Hyphantrophaga Townsend, 1892

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Dapkey, Tanya, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel, 2019, Twenty-two new species in the genus Hyphantrophaga Townsend (Diptera: Tachinidae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, with a key to the species of Mesoamerica, Biodiversity Data Journal 7, pp. 29553-29553 : 29553

Hyphantrophaga Townsend, 1892

Hyphantrophaga Townsend, 1892: 247. Type species: Meigenia hyphantriae Townsend, 1891, by original designation.

Eusisyropa Townsend, 1908: 97. Type species: Tachina blanda Osten Sacken, 1887, by monotypy. Synonymy by O’Hara and Wood 1998

Brachymasicera Townsend, 1911: 133. Type species: Brachymasicera polita Townsend, 1911, by original designation. Syn. n.

Ommasicera Townsend, 1911: 145. Type species: Ommasicera chaetosa Townsend, 1911, by monotypy. Syn. n. [Original description of genus based on female reproductive system, full description of the adult was not provided until Townsend 1912: 337.]

Oomasicera . Incorrect subsequent spelling of Ommasicera Townsend, 1911 ( Guimaraes 1971: 204).

Ophirosturmia Townsend, 1911: 133. Type species: Ophirosturmia cincta Townsend, 1911, by original designation. Syn. n.

Patillalia Curran, 1934: 459. Type species: Patillalia fasciata Curran, 1934, by original designation. Syn. n.

Ypophaemyiops Townsend, 1935: 233. Type species: Prophryno myersi Aldrich, 1933, by original designation. Syn. n.

Hyphantrophaga Other species included in Hyphantrophaga Townsend, 1892

adamsoni Thompson, 1963: 293 ( Zenillia ). Holotype female (CNC). Type locality: Trinidad, St. Augustine. Comb. n.

angustata van der Wulp, 1890: 70 ( Exorista ). Holotype male (NHMUK). Type locality: Mexico, Guerrero, Chilpancingo, 4600 ft.

coquilletti Aldrich & Webber, 1924: 18 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: USA, Texas, Belfrage.

auratofrontalis Brèthes, 1908: 475 ( Exorista ). Syntypes male and female (MACN). Type locality: Argentina, Buenos Aires.

autographae Sellers, 1943: 23 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: Cuba, Baraguá.

blanda Osten Sacken, 1887: 162 ( Tachina (Exorista) ). Holotype female (MCZ). Type locality: unknown (Massachusetts according to Townsend 1941:266.

boarmiae Coquillett, 1897: 95 ( Exorista ). Lectotype female (USNM), by designation of Aldrich and Webber 1924: 39. Type locality: USA, Massachusetts, Cotuit.

hypenae Coquillett in Howard 1897: 47 ( Exorista ). Nomen nudum

proserpina Williston, 1889: 1919 ( Exorista , as subspecies of blanda ). Holotype male (depository unknown). Type locality: unknown.

blandita Coquillett, 1897: 96 ( Exorista ). Holotype female (USNM). Type locality: USA, New Hampshire, Franconia.

blandoides Thompson, 1963: 297 ( Eusisyropa ). Holotype female (CNC). Type locality: Trinidad, Sta. Cruz Valley.

brasiliensis Moreira, 1915: 227 ( Masicera ). Type status unclear, depository unknown. Type locality: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Nomen dubium

chaetosa Townsend, 1911: 145 [description based on female reproductive system; full description of adult in Townsend 1912: 337] ( Ommasicera ). Holotype female (USNM). Type locality: Peru, Piura, Valle del Río Chira, Sullana. Comb. n.

collina Reinhard, 1944: 68 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (SEMK). Type locality: USA, Arizona, Chiricahua Mountains.

euchaetiae Sellers, 1943: 13 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: USA, New York, Clayton.

fasciata Curran, 1934: 469 ( Patillalia ). Holotype female (AMNH). Type locality: Panama, Canal Zone, Patilla Point. Comb. n.

glauca Giglio-Tos, 1893: 6 ( Masicera ). Holotype female (MZUT). Type locality: Mexico.

gowdeyi Curran, 1926: 112 ( Zenillia ). Holotype female (AMNH). Type locality: Jamaica, St. Andrew Parish, Cinchona Botanical Gardens (as Hill Gardens). Comb. n.

hyphantriae Townsend, 1891: 176 ( Meigenia ). Lectotype male (USNM), by present designation of Wood. Type locality: USA, New Mexico, Las Cruces.

ceratomiae Coquillett, 1897: 101 ( Exorista ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: USA, Texas, Fort Worth.

desmiae Sellers, 1943: 16 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: USA, California, Exeter.

