Copestylum milae, Rotheray & Marcos-García & Hancock & Pérez-Bañón & Maier, 2009

Rotheray, Graham E., Marcos-García, Maria-Angeles, Hancock, Geoff, Pérez-Bañón, Celeste & Maier, Chris T., 2009, Neotropical Copestylum (Diptera, Syrphidae) breeding in Agavaceae and Cactaceae including seven new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 156 (4), pp. 697-749 : 716-717

COPESTYLUM MILAE MARCOS & ROTHERAY

SP. NOV.

Adult: Male holotype: face with lateral margins inflated and indented slightly from just above margin of mouth so lower part of face appears as a narrow projection (view from in front). Tubercle not developed. Face and frons yellow and yellow haired, without black, mid-dorsal vitta. Lateral vittae indistinct and diffusely black and genae yellow and pale haired ( Fig. 6 ). Antenna yellow with plumose arista. Basoflagellomere dorsally excavated and about 2¥ as long as broad. Ocellar triangle black and some dark hairs. Eyes with yellow hairs reaching the lower margin and top of eyes with a band of enlarged facets. Ground colour of mesonotum black except for pale yellow lateral margins and posterior margin with a single large (> two-thirds as wide as scutellum) barlike marking. Mesonotum yellow haired except for a middle band of black hairs and with a pair of dusted stripes dorsocentrally ending just beyond the transverse suture. Scutellum yellow and black haired except for yellow hairs on extreme anterior margin. Pleurae black except yellow posterior anepisternum and anepimeron and long yellow hairs on dorsal anepisternum, anepimeron, posterior part of katepisternum, and dorsal katepimeron. Wing membrane with medial crossveins broadly brown and brown areas interconnected to form an inverted V-shaped mark across the centre of the wing. Legs brown with base of femora black and all black haired. Abdominal sternites black except sternite 2 and anterior half of sternite 3 which are yellow. Hairs on sternites of the same colour as the integument. Tergites 2–4 dark yellow except for posterior margins which have complete black bands, fading anteriorly. Tergite 2 yellow haired in anterior half, black haired behind. Tergite 3 black haired except for extreme anterior margin with yellow hairs except medially. Tergite 4 with long pale hairs anteriorly and short black hairs posteriorly. Genitalia: epandrium wider than tall in lateral view. Surstylus short, subrectangular in shape with a rounded apex. Hypandrium slightly incurved on upper, outer margin at the base of the superior lobe. Superior lobe short, about as tall as half length of hypandrium and with upper margin indented and round tipped. Aedeagus broad and rounded apically ( Figs 16, 17 ).

Female: Similar to holotype male; width of vertex about 1/4 width of head.

Length: Body 6.6–8.5 mm; wing 6.6–8.4 mm (N = 12).

Larva and puparium: Anterior fold with band of spicules narrowing towards the lateral ends. Longest vestiture of dorsum of prothorax longer than longest spicules on the anterior fold. Posterior breathing tube with AP as long as TR is wide. TR inconspicuous and AP tapering to about two-thirds width of TR. Pupal spiracles 2.1¥ the length of the AP and separated by 1.4¥ their length with openings clustered on the apex and openings separated by their width or less.

Material examined: Holotype: male with puparium MEXICO Hidalgo, one larva MCN8b MEXICO 9.viii.2005 M. A. M. ex Stenocereus (CIBIO) ; 18 ♂, 18 ♀, 36 puparia MEXICO Chiapas, Mazapa de Madero , 9.viii.2005 ex columnar cactus M. A. M. and C. P. B. ( CIBIO, NMS).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an invariable substantive in apposition, which refers to the colloquial name ‘mila’ of my mother (M. A. M.), to whom M. A. M. dedicates this new species as a sign of gratitude for teaching a love of insects.

Taxonomic notes: This species is most similar to C. quadratum but can be separated easily by the following characters: C. quadratum have the eye suture 2¥ length of ocellar triangle and C. milae more than 2.5 ¥; C. quadratum has all the hairs of mesonotum yellow and C. milae has the mesonotum with hairs of two colours, yellow in the anterior and posterior part and a wide transversal band of black hairs in the middle; C. quadratum has the posterior anepisternum mainly yellow and C. milae has the posterior anepisternum mainly black. Copestylum milae and C. quadratum have sternite 2 and the anterior part of sternite 3 completely yellow but C. quadratum has black spots in the middle of these sternites. Copestylum quadratum has the epandrium in ventral view less than 2¥ as long as broad.

The early stages of C. milae are separated from C. hidalgense by the absence of spicules on the anterodorsal margin of the mesothorax. Of other Apiciferum group species, C. milae is most similar to C. quadratum but can be separated from it by the AP, which is as long as the TR is wide and the openings of the pupal spiracles clustered on the apex rather than being spread down the sides.

Figures

Figures 5–7. Adult Copestylum, lateral view of the head; scale bar = 2 mm. 5, Copestylum cochabamba sp. nov., male holotype; 6, Copestylum milae sp. nov., male holotype; 7, Copestylum hidalgense sp. nov., male holotype.

Figures 16–19. Adult Copestylum, male genitalia; scale bar = 0.30 mm. 16–19, Copestylum milae sp. nov., male holotype: 16, genitalia and associated structures, lateral view; 17, hypandrium, ventral view. 18–19, Copestylum hidalgense sp. nov., male holotype: 18, genitalia and associated structures, lateral view; 19, hypandrium, ventral view.