Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent

Huerta, Herón & Spinelli, Gustavo R., 2016, A new species of the predaceous midge genus Brachypogon Kieffer from the Neotropical Region and first description of the female of Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 4066 (4), pp. 477-484 : 480-481

Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent

( Figs 3–5 )

Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent, 2005 . Folia Entomológica Mexicana , 44 (Supl. 1):115 (male, figs: palpus, antenna, wing, male genitalia, aedeagus). Borkent & Spinelli, 2007:79 (in Catalog of the Ceratopogonidae of the Neotropical Region); Borkent, 2015:118 (in online World catalog of biting midges).

Description. Female. Head dark brown. Eyes with interfacetal spicules, abutting medially for length of 4–5 ommatidia ( Fig. 3 A). Clypeus with three pairs of lateral setae. Scape with two setae; pedicel dark brown, flagellum entirely pale brown, with 13 flagellomeres ( Fig. 3 B); flagellomeres 2–8 almost as long as broad, 9–13 elongate, approximately two X longer than broad, AR 1.09; flagellomere 1 with five apical sensilla coeloconica. Palpus ( Fig. 3 C) brown, third segment stout, with subapical, shallow sensory pit; fourth segment with one seta; PR 1.33. Mandible with 9–10 apical teeth.

Thorax. Uniformly dark brown. Scutellum with four setae, katepisternum with one slender seta. Legs brown, tarsi paler; hind tibial comb with 6 spines; foreleg TR 2.2, midleg TR 2.1, hind leg TR 2.5; tarsomeres 4 subcylindrical; tarsal claws with internal basal teeth, unequal and longer in foreleg, equal and short in mid-, hind legs. Wing ( Fig. 4 A) length 0.73 mm, width 0.32 mm, CR 0.61; membrane slightly infuscated; macrotrichia present in margin of cells r3, m1, m2, cua1 and anal; two radial cells, each with very narrow lumen; radial veins, M thick, pale brown; costa with row of 23 marginal setae, base of R1 with 4 setae, R3 with 2 setae, M2 not visible. Halter pale brown.

Abdomen ( Fig. 4 B). Dark brown. Sternite 8 separated medially, each portion stout, quadrangular; sternite 9 sinuate; sternite 10 triangular with one pair of setae. Two ovoid spermathecae ( Fig. 4 C) with well-developed necks, measuring 0.05 X 0.042 mm and 0.042 X 0.037 mm.

Distribution. Mexico (Jalisco, Biology Station of Chamela) ( Fig. 5 ).

Taxonomic discussion. Females and males were collected in the same date and locality. This species keys out to couplet 6 in Spinelli & Cazorla (2004), where B. wirthi Spinelli (1990) from northwestern Argentina and B. pallidipennis Spinelli & Grogan (1994) from Honduras are recognized. However, in B. wirthi the stigma is yellowish and the spermathecae are equal-sized, and in B. pallidipennis all tarsal claws are unequal-sized, the second radial cell is minute and the spermathecae necks are deeply oblique.

Material examined. 8 females, 5 males. (Slide mounted), Mexico, Jalisco, Station Biological of Chamela, 19°29´54´´ N, 105°02´41´´W, 5–7 july-1993, Malaise Trap, Coll. Wharton & Sharkey.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Female. Head. Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent. A. Head, eyes separation, frontal view. B. Antennal flagellomeres, lateral view. C. Palpus, lateral view. Scale bar: A = 0.05, B, C = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Female. Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent. A. Wing. B. Last abdominal segments (ventral view), C. Spermathecae. Scale bar: A, B = 0.1 mm, C = 0.04 mm.

FIGURE 5. Distribution of Brachypogon (Brachypogon) ginue sp. nov. (black circle), Brachypogon (Isohelea) cuacuahuitlus Huerta & Borkent (black rectangle).