myersi Aldrich, 1933: 173 ( Prophryno ). Holotype male (NHMUK). Type locality: Guyana (as British Guiana), Pakeraima Mts., Upper Ireng River. Comb. n.

nigripes Townsend, 1928: 159 ( Brachymasicera ). Holotype female (USNM). Type locality: Peru, Chiclayo, Pomalca. Comb. n.

niveifacies Macquart, 1851a: 162 [also Macquart, 1851b: 189] ( Exorista ). 2 syntypes: 1 male, 1 female (MNHN). Type locality: Brazil, Bahia, Salvador (as “Bahia”).

optica Schiner, 1868: 327 ( Exorista ). Holotype female (NHMW). Type locality: Brazil. Comb. n.

polita Townsend, 1911: 143 ( Brachymasicera ). Holotype female (USNM). Type locality: Peru, Piura. Comb. n.

scolex Reinhard, 1953: 56 ( Zenillia ) Holotype female (CAS). Type locality: USA, California, Los Angeles County, Tanbark Flat.

sellersi Sabrosky, 1983: 254 ( Eusisyropa ). 12 syntypes: 6 males, 6 females (USNM). Type locality: USA, Mississippi, Oxford; [new name for boarmiae of authors, not Coquillett, 1897 ( Sabrosky 1983); name made available by Sabrosky (1983) in a bibliographic reference to the diagnosis of boarmiae in the Sellers' key ( Sellers 1943: 6-7) to the species of Zenillia ].

subpolita Townsend, 1912: 341 ( Brachymasicera ). Holotype female (USNM). Type locality: Peru, Piura. Comb. n.

tucumanensis Sellers, 1943: 21 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: Argentina, Tucuman.

virilis Aldrich & Webber, 1924: 40 ( Zenillia ). Holotype male (USNM). Type locality: USA, Illinois, Chicago [as New York, Rye, in error - see Arnaud 1963: 116.

Hyphantrophaga Meigenia hyphantriae Townsend, 1891 Townsend 1891: 176.

Description

Male. Head (Fig. 1a): vertex 1/4-1/3 of head width; 1-3 reclinate upper orbital setae; ocellar setae proclinate, well-developed, long and arising either beside or behind anterior ocellus; eye haired in all species; parafacial bare; fronto-orbital plate ranging from shiny silver or gold to brownish with a silver sheen and displaying varying degrees of hirsuteness, with setulae not extending below lowest frontal seta; lower margin of face level with vibrissa, thus not visible in profile; facial ridge bare in most species with two notable exceptions, H. hazelcambroneroae sp. n. and H. myersi , in which the facial ridge is setulose; arista ranging from bare to minutely pubescent, usually distinctly thickened on basal 1/4 or 1/5, ranging in colour from orange to dark brown/black. Thorax: ranging from bright gold tomentose to dull grey; 2-4 prominent dorsal vittae, which can be thick and unbroken or thin and only scarcely visible under certain angles of light; prosternum setose; proepisternum with 1-5 main setae surrounded by a brush of shorter, weaker, hairlike setulae; postpronotum with 3-6 setae arranged in a triangle; chaetotaxy: acrostichal setae 3-4:3; dorsocentral setae 3 –4:3– 4 (only three exceptions displaying three postsutural dorsocentral setae: H. calva sp. n., H. fasciata , H. hazelcambroneroae sp. n.); intra-alar setae 2-4:3; supra-alar setae 2:3; 2-3 katepisternal setae; scutellum with four pairs of marginal setae (basal, lateral, subapical and apical); basal scutellar setae often longer than or subequal to lateral scutellar setae; subapical setae typically the strongest of the scutellar marginal setae, ranging from slightly curved and medially convergent to parallel, straight or divergent; ranging in length from equal to or longer than basal scutellar setae; apical setae crossed and short, usually 1/4 length of subapical setae, slightly upturned, at a slight upward angle compared to the plane of the rest of the marginal scutellar setae. Legs: ranging in ground colour from yellow to black; hind coxa bare or setose, with a single seta along dorsal margin (Fig. 1b) (this character is sexually dimorphic within H. calva sp. n. and variable in both sexes of H. proxima sp. n. and H. vicina sp. n.). Wings: pale translucent, not strongly infuscate; vein R4+5 setose, with only 2-3 setulae at base. Abdomen (Fig. 1c, d): ground colour ranging from black to different tonalities of brown to orange; mid-dorsal depression on ST1+2 ranging from reaching halfway across the syntergite to almost reaching the hind margin; median marginal setae present on T3 and T4 and often on ST1+2; median discal setae most often confined to T5, but this varies amongst species, with some species displaying median discal setae on T3, T4 and T5; the presence of a sex patch is variable amongst species, ranging from absent to present anywhere between T3-T5. Terminalia (Fig. 1e, f): sternite 5 with a deeply excavated median cleft along posterior edge, smoothly U-shaped, with margins covered in dense tomentum; posterior lobes rounded apically, either bare with multiple fine hairlike setulae or with 2-3 strong setae surrounded by many shorter, weaker setulae. Anterior plate of sternite 5 subequal to or longer than posterior lobes; unsclerotised "window" on anterior plate of sternite 5 ranging from absent to almost entirely transparent, directly basal to posterior lobes; the shape of the window, as well as its presence, varies between species. Cerci in posterior view variable between species, ranging from rectangular, digitiform, to triangular; either longer than or only slightly shorter than surstyli; blunt and rounded at apex to apically pointed, either completely separate medially to fused along most of their length; in lateral view often with a strong downward curve at apex, giving it a clubbed appearance; densely setulose along basal 2/3, ventrally setose along entire length. Surstylus in lateral view almost parallel sided along its length, sometimes ending in a slightly downcurved apex, making the structure appear bladelike; when viewed dorsally, the surstyli range from being slightly divergent to slightly convergent or with inward-curved apices, but never strongly convergent. Pregonite usually broad, well-developed, apically squared off or rounded, usually blunt, typically devoid of setulae. Postgonite slightly narrowed, up to 1/3 as wide as pregonite, sharply pointed and curved at apex, typically short and scythelike, with few exceptions in which the postgonite is subequal in length to the pregonite. Epiphallus well-developed and apically hooked. Distiphallus broadly cone-shaped (in some species this cone or flare is much more pronounced, in others it is square or barrel-shaped), with a slender median longitudinal sclerotised reinforcement on its posterior surface and a broad, anterolateral sclerotised acrophallus on anterior surface near apex.

