Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, 1909

Szpila, Krzysztof, Wyborska, Dominika, Bystrowski, Cezary & Pape, Thomas, 2020, Redescription of Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, 1909 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Zootaxa 4728 (1), pp. 110-122 : 112-117

Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve

Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, 1909: 156 . Type locality: Sinai (“W. Timân. SW.”, “W. Chaschibi, SW.” and “Wüstenebene Gâ’a, W.”).

Type material examined. 1 ♀ syntype: Sinaï / 1V. // Sphecapatoclea / excisa ♀ / type Villen. (deposited in IRSNB) ( Fig. 1 ) .

Other material examined. 1 ♂, Israel, Negev desert, Makhtesh Ramon National Park , Nahal Ramon, 15 May

2006, 485 m a.s.l., 30°36’50.4”N 34°51’33.5”E, leg. K. Szpila & C. Bystrowski ( NCUT); 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Israel, Negev desert, Makhtesh Ramon National Park, Nahal Ramon, 23 May 2006, 485 m a.s.l., 30°36’50.4”N 34°51’33.5”E, leg. K. Szpila & C. Bystrowski ( NCUT, NHMD, TAU); 1 ♀, same data but 19 May 2006 ( NCUT) .

Redescription (adult). Length 8.2– 7.5 mm (n = 6). Body shape cylindrical. Colour black with silvery grey microtrichosity, with stronger shine on the head of the male. Distinct sexual dimorphism with much darker colouration of males than females.

Male ( Fig. 2 ). Head. Parafacial plate slightly receding, with lower part of head broad in profile. Frontal stripe with silvery grey microtrichosity, except anteriormost part with visible brownish-black integument. Frontal vitta narrowed anteriorly, width at lunule 0.3 x width at anterior ocellus. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates with dense, strongly shiny, silvery microtrichosity. Scape, pedicel, first flagellomere and arista blackish. Tip of pedicel brownish-red on ventral surface. Ocellar triangle with a pair of latero-proclinate setae slightly larger than additional ocellar setulae, and two pairs of small postocellar setae. Inner vertical seta strong, almost straight, outer vertical seta curved and 0.7 x as long as inner vertical seta. Eleven pairs of strong frontal setae, anteriormost four pairs crossed over the frontal vitta. Frontal vitta and vertex bare, except one pair of paravertical setae. Two proclinate orbital setae, 2–4 reclinate orbital setae of variable size, at least one seta strong. Fronto-orbital plate with 8–9 setulae in anterior part. Parafacial plate with 13–17 setulae distributed irregularly along anterior margin. Lunule bare. Scape and pedicel with short clothing setulae, setulae on pedicel longer than pedicel. Gena and postgena with black setulae, postcranium with sparse, black setulae. Antenna inserted slightly but distinctly above level of middle of eye. First flagellomere short, 1.2 x as long as pedicel and 1.1 x as long as distance between tip of first flagellomere and vibrissal socket, tip reaching to about middle of parafacial plate.Arista micropubescent; aristomeres 1 and 2 shorter than their greatest diameter. Facial plate with a very low but distinct keel below antennal insertion. Vibrissa well developed, slightly above lower facial margin; 2–3 supravibrissal setae. Subvibrissal setae numerous, shorter than vibrissa. Height of gena 0.8 x length of first flagellomere. Proboscis short; palpus yellow.

Thorax. Black ground colour; covered with dense, grey microtrichosity except lateral surfaces above fore and hind legs; scutum with a broad, black, shiny median stripe, visible in dorsal view; stripe at level of transverse suture 0.3 x width of scutum; scutellum with a yellowish tip. Legs. Fore tarsus with claws shorter than tarsomere 5. Mid tibia with 1 large and 1–2 small anterodorsal setae. Legs without particular modifications except first tarsomere of mid leg slightly curved and laterally compressed in middle part. Wing. Tegula black, basicosta yellow, veins yellow; costal spine not developed; base of vein R 4+5 with 2–4 setulae dorsally and ventrally; cell r 4+5 short-petiolate with petiole turned slightly proximally.

