Sclerocoelus penai, Kuwahara & Marshall & Paiero, 2025

Kuwahara, Gregory K., Marshall, Stephen A. & Paiero, Steven M., 2025, A revision of the genus Sclerocoelus Marshall (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae), European Journal of Taxonomy 979, pp. 1-277 : 90-91

Sclerocoelus penai sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:990F0BC7-41F7-4C7F-9725-6F2A1E54C80C

Figs 109–110

Etymology

This name is in honour of Luis E. Peña Guzman, the collector of the holotype and paratype specimens of the species.

Material examined

Holotype

BOLIVIA • ♂; Cochabamba, El Chapare, Yungas , S Corani; 2900 m a.s.l.; 29–31 Jan. 1976; L.E. Peña leg.; CBFC.

Paratype

BOLIVIA – Cochabamba • 1 ♂; same data as for holotype; CNCI .

Description

BODY ( Fig. 109A). Length 2.4–2.9 mm. Head dark brown, lower fifth of frons, including part of orbital plate, orange; antennae orange-brown. Frontal width 2.2–2.3× frontal height. Three pairs of interfrontal bristles, first pair small, middle pair largest; anterior orbital 0.4–0.5 × length of posterior. Palpus brown. Eye large, greatest height about 3.0× shortest genal height. Thorax dark brown, scutum with reddish lateral edges. Two pairs of dorsocentral bristles (anterior pair only slightly larger than surrounding acrostichal setulae) separated by 6–7 rows of acrostichal setulae. Membrane around prosternum bare. Legs brown, fore and mid femora darker. Fore femur with four large ventral preapical setae. Ventral surface of male mid tibia with two rows of stout setae in apical quarter. Wing hyaline. CS2 0.7–0.8 × CS3. Halter dark brown.

MALE ABDOMEN ( Figs 109B–C, 110). Dark brown, posterior edges of tergites sometimes slightly desclerotized. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly long-setose with large posterolateral setae. S5 rectangular, 1.2× length and 1.3 × width of S4, slightly emarginate anteromedially, broadly and deeply emarginate posteromedially with a dark, rounded, deflexed posteromedial lobe flanked by long, dense setae along margins of emargination, and a dark, posteriorly expanded, posteromedial process (may be homologous with sclerite D) originating at base of posteromedial lobe. Anterior flange of S6+7 large, 0.8× as long as wide, rounded. Sclerite A large, bean-shaped, setose on posterior margin only; sclerite B dark, elongate, arched, left side connected to sclerite A; sclerite C absent; sclerite D dark, subquadrate; sclerites E and F fused, large, main part rounded with right side strongly tapered and left side with a prominent apicoventral process; sclerite G slightly reduced, short; ring sclerite large, pale. Epandrium small, 0.6× length of S8, height 1.9× maximum length and 0.7× maximum width, sparsely setose; perianal pads weakly developed. Pseudocercus absent; halves of subepandrial sclerite simple, dark, slightly curved and fused medially. Subcercus large, divided into two parts by a medial constriction: upper lobe slightly bent and covered posteroventrally in small scale-like processes, lower lobe membranous, bent anteriorly and ridged laterally. Hypandrium with long, narrow anteromedial apodeme, lateral arms narrowly fused to anteromedial apodeme. Surstylus subtriangular, rounded, and long-setose. Postgonite short, tubular with four short apical lobes. Phallapodeme large, apex dorsoventrally flattened and truncate; basiphallus stout, angulate, slightly elongated distally; distiphallus short, dorsal sclerite long, broadly bifurcate and sinuate, ventral sclerite smaller and bifurcate.

FEMALE ABDOMEN. Female unknown.

Distribution

Neotropical: Bolivia.

Remarks

Sclerocoelus penai sp. nov. is closely related to the more common and widely distributed S. xynos sp. nov., with which it shares a number of characters including a similar male S5 and a uniquely ventrally inflated subcercus. Sclerocoelus penai can be separated from S. xynos by the three pairs of subequal interfrontal bristles, rounded medial lobe projecting under the Y-shaped posteromedial process, and the uniquely-shaped postgonite.