Itaplectops anikenpalolae Fleming & Wood, 2014

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2015, Nine new species of Itaplectops (Diptera: Tachinidae) reared from caterpillars in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with a key to Itaplectops species, Biodiversity Data Journal 3, pp. 4596-4596 : 4596

Itaplectops anikenpalolae Fleming & Wood, 2014 sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0019119 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs, Gusaneros; individualID: DHJPAR0019119; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASTAI1766-07, 94-SRNP-4269; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsanikenpalolae; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: anikenpalolae; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste; locality: Sector Santa Rosa ; verbatimLocality: Area Administrativa; verbatimElevation: 295; verbatimLatitude: 10.838; verbatimLongitude: -85.619; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.838; decimalLongitude: -85.619; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2014; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from caterpillar of Paleophobetronperornata (Limacodidae); verbatimEventDate: Jun-28-1994; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male

Length: 5.5 mm.

Head (Fig. 3c): proclinate orbital bristles present in male; first flagellomere entirely dark brownish orange over at least 1/2 of its surface; arista dark brown over 2/3 of its length; first flagellomere slightly shorter than facial margin by a distance not exceeding the length of the pedicel; ocellar bristles reduced, almost hair-like, no longer than length of pedicel, arising behind anterior ocellus; ocellar triangle covered in small proclinate hairs; frontal vitta approximately 2x as wide as fronto-orbital plate; frontal vitta covered in fine hairs; facial ridge bearing 5-6 stout decumbent bristles; fronto-orbital plate and parafacial entirely silver with row of fine bristles; fronto-orbital plate of male with fine hairs over its entire surface, interspersed throughout and lateral to frontal bristles, these not extending past upper margin of pedicel.

Thorax (Fig. 3a): two postsutural supra-alar bristles; katepisternum with 2 bristles, anteriormost reduced in size and arising slightly behind suture; apical scutellar bristles long, up to 3/4 length of subapical scutellars; subapical scutellar bristles parallel or convergent (often crossed); scutellum with 1 or 2 pairs of widely separated discal bristles.

Wings (Fig. 3a): smoky yellow.

Legs (Fig. 3b): legs appearing dark overall, ground color of 1/2 of femur yellow, tibia yellow, and tarsi dark; dorso-ventral margin of hind tarsi with yellow tufts of bristles apically.

Abdomen (Fig. 3a, b): T1+2 with mid-dorsal depression extending along 2/3 of its length, but not reaching tergal margin; median marginal bristles present on T4 and T5, but absent on T1+2 and T3; discal bristles absent; silver tomentosity on margins of abdominal segments T3, T4 and T5 only visible under certain angles, and not extending beyond 1/3 of tergal surface.

Terminalia (Fig. 3d, e): cerci in posterior view tightly juxtaposed basally but slightly diverging apically, haired up to tapering point, after tapering point becoming almost uniformly wide and bare until the tip; straight when viewed laterally; surstylus 5/8 the length of the cercus, in lateral view cercus, appears curved apically giving it a hook at its tip; cercus lightly bristled along its entire length; phallus complex, 2x as long as cercus, with a downward bend.

Female: unknown at this time.

Diagnosis

Itaplectops anikenpalolae can be distinguished by the following combination of traits: proclinate orbital bristles present in male; first flagellomere brown/black over at least 1/2 of surface; fronto-orbital plate with small hairs interspersed throughout; 2 postsutural supra-alar bristles; median marginal bristles absent on T1+2 and T3, present on T4 and T5; discal bristles absent from all abdominal tergites; silver tomentosity present along margin of abdominal segments T3, T4, and T5. It can be distinguished from its most similar congener, Itaplectops tristanpalolai , following couplet 5 in the key to Itaplectops (below).

Etymology

Itaplectops anikenpalolae is named in honor of Aniken Palola of Vermont, USA, a supporter of Eric Palola and Shelly McSweeney, and therefore of GDFCF and ACG.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, dry forest.

Ecology

Hosts

Reared from caterpillar of the Limacodidae , Paleophobetron perornata (Dyar, 1905).