Female. As male except in the following traits: head with two pairs of proclinate orbital setae. Abdomen slightly more globose than in male; T5 folded over into a narrow slit, a trait stereotypical of the tribe Goniini . In cases where sexual dimorphism was observed, the differing character states are mentioned in the species descriptions.

Diagnosis

Hyphantrophaga , as all other Goniini , is difficult to characterise to tribe based on morphological character states and can only be reliably ascribed to this tribe (sensu Herting 1984) based on its microtype ovipary. However, Hyphantrophaga does possess a combination of traits that can be considered stereotypical of the group: prosternum setose; males of all species with two pairs of well-developed reclinate upper orbital setae, proclinate orbital setae only present in females (a character state that distinguishes them from males of Houghia Coquillet and Carcelia Robineau-Desvoidy, in which orbital setae are absent or proclinate); the ocellar setae are always proclinate and in most species arise beside the anterior ocellus; the parafacial, katepimeron and the upper half or more of the facial ridge, are bare; 3-4 well-developed and evenly-spaced postsutural supra-alar setae, the anteriormost being stouter than the first postsutural dorsocentral seta; median discal setae present only on abdominal T5 (in most species); the three major setae of the postpronotum are arranged in a triangle; wings lacking costal spine; hind coxa can be setose or bare (in some cases this character state can be sexually variable within species). The height of the gena is about 1/5 to 1/10 the height of the head, which approaches the condition found in some Houghia and differentiates Hyphantrophaga from the members of Carcelia . The eyes of all species of Hyphantrophaga are haired; however, in a few species, the ommatrichia can be short and sparse. The 22 species of Hyphantrophaga described herein can be identified to genus using the keys in both Wood 1987 and Wood and Zumbado 2010.

Distribution

Ubiquitous throughout the New World, inhabiting a wide variety of ecosystems from south-eastern Canada and the north-eastern USA, west to California and south to Argentina and Brazil.

Ecology

Within the ACG inventory, Hyphantrophaga has been reared from a wide variety of Lepidoptera hosts throughout the diverse ecosystems of the research area, including: Bombycidae , Crambidae , Depressariidae , Doidae , Erebidae , Euteliidae , Gelechiidae , Geometridae , Hedylidae , Hesperiidae , Immidae , Lasiocampidae , Limacodidae , Megalopygidae , Mimaloniidae , Noctuidae , Nolidae , Notodontidae , Nymphalidae , Papilionidae , Pieridae , Pterophoridae , Pyralidae , Riodinidae , Saturniidae , Sphingidae , Thyrididae , Tortricidae and Zygaenidae .

Taxon discussion

Hyphantrophaga brasiliensis (Moreira, 1915) is treated as a nomen dubium within Hyphantrophaga , as it has proven impossible to ascertain the repository or even the existence of the type material.