Telothyria cristata Fleming & Wood, 2020

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 cristata Fleming & Wood sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0016499 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Elda Araya; individualID: DHJPAR0016499; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASTAP703-07, 06-SRNP-67877, BOLD:AAE9747; Taxon: scientificName: Telothyriacristata; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Telothyria; specificEpithet: cristata; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2018; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Buenos Aires; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Finca Tomate; verbatimElevation: 360; verbatimLatitude: 10.9035; verbatimLongitude: -85.3092; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.9035; decimalLongitude: -85.3092; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2018; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larva of the Crambidae, Rhectocraspeda Janzen42; verbatimEventDate: 22-Jan-2007; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0016505 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Anabelle Cordoba; individualID: DHJPAR0016505; individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASTAP709-07, 06-SRNP-67868, BOLD:AAE9747; Taxon: scientificName: Telothyriacristata; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Telothyria; specificEpithet: cristata; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2018; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Buenos Aires; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Finca Tomate; verbatimElevation: 360; verbatimLatitude: 10.9035; verbatimLongitude: -85.3092; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.9035; decimalLongitude: -85.3092; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2018; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larva of the Crambidae, Rhectocraspeda Solis05; verbatimEventDate: 24-Jan-2007; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0016508 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Carolina Cano; individualID: DHJPAR0016508; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASTAP712-07, 06-SRNP-67864, BOLD:AAE9747; Taxon: scientificName: Telothyriacristata; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Telothyria; specificEpithet: cristata; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2018; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Buenos Aires; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Finca Tomate; verbatimElevation: 360; verbatimLatitude: 10.9035; verbatimLongitude: -85.3092; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.9035; decimalLongitude: -85.3092; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2018; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larva of the Crambidae, Rhectocraspeda Janzen42; verbatimEventDate: 25-Jan-2007; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0034513 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Elda Araya; individualID: DHJPAR0034513; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASHYC1165-09, 09-SRNP-1132, BOLD:AAE9747; Taxon: scientificName: Telothyriacristata; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Telothyria; specificEpithet: cristata; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2018; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Sector San Cristobal; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Rio Blanco Abajo; verbatimElevation: 500; verbatimLatitude: 10.9004; verbatimLongitude: -85.3725; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.9004; decimalLongitude: -85.3725; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2018; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larva of the Crambidae, Herpetogramma Solis11; verbatimEventDate: 08-Apr-2009; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0037443 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Elieth Cantillano; individualID: DHJPAR0037443; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASHYC4188-10, 09-SRNP-23251, BOLD:AAE9747; Taxon: scientificName: Telothyriacristata; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Telothyria; specificEpithet: cristata; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2018; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Sector Del Oro; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Sendero Puertas; verbatimElevation: 400; verbatimLatitude: 11.0109; verbatimLongitude: -85.4882; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 11.0109; decimalLongitude: -85.4882; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2018; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larva of the Crambidae, Desmia benealisDHJ02; verbatimEventDate: 01-Nov-2009; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male. Length: 7-9 mm (Fig. 12). Head (Fig. 12 b): frons narrow, 1/6 of head width; gena 1/8 of head height; three reclinate orbital setae; anteriormost reclinate orbital almost equal to uppermost frontal seta; ocellar setae absent; outer vertical seta absent; fronto-orbital plate brassy-gold throughout; vertex and ocellar triangle black; fronto-orbital plate with short blonde 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% orange, directly adjacent to pedicel; postocular region behind margin of eye including upper hald of gena gold tomentose, lower half of gena silver tomentose; upper 1/4 of occiput gold tomentose. Thorax (Fig. 12 a, c): gray tomentose, with two almost indistinct outer dorsal stripes, and inner stripes not evident; thorax laterally covered in dense plumose blonde hairs; chaetotaxy: 4-5 postpronotal setae, basal setae arranged in a straight line; supra-alar setae 1:3; intra-alar setae 1:2; dorsocentral setae 3:3; acrostichal setae 3:3; katepisternum with three setae. Scutellum gray tomentose; 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; underside of scutellum bearing regular non-plumose black hairs below basal scutellar setae. Legs: all legs dark brown ground color throughout; anterior leg tibia with irregularly sized fringe of equally spaced setae along anterodorsal surface, one posterodorsal seta. Wings: basicosta dark brown, wing slightly infuscate, almost imperceptibly so, amber color overall; all veins bare, with only 1-2 setulae at base of R4+5; calypters cinereous translucent with a thin brown fringe on lower calypter. Abdomen (Fig. 12 a, c): ground maroon apparent when viewed dorsally with dark burnt orange color along lateral surfaces; ST1+2 maroon over 90%, with yellow spots, T3 and T4 each with some orange present ventrolaterally; T3-T5 with dense silver tomentum along 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. Male terminalia (Fig. 12 d, e, f): Sternite 5 with an extremely wide and deeply separated median cleft, V-shaped, margins tomentose; lateral lobes of sternite outwardly pointed subtriangular apically, outer margins covered in a crest of strong setae; basal section of sternite 5 1/3 as long as length of apical lobes. Cerci in posterior view sharply pointed along apical half, basal half rectangular with a widened shoulder medially, equal in length to surstyli, fused along entire length. In lateral view cerci, with a strong downward curve, and several strong widely spaced setae along basal 2/3rds. Surstylus in lateral view bluntly rounded at tip, slightly downwardly pointed but not curved, overall digitiform in appearance; fused with epandrium; when viewed dorsally surstyli appear robust and straight with a very slight club apically. Basiphallus short and stout and stout, distiphallus subequal to in length to basiphallus, weakly tapering apically.

Female. Length: 5-7 mm (Fig. 13). Head (Fig. 13 b): as in male with the following exceptions: ocellar triangle dark brassy; 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. 13 a, c): katepisternum with three setae; meron with 9-12 typical meral setae and some long blonde hairs along anterior edge. Legs: colored as in male. Abdomen (Fig. 13 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 cristata sp. n. can be distinguished from all other Telothyria by the following combination of traits: ocellar setae absent, parafacial entirely gold, silvery-gray in females, postpedicel only 30% orange, directly adjacent to pedicel, thorax with only two outer stripes evident, plumose blonde hairs absent from disc of scutum, abdominal ground color dark maroon to blackish under certain angles of light, with dark orange lateroventrally from ST1+2-T5, and T5 maroon with silver tomentum. T. cristata differs from its closest congener T. cupreiventris Van der Wulp, by the presence of orange along the lateral surfaces of the abdomen in both males and females.

Etymology

Telothyria cristata sp. n. From the Latin adjective " cristatum " meaning crested, in reference to the crest of hairs that line ST5 in the male terminalia.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Alajuela Province, 360-500 m elevation.

Ecology

Telothyria cristata sp. n. has been reared six times from six species of Lepidoptera in the family Crambidae : Pilemia Janzen42, Pilemia periusalis , Piletosoma thialis , Desmia benealis DHJ02, Herpetogramma Solis11 in dry forest, rain forest, and dry-rain lowland intergrade.