Sepedonea giovana, Marinoni, Luciane & Mathis, Wayne N., 2006

Marinoni, Luciane & Mathis, Wayne N., 2006, A cladistic analysis of the Neotropical genus Sepedonea Steyskal (Diptera: Sciomyzidae), Zootaxa 1236, pp. 37-52 : 40-43

Sepedonea giovana , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 –11; 27; 41)

Sepedonea guianica of authors, not Steyskal [misidentification]. Knutson et al. 1976: 11 [Neotropical catalog; partim]. Knutson & Valley 1978: 198 [review; partim]. Freidberg et al. 1991: 16 [revision; partim].

Sepedonea vau . Mello and Bredt 1978: 1459 [nomen nudum; phenology].

Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from congeners (described in Freidberg et al., 1991) especially S. guianica , by the following combination of characters: Mesonotum grayish black; setulae near posterior thoracic spiracle moderately numerous, weak but well developed. Wing ( Fig. 5 ) infuscate, clouded. Midfemur bearing 3–5 spine­like setae posteroventrally; hindfemur with more or less discrete, usually dark, preapical lateral mark.

Description. Adult. Head: Ocellar seta absent; postocellar seta absent. Fronto­orbital spot absent; orbito­antennal spot absent; face with a large brown spot at ventral corner.

Thorax: Mesonotum grayish black; postpronotum brownish; setulae near posterior spiracle moderately strong and dense; setation near posterior spiracle weakly developed; setae on katatergal callus absent. Wing: Length 5.0–6.0 mm; brownish, usually clouded anteroapically and over crossveins r­m and dm­cu. Legs: Forefemur bearing at least 1 well­developed seta; midfemur usually bearing 3–6 spine­like setae posteroventrally, not extended beyond half distance to base, lacking setae along anterior surface; hindcoxa bearing short setulae posteriorly, mostly restricted to medial portion; hindfemur claviform, usually with dark, preapical marks, height/width ratio 4.5–5.0; hindtibia with a spinelike projection but lacking a distinctive seta at ventroapical margin.

Abdomen: Male terminalia (Figs. 6–10): Posterior margin of 4th sternite deeply emarginate, with 2 lateral processes (Fig. 7); anterior plate of 5th sternite not reduced, with wide, indented flange at posteromedial margin folded ventrally (Fig. 6), posterior portion with a pair of moderately­sized processes; distiphallus (Fig. 8) sinuous, with posteroventral angle covered by large flat, setulose epiphallus; anterior surstylus small, indistinct; posterior surstyli completely fused to form a medial structure, this structure without a medial lobe; posterior surstylus with lateral lobe moderately strongly curved anteriorly (Fig. 9); epiphallus large; distiphallus absent. Female synsternite (Figs. 11; 27): Posterior margin in ventral view with ventral surface more or less straight, and with posterior ridge distinctly projected, rounded (Fig. 11); spermathecal duct at junction with spermatheca divided in 2 portions, portion closest to spermatheca wide (Fig. 27).

FIGURES 6–11. Sepedonea giovana sp. n. 6. male 5th sternite; 7. male 4th sternite; 8. distiphallus lateral view; 9. posterior surstyli, posterior view; 10. posterior surstyli, lateral view; 11. female synsternite, ventral view.

Type specimens. The holotype male is labeled “ BRAZIL: Minas Gerais: 17 km N of Belo Horizonte [43°56’W. 19°45’S] C. O. Berg 18–23 July 1964 / HOLOTYPE ɗ Sepedonea giovana Marinoni & Mathis [red].” The holotype is directly pinned, is in excellent condition, and is deposited in the USNM. Twenty­five male paratypes bear the same locality label as the holotype ( DZUP, USNM). Other paratypes are as follows: BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte (43°56’W. 19°55’S), 18–23 Jul 1964, C. O. Berg (3ɗ, 3Ψ; USNM). Paraná: Curitiba (61 km S), Rio Varzea (49°15’W. 25°58’S), 16 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (5ɗ, 2Ψ; USNM); Morretes (6 km SE; 48°46.7’W. 25°30.3’S), 4–17 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (1Ψ; USNM); Praia do Leste (48°28’W. 25°41.5’S), 4 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (10ɗ, 11Ψ; DZUP, USNM); Rio Iguassu at Araucaria (51°12’W. 30°48’S), 1 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (1ɗ; USNM). Rio Grande do Sul: Porto Alegre (87 km S; 51°12’W. 30°48’S), 10 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (1Ψ; USNM). Santa Catarina: Lajes (5 km W; 50°21.7’W. 27°48’S), 6 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (1ɗ; USNM); Lajes (30 km S; 50°19’W. 28°04.2’S), 12 May 1967, J. Abercrombie, C. O. Berg (1Ψ; USNM). São Paulo: São José do Rio Preto (48°23’W. 20°48.1’S), 27 Jul 1966, N. Papavero (1ɗ; USNM).

Type locality. Brazil. Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte (17 km N; 43°56’W. 19°45’S).

Other specimens examined. ARGENTINA. Tucumán: Monteros (65°30’W. 27°12’S), 7 Feb 1967, C. O. Berg, J. Abercrombie (1ɗ; USNM).

BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Jockey Club, 23 Aug–15 Sep 1966, C. O. Berg (12ɗ, 3Ψ; USNM).

Locality records from Mello & Bredt (1978). BRAZIL. Distrito Federal: Núcleo Bandeirantes (47°58’W. 15°52’S), 11 Nov 1974, D. A. Mello, A. Bredt; Riberão Extrema, DF 21, 6 Feb 1974, D. A. Mello, A. Bredt. Minas Gerais: Hipódromo Serra Verde, Santa Luzia (43°20.6’W. 21°47.3’S), 24 Aug 1974, D. A. Mello, A. Bredt. Goiás: Rio Preto, Formosa (47°20’W. 15°32’S), 19 Jun 1974, Jan–May, Jul–Oct, Dec 1975, 1976, D. A. Mello, A. Bredt.

Distribution ( Fig. 41 ). Neotropical: Argentina (Tucumán) and Brazil (Goiás, Distrito Federal, Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Paraná, São Paulo).

Etymology. The species epithet, giovana , is a noun in apposition and is named after the delightful daughter of the first author and her husband, Sionei Ricardo Bonatto, whose support is also appreciated.

Remarks. Externally, the species of Sepedonea are difficult to distinguish and reference to structures of the male terminalia is usually needed to determine species accurately.

The distribution map includes a few localities that we extracted from Mello & Bredt (1978), as noted above. We did not include localities they listed that may apply to another species, such as S. guianica , as we did not have access to these specimens to verify determinations of species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Sepedonea giovana sp. n.

FIGURE 41. Distribution map of Sepedonea giovana sp. n. (triangles indicate sites in the literature for which we did not examine specimens).

FIGURES 2 – 5. Sepedonea giovana sp. n. 2. Head, frontal view; 3. Posterior spiracle; 4. Head, dorsal view; 5. Wings.