Amiota laevifurca, Jones & Grimaldi, 2022

Jones, Lance E. & Grimaldi, David A., 2022, Revision Of The Nearctic Species Of The Genus Amiota Loew (Diptera: Drosophilidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2022 (458), pp. 1-181 : 137-138

Amiota laevifurca , sp. nov.

Figures 70A–B , 72G , 79 , 96B

DIAGNOSIS: Large fly (ThL 1.59 mm), dark blackish brown; frons dark, dull, wide; arista with 4 long dorsal and 2 ventral branches; femora and tibiae light brown; outer paraphyses asymmetrical, left one with hornlike spine on dorsal margin, both with short, sclerotized, preapical lobe; inner paraphysis roughly L-shaped, left side with a bifurcated end; subepandrial appendage well developed, apex roughly heart shaped in posterior view; aedeagal apodeme rectangular; epandrium with wide dorsomedial gap; ejaculatory apodeme large, length equal to height of epandrium.

DESCRIPTION: Large fly (ThL 1.59 mm), dark brown, uniformly so, including entire pleura (except for white postpronotal and subalar spots). Femora and tibiae light brown, tarsi yellow. Frons dull blackish brown. Facial marking large, depth 0.5× width. Cheek whitish gray posteriorly. Palp brown. Haltere bright yellow. Tergite 1 lightly colored. Arista: Long, plumose; longest branch D1; A.R. 0.37; 4 dorsal, 2–3 shorter ventral branches; no branches pointed mediad/laterad; arista trunk with long microtrichia to apex. Male genitalia: Epandrium middorsally separated by wide membranous gap. Cercus large, long oval; margins discrete from surrounding membrane; cercus occupying virtually all of space surrounded by epandrium. Surstylus with 10 prensisetae, apices blunt, lateral thumblike lobe present; ventral margin, area above prensisetae, and lobe covered with scattered setulae. Subepandrial sclerite wide, shieldlike; subepandrial appendage well developed, projecting ventrally from epandrium, apical portion roughly heart shaped in full posterior view. Outer paraphysis possibly small, simple lobe at base of outer paraphyses (best seen in posterior view). Inner paraphysis roughly L-shaped; distal end of left side bifurcated, with a long, upper spinelike lobe, lower lobe having a small dorsal tooth; proximal end of right inner paraphysis has small fork, distal end like left paraphysis except without large, dorsal spinelike lobe. Aedeagal apodeme long, rectangular, length 2× width; hardly expanded on distal end, depression very shallow; lateral and anterior margins very slightly concave. Hypandrium apex posterodorsally curved around outer paraphysis; lateral arms and gonopod very wide, almost triangular in lateral. Ejaculatory apodeme large, slightly longer than epandrium. Head and thorax measurements: (n = 1; Am 1416) FL/FW 0.68, EL/EW 1.38, EL/ CW 11.43, FML/FMW 0.39, PR /RR 0.33, ThL 1.59 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype: male: Portrerillos , Sin. [Sinaloa], 15 mi. W. El Palmito, MEX., [23.578657, -106.216630], 5000′, “8.VII.”1964, J.F. McAlpine, Am 1416, [specimen glued to pin, dissected]. Deposited in the Canadian National Collection ( CNC).

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: Known only from the holotype.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin laevus for “left” and furca for “fork,” in reference to the forked inner paraphysis on the left side of the asymmetric male genitalia. Used as a feminine noun in apposition.

DISTRIBUTION: Amiota laevifurca is currently only known from the state of Sinaloa in Mexico.

COMMENTS: This species is superficially similar to Amiota barretti (Johnson) , another species from Mexico, but A. barretti is externally separable by being black with metallic bluish highlights (vs. dark brown), the femora and tibiae are nearly black (vs. light brown), A. barretti has a wider cheek (vs. narrow); and, perhaps most distinctive of all, A. barretti has short branches on the arista, A. laevifurca has long branches (i.e., AR 0.17 vs 0.37, respectively).

Figures

FIG. 70. Heads and lateral views, ungrouped species. A–B. A. laevifurca, sp. nov. (Am 1416, holotype). C–D. A. sinaloensis, sp. nov. (Am 1419, holotype).

FIG. 72. Aristae, ungrouped species. A. A. barretti (Johnson). B. A. buccata Wheeler. C. A. didens. D. A. humeralis Loew. E. A. floridiensis. F. A. imperator. G. A. laevifurca. H–I. A. sinaloensis. Not to the same scale.

FIG. 79. Male terminalia, A. laevifurca. A. Epandrium and cerci. B. Ejaculatory apodeme. C. Lateral view. D. Aedeagal apodeme. E. Paraphyses, lateral view. F. Ventral view. (Am 1416, holotype).

FIG. 96. Distribution maps, Ungrouped species. A. A. imperator. B. A. laevifurca. C. A. sinaloensis.