Telothyria cupreiventris van der Wulp, 1890

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Dapkey, Tanya, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel, 2020, Revision of Telothyria van der Wulp (Diptera: Tachinidae) and twenty-five new species from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica with a key to Mesoamerican species, Biodiversity Data Journal 8, pp. 47157-47157 : 47157

Telothyria cupreiventris van der Wulp, 1890

Telothyria cupreiventris van der Wulp, 1890: 169 in key [also 1890: 182 in description]. Lectotype male [not female as published, Townsend 1931: 91] (BMNH), by fixation of Townsend (1931: 91). Type locality: Mexico, Tabasco, Teapa.

Description

Male. Length: 7-9 mm (Fig. 14). Head (Fig. 14 b): frons narrow, 1/5 of head width; gena 1/15 of head height; 3-4 reclinate orbital setae; anteriormost reclinate orbital almost subequal to uppermost frontal seta; ocellar setae absent; outer vertical seta absent; fronto-orbital plate brassy-gold throughout; fronto-orbital plate with short reddish hairs interspersed among frontal setae; parafacial pale brassy-gold; facial ridge bare; palpus short digitiform with slight upward turn apically, sparsely haired along outer margin; arista brown, smoothly tapered, microtrichia at most 3X as long as width of arista; postpedicel only 30% dark burnt-orange, directly adjacent to pedicel. Thorax (Fig. 14 a, c): gray tomentose, with two almost indistinct outer dorsal stripes, and inner stripes not evident, these truncated and only slightly evident; thorax laterally covered in dense plumose reddish-brown hairs; chaetotaxy: 4-5 postpronotal setae, basal setae arranged in a straight line; supra-alar setae 2:3; intra-alar setae 1:2; dorsocentral setae 3:3; acrostichal setae 3:3; katepisternum with 3-5 setae. Scutellum reddish-brown glabrous, lacking any obvious tomentum; two pairs of strong marginal setae (basal and subapical) and a small pair of crossed apical scutellar setae 1/5th as long as subapical scutellars; basal scutellar setae subequal in length to subapical setae; subapical setae straight. Legs: all legs dark brown ground color throughout. Wings: smoky brown infuscate; basicosta dark brown; all veins bare, with only 1-2 setulae at base of R4+5. Abdomen (Fig. 14 a, c): ground color dark maroon apparent when viewed dorsally; ST1+2-T5 maroon throughout, lacking any yellow or orange spots; T3-T5 with dense silver tomentum extending over entire tergite appearing to have a silver sheen when viewed with the naked eye; T5 maroon ground color with gold tomentum; median marginal setae present only on T4 and T5; median discal setae absent. Terminalia: not examined.

Female. Length: 5-7 mm (Fig. 15). Head (Fig. 15 b): as in male with the following exceptions: fronto-orbital plate gray; parafacial silvery-gray; frons 1/5 of head width; 2-4 inner reclinate orbital setae; two proclinate orbital setae; outer vertical seta present; palpus long and clubbed bare apically. Thorax (Fig. 15 a, c): katepisternum with three setae; meron with 9-12 typical meral setae. Legs: colored as in male. Abdomen (Fig. 15 a, c): ground color as in male; T3-T5 with silver tomentum along anterior edge of tergites; T5 as in male; marginal setae present on T4, T5 only.

Diagnosis

Telothyria cupreiventris can be distinguished from all other Telothyria by the following combination of traits: ocellar setae absent, parafacial entirely gold, silvery-gray in the female, postpedicel only 30% dark burnt-orange, directly adjacent to pedicel, thoracic stripes truncated and only slightly evident, plumose hairs on thorax absent from disc of scutum, lateral plumose hairs reddish-brown mixed with blonde, abdominal ground color dark maroon appearing blackish under certain angles of light, without any traces of orange lateroventrally, and T5 with silver tomentum. Telothyria cupreiventris differs from T. cristata by the entirely maroon abdomen, and its reddish-brown plumose hairs present on lateral surfaces of thorax.

Distribution

Mexico, Tabasco and Veracruz.

Ecology

Ecology of Telothyria cupreiventris van der Wulp unknown.