Cephalops acutus, Ramos-Pastrana & Marques & Rafael, 2022

Ramos-Pastrana, Yardany, Marques, Dayse Willkenia A. & Rafael, José Albertino, 2022, Cephalops Fallén and Semicephalops De Meyer (Diptera: Pipunculidae) of Colombia, with description of five new species and an updated key to males of the Neotropical species, Zootaxa 5141 (3), pp. 201-226 : 203-205

Cephalops acutus sp. nov.

Figs 1–16 , 107

Diagnosis. Male. Antenna and legs predominantly yellow. Frontal triangle with inconspicuous brown callus. Coxae brown, trochanters yellow, femora light yellow in proximal half, yellow in distal half, tibiae yellow, hind tibia with posteromedial erect setae, fore tibia with conspicuous apical setae. Abdomen brown, tergite 1 velvety brown, graybrown pruinose; tergites 2–4 velvety brown at base and projecting posteromedially, sparsely gray-brown pruinose, yellow posterolaterally; tergite 5 completely velvety brown, gray-brown pruinose. Surstyli subsymmetrical, both thickened at base, acute apically, with tips downward directed.Apex of phallic guide stout, long, with rigid and distinct lobes laterally, and distinct acute lobe dorsally. Phallus unbranched, with two lateral membranous projections apically.

Description. MALE (holotype). Body length 4.2 mm. Head ( Figs 1–2 ). Eyes contiguous for 17 facets. F, EM, V (mm) = 0.4, 0.4, 0.2. Frontal triangle gray pruinose, with inconspicuous brown callus. Postcranium brown, brown pruinose dorsally and ventrally, gray pruinose laterally. Antenna ( Fig. 3 ) with scape brown, pedicel yellow with two setae dorsally and three longer setae ventrally; postpedicel yellow, with acute apex. LPP/WPP = 2.5. Thorax ( Figs 2, 4 ). Postpronotal lobe yellow. Scutum brown, brown pruinose. Notopleuron concolorous with scutum, brown pruinose. Scutellum brown, brown pruinose, with few tiny setae scattered and 10 conspicuous setae along posterior margin. Mesopleuron and mediotergite brown, gray-brown pruinose, except yellow anepimeron. Wing ( Fig. 5 ). Length 5.2 mm. LW/MWW = 3; LTC/LFC = 1.1. Membrane slightly brown infuscated, anal lobe normal; vein r-m located slightly before basal third of upper section of cell dm. Halter stem white to light yellow, except light brown base, knob brown dorsally. Legs ( Fig. 1 ). Fore and mid coxae brown, hind coxa light yellow; trochanters yellow; femora without setae ventrally, light yellow in proximal half, yellow in distal half, with a row of long and fine yellow setae posterolaterally; tibiae yellow, fore tibia with conspicuous apical setae, hind tibia with posterior erect setae medially; tarsomeres 1–3 yellow, 4–5 brown; pulvilli yellow. Abdomen ( Figs 1–2, 6 ). Ground color velvety brown, with inconspicuous setae, tergite 1 gray-brown pruinose, with six brown and long setae laterally; tergites 2–4 with a triangle-shaped spot each, brown at base and medially, sparsely gray-brown pruinose, with yellow spots posterolaterally; tergite 5 completely brown, gray-brown pruinose; tergites and sternites 6 and 7 as in Fig. 7 . Syntergosternite 8 brown, brown pruinose, shorter than tergite 5, with a membranous area apically ( Fig. 8 ). Terminalia ( Figs 7–13 ). Epandrium and surstyli light brown ( Fig. 8 ). Surstyli ( Figs 8–10 ) subsymmetrical, shorter than length of epandrium, setose marginally. Both surstyli thickened at base, acute apically, with tips downward directed ( Fig. 8 ); right surstylus with acute apex, slightly shorter and thinner ( Fig. 10 ), both surstyli with tips downward directed when seen in lateral view, with truncated apices ( Figs 9–10 ). Gonopods subsymmetrical, right gonopod slightly thicker than left ( Fig. 11 ). Apex of phallic guide stout, with rigid and distinct lobes laterally, and distinct acute lobe dorsally ( Fig. 12 ). Ejaculatory apodeme fan-shaped ( Fig. 13 ). Phallus unbranched, with two lateral membranous projections apically ( Figs 11–12 ). FEMALE ( Figs 14–16 ). Like male, differing only in the following aspects: Body length 3.6 mm. Eyes dichoptic. Frontal ommatidia larger than adjacent ones. Wing length 4.2 mm. LW/MWW = 2.8. LTC/LFC = 0.7. Ovipositor OL: 0.60 mm, PL: 0.32 mm, B: 0.42 mm; base of ovipositor gray-brown pruinose, with a distinct protuberance on distal part ventrally, piercer yellow, except light brown base, apex shiny, straight ( Figs 15–16 ).