Abdomen. Generally black, with brownish colour on anterolateral parts. Syntergite 1+2 black, without microtrichosity. Colour pattern on tergites 3–5 variable with direction of observation; all tergites with a lustrous black band across posterior margin in dorsal and lateral views, and with an indistinct median black line along all segments in dorsal view; each tergite in postero-dorsal view with a long, black, more or less drop-shaped median black spot with a small triangular black spot on either side, median spot on tergite 3 reaching anterior margin of tergite, on tergites 4 and 5 ending just before anterior margin. Sternites 3 and 4 elongated, sternite 5 heart-shaped, with anterior margin rounded and posterior lobes each with an apical sclerotised spot.

Terminalia ( Fig. 3 ). Integument of genital segments brownish-black, without microtrichosity. Cercus (c) long, gently curved in distal third and tapering into a moderately pointed tip. Cercus with scattered setae and short clothing setulae in basal half, almost bare in distal half. Surstylus (srst) straight, almost as long as cercus, evenly rounded apically and with clothing setulae along whole length. Pregonite gently curving into an anteriorly-directed and rounded tip. Postgonite elongate with a strong anterior seta situated proximal to middle on a very small protuberance. Basiphallus (bp) strongly sclerotised; epiphallus (ep) sclerotised but separated from basiphallus by membranous strip at its base, broad and parallel-sided in proximal half and with a slightly expanded and slightly downcurved, rounded tip; ventral plate (vlp) well differentiated; dorsal plate (dp) shallowly bifid apically; membranous part of phallus with numerous denticles decreasing in size from ventral plate to tip, acrophallus (ac) widened at tip.

Female ( Fig. 4 ). Differs from male in the following features: general body colouration lighter; head with grey microtrichosity but without silver shine effect, width of frons at level of anterior ocellus 0.5 x width of head (dorsal view), portion of frontal vitta without microtrichosity longer than in male; antenna inserted at level of middle of eye; abdomen entirely black with dense microtrichosity also on syntergite 1+2, pattern of three spots well developed on all tergites including syntergite 1+2 (distinctly visible in postero-dorsal view), bands on posterior margin of segments visible only as narrow strips connecting bases of spots in dorsal view, median spot on tergites 3–5 unclear in dorsal view.

Description of first instar larva ( Fig. 5 ). Pseudocephalon. Antennal complex large, antennal dome (and) oval with rounded tip, antennal basal ring (abr) high; maxillary palpus (mp) shaped as a flat disc, clearly distinguished from surrounding cuticle, first sensillum basiconicum (sb1) long with slightly swollen tip and displaced from central cluster of sensilla toward medio-dorsal border of palpus, additional sensilla large and both situated at level of adjacent surface of palpus, dorsad to central cluster of sensilla; ventral organ (vo) on flat, fleshy lobe; pseudocephalon laterally with a broad, flat lobe (“cheek organ”); oral ridges (or) well developed.

Cephaloskeleton. Labrum (lb) straight but with anterior part bent perpendicularly, tip pointed; mouthhook (mh) slightly curved, basal part with lateral arm, tip of mouthhook weakly sclerotised with row of few pointed teeth forming an angle of about 30 degrees with median plane of mouthhook; intermediate sclerite (is) slightly below parastomal bars (pb) in lateral view, longer than wide in ventral view; parastomal bars long; vertical plate (vp) slightly narrower than ventral cornu (vc) and broader than dorsal cornu (dc); dorsal bridge absent.

Thoracic segments. Anterior spinose bands with between 3–4 (dorsal surface) and 11–12 (ventral surface of first segment) rows of spines, spines arranged separately from each other; aperture of anterior spiracle on lateral surface of first thoracic segment; remaining area of thoracic segments with densely set cuticular ridges; Keilin’s organ with short sensilla.

