Cordyla monticola, Kurina, Olavi & Oliveira, Sarah Siqueira, 2015

Kurina, Olavi & Oliveira, Sarah Siqueira, 2015, A new case of an Holarctic element in the Colombian Andes: first record of Cordyla Meigen (Diptera, Mycetophilidae) from the Neotropical region, ZooKeys 520, pp. 87-108 : 89

Taxon classification Animalia Diptera Mycetophilidae

Cordyla monticola sp. n. Figs 1-2, 3-7, 8-9, 38

Type material.

Holotype. ♂, COLOMBIA, Boyacá / SFF Iguaque El Níspero / 05°38'N 73°31'W 2730 m / Malaise 2 07-21.xii.2001 / P. Reina Leg. M. 2585 [IAvH]. Paratype. 1♂, same as holotype [MZUSP].

Description.

Male (Fig. 1). Total length 4.1-4.6, 4.4 [4.6] mm (n=2).

Head (Fig. 2) dark yellow, mouthparts pale. Two ocelli encircled by brown areas, close to compound eyes. All three visible palpal segments (Fig. 2) setose, swollen antepenultimate segment dark brown, succeeding segments pale. 4th segment slightly widening apically, 5th segment apically tapering. Swollen palpal segment 1.6 times as long as broad medially from lateral view, and 1.1-1.3, 1.2 [1.1] times as long as height of compound eye. Ratios of three apical palpomeres 1.0: 0.9: 0.9. Antenna yellow with 2+13 segments. Scape and pedicel with brown setae, flagellum with somewhat paler setosity. Scape elongate cup-shaped, 1.7-2.2, 2.0 [2.2] times as long as wide apically. Pedicel cup-shaped, 0.9 times as long as wide apically. Flagellomeres rectangular, about twice as wide as long. Apical flagellomere conical, about 1.6 times as long as wide basally. Thorax yellow, mesonotum medially, laterotergite and mediotergite somewhat darker. Hind margin of laterotergite narrowly brown. Anterior part of mesepimeron with a dark brown patch leaving anteroapical margin yellow. Haltere with pale knob, and basally pale and apically yellow stem. All setosity on thorax brown. Scutum entirely covered with decumbent setae, scutellum with setae including two pairs of marginal bristles, laterals shorter than internals. Antepronotum with setae including 6-8 [8] bristles, proepisternum with setae including 6-8 [8] bristles. Anepisternum with 2-4 [4] bristles at hind margin and with ca. 50 setae on its upper two thirds. Mesepimeron and katepisternum bare. Laterotergite with 5-6 [6] bristles and ca. 20 setae on upper half. Mediotergite bare. Metepisternum with 5-7 [7] bristles and ca. 10 setae. Wing with yellowish tinge, cell R1 somewhat darker. Length 3.1 [3.1] mm (n=2). Ratio of length to width 2.5-2.6, 2.6 [2.6]. All veins light brown. Radial veins seem darker because of setae on both surfaces; other veins bare. Crossvein r-m apically disjunct. M1+2 3.5-3.7, 3.6 [3.7] times as long as r-m. M2 not reaching wing margin, broken 0.4-0.8, 0.6 [0.4] times of M1+2 length before it. Posterior fork begins clearly before anterior fork, at the middle of M1+2. Legs yellow, hind femora infuscated at apical fourth. Tarsi seem darker because of dense brown setae. Hind coxa with 4 [4] posterolateral bristles basally, with 0-2 [2] posterior bristles apically, and with ca. 30 weaker setae along posterolateral margin. Ratio of femur to tibia for fore-, mid- and hind legs: 1.5; 1.1; 1.0. Ratio tibia to first tarsomere for fore-, mid- and hind legs: 1.0; 1.2; 1.4. Fore-tibia with a spur about 0.5 of fore basitarsus; mid-tibia with anterior spur about 0.3-0.4, 0.4 [0.3] and with posterior spur about 0.6-0.7, 0.7 [0.6] of mid basitarsus; hind tibia with anterior spur about 0.5-0.6, 0.6 [0.5] and with posterior spur about 0.6-0.7, 0.7 [0.6] of hind basitarsus. Abdomen with first segment dorsally and laterally light brown and ventrally yellow. 2-4 segments dorsally brown with anterior and posterior margins yellowish, and laterally and ventrally yellowish; succeeding segments brownish. Terminalia (Figs 3-9) with gonocoxite basally yellow and apically brownish; gonostylus brownish; sternite 8 seems brownish because of dense setosity. Basal two thirds of sternite 8 cylindrical, apical third tapering, apex truncated. Basal third of sternite 8 membranous and bare, apical setae stronger than other setae. Gonocoxite slightly oblong, with broad ventral incision more than half of gonocoxite height. Ventral incision of gonocoxite with apically pointed basal projection about one third height of incision. Ventral medial margin of gonocoxite angular. Dorsal medial margin of gonocoxite simple. Cerci setose, clearly separated, basally wide, well tapering apically and protruding over gonocoxite. Basal half of gonocoxite bare, apical half with strong bristles. Dorsal branch of gonostylus rectangular, apically rounded, with a medially situated sclerotized comb of about half height of branch on its ventral surface. Apical setae somewhat stronger, deviating from other setosity of the branch. Dorsal branch of gonostylus with an indistinct basal tubercle on its ventral surface, close to base of medial branch. Ventral branch of gonostylus bare, subequal to dorsal branch, with serrated lateral margin and medially drawn out to a distinct lobe. The apical third of ventral branch is well tapering in ventral view. Medial branch of gonostylus divided at apical two thirds into two subequal lobes: ventral lobe rectangular, apically truncated, bearing 9-10 setae on its ventral part; dorsal lobe beak-shaped with two setae subapically on its ventral margin. Epiproct rounded with small setulae that arise in lines of 4 to 8 from small ridges. Hypoproct bowl-shaped with well-outlined lateral shoulders.

Female. Unknown.

Biology.

Unknown.

Etymology.

The species is named to indicate its occurrence at high altitude (2730 m a.s.l.): Latin monticola means "mountain dweller". The specific epithet is noun in apposition.

Comments.

The paratype has seemingly 14 flagellar segments at one side, caused by an aberrantly divided apical one. This, as well as partial fusion of some flagellar segments unilaterally, is common and frequently observed in the Palaearctic specimens of the genus (OK pers. obs.). According to the structure of male terminalia, especially in having the medial branch of the gonostylus divided into two subequal lobes, the species belongs to the Cordyla murina species-group as defined by Kurina (2001). Within the group, Cordyla monticola sp. n. shares a 13-segmented flagellum and brown to dark brown swollen antepenultimate palpal segment with two Palaearctic (viz. Cordyla semiflava Staeger, 1840 and Cordyla borealisa Wu in Wu & Zheng, 2000) and three Nearctic ( Cordyla manca Johannsen, 1912, Cordyla scita Johannsen, 1912 and Cordyla gracilis Fisher, 1938) species. Cordyla semiflava , Cordyla borealisa and Cordyla manca have the sternite VIII subapically remarkably constricted, while it is smoothly tapering in Cordyla monticola sp. n. The shape of the lobes of medial branch of the gonostylus and the hypoproct are different from those in all species of the group.