Rhopalogaster albidus, Scarbrough & Perez-Gelabert, 2006

Scarbrough, Aubrey G. & Perez-Gelabert, Daniel E., 2006, A review of the asilid (Diptera) fauna from Hispaniola with six genera new to the island, fifteen new species, and checklist, Zootaxa 1381, pp. 1-91 : 45

Rhopalogaster albidus sp. nov.

( Table 1, Fig. 121)

Female. Measurements, body 11.1 mm, wing 7.8 mm. Head: Black. Face and frons dull brownish-gray or brown tomentose; ventral 1/2 of face black setose, dorsal 1/2 with flat, yellowish setae, sparse thin black setae; epistomal margin sparsely white setose laterally. Palpus and proboscis white setose. Antenna, frons, vertex, and dorsal 1/3 of occiput black setose; flagellum flat, apex minutely notched, twice as long as scape. Occiput with ventral 2/3 gray tomentose, white setose.

Thorax: Black. Scutum with wide median stripe and 2 lateral spots black tomentose, postpronotal spot, narrow line between stripe and lateral spots, and prescutellum between dorsocentral setae gray or brownish-gray tomentose; lateral margins brownish-gray or yellowish-gray tomentose; setae black, sparse white setae anteriorly. Scutellum black tomentose, sparsely black setae, with numerous long, thin, white marginal setae. Pleura white tomentose, propleuron and mesanepisternum with abundant, long, white setae, katepisternum black and white setose, setae sparse or absent elsewhere. Halter knob yellow, stalk blackish.

Wing: Mostly blackish microtrichose, sparse or absent in basal cells. Cell r 5 petiolate apically, R 5 and M 1 fused just before wing margin. Crossvein r-m at basal 1/4 of discal cell. Cell m 3 long, pointed, apex just before base of m 1.

Legs: Black, mostly white vestiture. Coxae gray tomentose. Hind femur and tibiae apically, fore tibiae anteriorly, and hind tibiae entirely black setose. Hind femur and hind tibia slightly clubbed, preapex about twice diameter of corresponding bases; latter with abrupt apical notch anteriorly.

Tarsi: Black, with mostly black vestiture.

Abdomen: Strongly spatulate, segments 2–3 about 2/3 as wide as segment 1 basally, segments 4–5 slightly wider than segment 1; ground color black with blue iridescence, apical margin of tergites yellowish, color especially wide on tergite 2–4; tergite 1 entirely and base of tergite 2 narrowly brown tomentose; mostly black setose, tergites 1–2 whitish setose. Cercus yellow setose.

Terminalia: Not dissected.

Male. Unknown.

Type. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: La Vega prov., PN Armando / Bermúdez , km 1–3 along trail / W of La Ciénaga 900–1100 m / 19 o 01.753'N, 70 o 54.654' W / 17 July 2004 N. E.Woodley (holotype ♀, USNM) .

Distribution. Known only from the type locality, La Vega province, Dominican Republic.

Etymology. Latin albidus for 'gleaming or white' referring to the abundant, flat, white setae on the face.

Remarks. This is the first record of Rhopalogaster ( Fig. 121) from the Dominican Republic and the second from the West Indies. Rhopalogaster albidus is distinguished from R. bella Bromley (1929) of Cuba by the long, flat, white setae below the antennae and black setae on the dorsal 1/2 of the occiput.