Cladochaeta, Coquillett, 1900

Carvalho-Filho, Fernando Da Silva, Pirani, Gabriela & Kloss, Thiago Gechel, 2018, A new species and notes on unusual natural history of Cladochaeta Coquillett, 1900 (Diptera: Drosophilidae), Zootaxa 4410 (3), pp. 483-496 : 494

Cladochaeta sp.

( Fig. 35 )

Material examined. BRAZIL: Pará: Paragominas, site of Norsk-Hydro bauxite mine, border of forest, 15.III.2014, F.S. Carvalho-Filho [collector], reared from a cocoon of Pompilidae (1 ♀, MPEG).

Diagnosis: Body entirely yellowish, wing hyaline; arista with one ventral and four dorsal branches and terminal fork. Female terminalia ( Fig. 35 ): epiproct narrow with some marginal setae; hypoproct rectangular with two setae in distal half and setulae restricted to anterior half; apical sternite small and rectangular with a large notch in anterior margin; apical tergite and sternite connected laterally (but not fused), forming a ring around epiproct and hypoproct; penultimate sternite large, wider than long, covered with setae.

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Pará).

Comments. Cladochaeta sp. is known from only one female specimen, thus we refrain from naming it.

Biology. This species was obtained from a cocoon ( Fig. 36 ) of a spider wasp ( Pompilidae ) of the genus Notocyphus Smith ( Fig. 37 ). The cocoon was placed in a leaf about 1.70 m from the ground. Only one female specimen of Cladochaeta emerged from the cocoon. The spider wasps of the genus Notocyphus , unlike the other spider wasps, feed on alive and active Theraphosidae spiders. In this case, the spider regains its normal activity after the attack of the adult wasp and maintains it until shortly before it is killed by the mature wasp larvae that pupate in the spider retreat ( Wasbauer 1995). It is not possible to assess what kind of interaction exists between the Cladochaeta and the wasp. It may be parasiting the wasp larva or feeding on the spider remains.

Figures

FIGURES 35–37. 35. Cladochaeta sp., female terminalia, ventral view. 36–37. Notocyphus, female. 36. Cocoon on a dead leaf. 37. Habitus, lateral view. (Abbreviations: as = apical sternite; at = apical tergite; ce = cercus; ep = epiproct; hy = hypoproct;ps = penultimatesternite;pt = penultimate tergite).Scalebars = 2 mm,except in Fig.33 where it represents 100 µm.