bromeliphila , but almost straight in N. amplipenna . The aedeagal sclerites are thin, straight and long in N. terminalis and N. bromeliphila , but short and stout in N. amplipenna . Branched surstyles with a strong tooth on one branch are common in all three species.

The greatest disagreement is with the wing venation of N. amplipenna (Knab) figured by Duckhouse (1974: fig. 6). It differs from N. terminals ( Satchell, 1955: fig. 1c) and the new species, in that the proximal parts of M1+2 and M3 are not joined for some distance; they are not even close to one another. In both, N. terminalis and N. bromeliphila at least in males the three medial veins descend from a single spot. This is not the case in N. amplipenna ( Duckhouse 1974, fig. 6).

The three species included so far in Neurosystasis Satchell are morphologically well distinguished from one another by the shape of the male genitalia and their geographic distributions: Jamaica (N. terminal is), Cuba ( N. amplipenna ) and the North American mainland ( N. bromeliphila ). Considering all the mentioned features, including wing venation and male genitalia, N. amplipenna (Knab) may belong to a genus different from Neurosystasis Satchell, but closely related to it. However, examination of more material from intensified field collections, including rearing from larval collections, is necessary to reveal sufficient information on the ecology, systematic, and the limits of that genus.