Itaplectops ericpalolai 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 ericpalolai Fleming & Wood, 2014 sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0035685 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs, Jose Perez; individualID: DHJPAR0035685; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASHYD1066-09, 09-SRNP-41309; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsericpalolai; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: ericpalolai; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste; locality: Sector Rincon Rain Forest ; verbatimLocality: Vochysia; verbatimElevation: 320; verbatimLatitude: 10.867; verbatimLongitude: -85.245; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.867; decimalLongitude: -85.245; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2014; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from caterpillar of Acragacoa (Dalceridae); verbatimEventDate: 2/Jul/09; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0035690 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs, Jose Perez; individualID: DHJPAR0035690; individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASHYD1071-09, 09-SRNP-41310; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsericpalolai; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: ericpalolai; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste; locality: Sector Rincon Rain Forest ; verbatimLocality: Vochysia; verbatimElevation: 320; verbatimLatitude: 10.867; verbatimLongitude: -85.245; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.867; decimalLongitude: -85.245; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2014; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from caterpillar of Acragacoa (Dalceridae); verbatimEventDate: 3/Jul/09; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male and female

Length: male 5mm; female 5mm.

Head (Fig. 7c): proclinate orbital bristles present in both male and female; male with 3 pairs, middle pair reduced to 1/2 the length of outer 2 pairs; first flagellomere brilliant pale orange; arista brilliant pale orange at its base and darkening to brown at its tip, with gradual taper; 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 2x as wide as fronto-orbital plate; facial ridge bearing 5-6 stout, decumbent bristles; fronto-orbital plate and parafacial entirely silver; parafacial with 1 bristle halfway between lowest frontal bristle and facial margin; female with parafacial bare; fronto-orbital plate of male with one row of fine bristles lateral to frontal bristles, these not extending past upper margin of pedicel; absent in female.

Thorax (Fig. 7b): three postsutural supra-alar bristles, anteriormost greatly reduced; katepisternum with 2 bristles, anteriormost arising slightly behind suture; apical scutellar bristles long, 3/4 the length of subapical scutellars; subapical scutellar bristles parallel or convergent (often crossed); scutellum with 1-2 pairs of widely separated discal bristles.

Wings (Fig. 7a): smoky yellow.

Legs (Fig. 7b): appearing dark overall, at least 1/2 of femur yellow, tibia and tarsi yellow.

Abdomen(Fig. 7a, b): T1+2 with mid-dorsal depression extending halfway along its length, not reaching tergal margin; median marginal bristles present on T4 and T5 but absent on T1+2 and T3. Discal bristles absent from all tergites. Silver tomentosity on margins of abdominal segmentsT3 and T4 not extending beyond 1/3 of tergal surface.

Male terminalia (Fig. 7d, e): cerci tightly juxtaposed when viewed dorsally; haired up to tapering point, then bare until the tip; apparently convex when viewed laterally; very slight thickening apically so as to appear slightly clubbed; surstylus 9/10 the length of the cercus, outwardly convex at its center so as to appear outwardly bowed with a slight inward bend apically, giving it a slightly hooked appearance at its tip, visible in dorsal view; densely bristled along its entire length; phallus 2x as long as cercus, with a downward bend.

Diagnosis

Itaplectops ericpalolai can be distinguished by the following combination of traits: proclinate orbital bristles present in males; first flagellomere brilliant pale orange; parafacial with 1 bristle arising midway between lowest frontal bristle and facial margin; median marginal bristles absent on T1+2 and T3, but present on T4 and T5; discal bristles absent; silver tomentosity present on margins of abdominal segments T3 and T4. It can be distinguished from its most similar congener, Itaplectops antennalis , following couplet 3 in the key to Itaplectops (below).

Etymology

Itaplectops ericpalolai is named in honor of Eric Palola of Vermont, USA, Executive Director of the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, and musician, skier, farmer (complete with chickens) and forester.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Alajuela, rain forest.

Ecology

Hosts

Reared from caterpillars of the Dalceridae Acraga coa (Schaus, 1892).