Type material. HOLOTYPE. Male : COLOMBIA, Madalena , PNN [Parque Nacional Natural] Tayrona, Cañaveral, 1120’N/7402’W, 30 m [eters], 03–22.nov[xi].2000, R. Henriquez, M 943 (1 ♂ IAvH) (photographed specimen) . PARATYPES. idem M943 (1 ♂ LEUA) ; idem 26.abr[iv].–12.may[v].2000, M1 (1 ♂ INPA) ; idem 29.sep[ix].– 17.oct[x].2000, M791 (2 ♂, 1 ♀ IAvH) ; idem (1 ♀ INPA) ; idem 15–31.dic[xii].2000, M963 (1 ♂, 1 ♀ LEUA) ; idem 14–29.jun[vi].2000, M238 (1 ♀ LEUA) (photographed specimen) ; idem 02–22.jan[i].2001, M1207 (1 ♀ IAvH) ; idem 28.jul[vi].–14.aug[viii].2000, M565 (2 ♀ IAvH) ; idem 02–22.jan[i].2001, M1207 (1 ♀ IAvH) ; idem 17.oct[x].–03.nov[xi].2000, M792 (1 ♀ LEUA) . Holotype with left wing mounted on a microslide with Canada balsam. Left antenna and terminalia placed in a microvial with glycerin, both pinned along the specimen.

Etymology. From the Latin ‘ acutus ’ (= acute), and refers to the acute apices of the surstyli in the male terminalia.

Geographical distribution. Colombia (Magdalena) ( Fig. 107 ).

Habitat. The specimens were collected at the reserve Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona. This area has mainly thorny bushes and dry tropical forests typical of the Caribbean region of Colombia.

Taxonomic notes. Cephalops acutus sp. nov. runs to C. innitidus Rafael, 1990 in the couplet 19 of the key presented by Rafael (1990). It differs from C. innitidus by having tergites 2–4 with triangle-shaped spots, brown at the base and medially, sparsely gray-brown pruinose, with yellow spot laterodorsally ( Figs 1–2, 6 ) [versus tergites 2–5 with dark brown to black pruinose cross band in C. innitidus , figure 14 of Rafael (1990)]; postpedicel with acute apex ( Fig. 3 ) [versus postpedicel with rounded apex, figure 13 presented by Rafael (1990)]; surstyli thickened at the base, acute apically, right surstylus with acute apex, slightly shorter and thin ( Fig. 8 ) [versus both surstyli evenly thickened, with apex slightly rounded, left surstylus slightly shorter figure 36 presented by Rafael (1990)]; ejaculatory apodeme fan-shaped ( Fig. 13 ) [versus apodeme ejaculatory narrowed, figure 16 presented by Rafael (1990)]; phallus unbranched, with two lateral projections ( Fig. 12 ) [versus phallus trifid, with ejaculatory ducts short with small spines medially, figure 15 presented by Rafael (1990)]. Cephalops acutus sp. nov. is also near C. amapaensis and can be differentiated by the characters on the key below.

Figures

FIGURE 107. Geographical records of Cephalops species in Colombia. Cephalops acutus sp. nov., C. amapaensis, C. gracilis sp. nov., C. klinsmanni sp. nov. and C. lobatus sp. nov.

FIGURES 1–13. Cephalops acutus sp. nov. (IAvH–M943). Male. 1, Habitus, left lateral view; 2, Habitus, dorsal view; 3, Antenna; 4, Thorax, dorsal view; 5, Wing; 6, Abdomen, dorsal view; 7, Tergites and sternites 6 and 7, ventral view; 8, Terminalia, dorsal view; 9, Left surstylus, lateral view; 10, Right surstylus, lateral view; 11, Hypandrium and gonopods, ventral view, 12, Phallic guide and phallus, left lateral view; 13, Ejaculatory apodeme.

FIGURES 14–16. Cephalops acutus sp. nov. (LEUA–M238). Female. 14, Habitus, left lateral view; 15, Abdomen, right lateral view; 16, Ovipositor, dorsal view.