Abdominal segments. Anterior spinose bands on abdominal segments with between 2–3 and 9–10 rows of spines, all bands complete; posterior spinose band on segments a1–a4 incomplete, without spines on lateral and dorsal surfaces, complete on segments a5–a7; spines small and separated, spines on ventral and dorsal surfaces of segments similar; lateral creeping welts developed and covered in spines; all abdominal segments with densely set cuticular ridges on entire surface.

Anal division. Anterior spinose band on anal division incomplete, without spines dorsally; cuticle of anal division with ridges, except on spiracular field; papillae around spiracular field visible as flat protuberances with an apical sensillum; spiracular field ringed by hair-like spines; posterior spiracles with four small peristigmatic tufts, each with a few (1–3) branches; anal papillae rounded.

Biology. Unknown. The flies were collected in a desert environment along a dry stream bed, and all specimens were attracted to human sweat. The thorax of the single collected female is covered in yellow pollen grains.

DNA Barcoding. The 161 bp sequences of the COI mini-barcode region obtained from one adult male and one adult female as described above, were identical. NJ analysis placed these two specimens in a clade with the two unidentified species of Sphecapatoclea from the analysis by Piwczyński et al. (2017), with high bootstrap support (BS= 88.8%) ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks. Villeneuve (1909) described S. excisa on an unspecified number of males and females from three different localities in the Sinai Peninsula, without designating a holotype. We have been able to retrieve only one female syntype ( Fig. 1 ; deposited in IRSNB). Inquiries at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, and the Natural History Museum, London, did not yield any additional syntypes. We are deliberately abstaining from designating this female as a lectotype in the hopes that a male syntype will eventually be discovered.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve (female syntype, deposited in IRSNB). A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Habitus, dorsal view. C. Head, lateral view. D. Head, frontal view. E. Labels.

FIGURE 2. Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, male (specimen from Israel, deposited in NCUT). A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Habitus, dorsal view. C. Head, lateral view. D. Head, frontal view. E. Head, dorsal view. F. Abdomen, postero-dorsal view. G. Wing, dorsal view. H. Mid tarsus, dorsal view. I. Mid tarsus, anterior view.

FIGURE 3. Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, male (specimens from Israel, deposited in NCUT). A. Postabdomen, left lateral view. B. Epandrial complex, left lateral view. C. Epandrial complex, dorsal view. D. Sternites, ventral view. E. Right pregonite, lateral view, left (inner) side. F. Right postgonite, lateral view, left (inner) side. G. Phallus, right lateral view. Abbreviations: ac, acrophallus; bp, basiphallus; c, cercus; dp, dorsal plate; ep, epiphallus; ph, phallus; srst, surstylus; st, sternite; vlp, ventral plate.

FIGURE 4. Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, female (specimen from Israel, deposited in NCUT). A. Habitus, lateral view. B. Habitus, dorsal view. C. Head, lateral view. D. Head, frontal view. E. Head, dorsal view. F. Abdomen, postero-dorsal view. G. Wing, dorsal view.

FIGURE 5. Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve, first instar larva (specimen from Israel, deposited in NCUT). A. Pseudocephalon, anterior view. B. Cuticular sculpture, second thoracic segment. C. Anal division, posterior spiracles, posterior view. D. Second abdominal segment, dorsal view. E. Second abdominal segment, ventral view. F. Anal division, ventral view. G. Cephaloskeleton, lateral view. H. Cephaloskeleton, dorsal view. I. Pseudocephalon, ventral view. J. Pseudocephalon, lateral view.Abbreviations: abr, antennal basal ring; and, antennal dome; ao, anal opening; ap, anal papilla; co, “cheek organ”; dc, dorsal cornu; is, intermediate sclerite; lb, labrum; mh, mouthhook; mp, maxillary palpus; or, oral ridges; pb, parastomal bar; sb1, sensillum basiconicum 1; vc, ventral cornu; vo, ventral organ; vp, vertical plate.

FIGURE 7. Neighbor-joining tree inferred from the analysis of 11 COI mini-barcode sequences of “lower” Miltogramminae, including two sequences of Sphecapatoclea excisa Villeneuve. Bootstrap support values given at nodes. Scale bar = nucleotide substitutions per site.