Helina neosimplex Snyder, 1957

Patitucci, Luciano Damián, Mulieri, Pablo Ricardo & Mariluis, Juan Carlos, 2016, Taxonomic review of the species of Helina R. - D. (Diptera: Muscidae) from Andean-Patagonian forests, Zootaxa 4150 (3), pp. 281-313 : 300-301

Helina neosimplex Snyder, 1957

( Figs. 10 , 15 A)

For a complete list of references, see the catalog by Carvalho et al. (2005).

Information subsequent to this catalog: Patitucci et al. 2011 (type specimens); Löwerberg-Neto & Carvalho 2013 (checklist).

Redescription. Female ( Fig. 10 A). Length. Body: 6.12–6.69 mm, wing: 5.34–6.36 mm.

Head ( Fig. 10 B). Black with silver pollinosity. Dichoptic, the shortest distance between eyes is 0.64–0.96 mm. 8–10 pairs of frontal setae. Fronto-orbital plate setulose with 2 reclinate orbital setae. Parafrontal plate setulose. Eye hairs short and abundant. Lunule dark brown; fronto-orbital plate, parafacial, gena, postgena, and occiput black with grey pollinosity. Postocular setae divergent. Antenna black; arista pubescent, with its longest hairs hardly longer than its basal diameter. Palpus black.

Thorax ( Fig. 10 C). Scutum black with three black-grey pollinose vitta; scutellum black; anepisternum, anepimeron, katepimeron, katepisternum, proepisternum, proepimeron and meron black with grey pollinosity; anterior and posterior spiracles brown. Chaetotaxy: acrostichal setae 1-2+1; dorsocentral setae 2+4; humeral setae 3; notopleural setae 2, of similar size. Prealar strong, one-third of the length of the anterior supra-alar postsutural seta. Scutellum with strong and short basal and subapical setae. Anepisternum setulose.

Wing. Yellowish-brown; costal spine longer than the costal bristles; transverse cross-vein dm-cu strongly curved; vein R 4+5 and vein M diverge apically; cross vein dm-cu at middle of cell r4+5. Both calypters yellow with yellow margins.

Legs. Coxa, trochanter, and fore femur black; tip of fore femur, mid and hind femur, and tibiae yellow, tarsi dark brown. Fore femur with rows of dorsal, posterodorsal, and posteroventral setae; fore tibia with one posterior seta, 4 preapical setae. Mid femur with only 3–4 setae in the basal middle on ventral surface; a row of setae on anterior surface, and 3 preapical setae on dorsal to posterior surface; mid tibia with 3 anterodorsal setae, 3 posterodorsal setae, 1 posteroventral seta, and 4 apical setae (anterodorsal, posteroventral, ventral, and anteroventral). Hind femur with anterodorsal row of setae and 3–4 setae in the apical middle of anteroventral surface; hind tibia with 2–3 anteroventral setae, and 2 anterodorsal setae; calcar absent. Claws and pulvilli of similar size in all three legs.

Abdomen ( Fig. 10 D). Black with brownish-gray pollinosity.

Tergite 8 divided into 2 enlarged parallel scletotized plates; epiproct with proximal margin curved, and several strong spines, cercus digitiform with strong spines ( Fig. 10 E). Hypoproct rounded, sclerotized and setulose ( Fig. 10 F).

Type material examined ( IFML). 1 female, pinned, in good condition, labels: “ Santa Cruz / Lago Argentino / 13-I- 953 / coll: Dr. Willink” handwritten on white paper, black frame; “ Holotype ♀ / Helina / neosimplex / Snyder” handwritten on red paper.

Other material examined. ARGENTINA: Santa Cruz: 1 female, PN Los Glaciares, El Chaltén, -49.329877, -72.886233, 31-I-2005, Medan leg. ( FAUBA) , 4 females, PN Los Glaciares, El Chaltén -49.32 9877, -72.886233, II-2007, Mariluis leg. (MACN).

Distribution ( Fig. 15 A). ARGENTINA: Santa Cruz.

Remarks. Snyder (1957) described the species with a single female specimen, and suggested that it differs from H. nigrimana in the width of the frons and setae of the mind tibia and hind femur. Here, we provide a redescripton of the female, and for the first time, the description of female terminalia . Male unknown.

Helina neosimplex has a strong morphology similarity with H. discolor ( Stein, 1911) redescribed by Malloch (1934). This author redescribed H. discolor on the basis of a single male collected in Bariloche, and not provided an explicit mention of the type examination. We suppose the male of H. discolor described by Malloch may be the couple of H. neosimplex . However, we not collected H. neosimplex and H. discolor together in samples, and we only observed the type specimen of H. neosimplex . Hence, we prefer not to synonymize the species.

Biology. The specimens captured by JCM in Santa Cruz province were collected over rotten meat with a hand net. Several of the specimens studied in this work were collected on Senecio patagonicus with a hand net.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Helina neosimplex, female: A. Lateral view (scale bar: 1 mm). B. Head, frontal view. C. Thorax, dorsal view. D. Abdomen, dorsal view (scale bars: 0.5 mm). E – F. Female, apical portion of ovipositor: E. Dorsal view. F. Ventr al v iew (scalebar: 0.5 mm). (Abbreviations: epiprct, epiproct; hyprct, hypoproct; st 8, sternite 8; tg 8, tergite 8.)

FIGURE 15. Geographical distribution. A. Helina neosimplex Snyder. B. Helina nigrimana (Macquart). C. Helina ouina sp. nov. D. Helina rufoapicata Malloch. E. Helina viola Malloch. G. Helina xena Malloch. (Green area: Andean-Patagonian forests; orange circle: new records; blue triangle: previous distribution.)