Feltomyina polymera ( Alexander, 1936 )

Jaschhof, Mathias, 2014, A revision of the types of Neotropical Porricondylinae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), Zootaxa 3779 (4), pp. 463-469 : 467

Feltomyina polymera ( Alexander, 1936)

( Fig. 10 )

Alexander 1936: 12, originally described as Feltomyia , a preoccupied name (see Alexander 1937).

Holotype. Female, Panama, Chiriquí, Potrerillos, at about 900 m, 6 May 1935, J.W. MacSwain ( NMNH).

Remarks. T he previously dry specimen is now mounted on a microscope slide in Canada balsam. It is almost complete; one antenna, one wing, and a foreleg are missing. The remaining antenna, wing, and legs from one side were separated from the body and mounted under separate coverslips.

Female description. Head. Eye bridge dorsally 10–11 ommatidia long. Antenna shorter than body. Scape and pedicel much darker than flagellum; scape broader and twice length of pedicel, both setose. Around 60 flagellomeres (63 according to Alexander (1936)), in the one antenna retained, flagellomeres beyond the 50th are shriveled and apparently partly fused with each other; necks short, with microtrichia; nodes subglobular, 1 whorl of setae basally, usually 1–3 additional setae ventromedially, no sensory hairs, circumfila consisting of two rings interconnected by two longitudinal threads ( Fig. 10 ). Palpus vestigial, 2 short, largely fused segments. Thorax. Number of setae on anepisternum, 11; preepisternum 2, 10; anepimeron, 8; metepisternum, 3. Legs. Conspicuously bicolored due to alternating sections bearing either light or dark setae. Foreleg: femur completely dark, tibia subbasally and subapically dark, second tarsomere basally dark. Midleg: femur dorsally dark on distal three fifths, otherwise as foreleg. Hindleg: tibia dark except for base and apex. Basitarsi of all legs with strong spine. Claws very slightly bent, 1 large tooth basally. Empodia rudimentary. Wing. Length 2.8 × width. Sc distinct, long; R1 long; R5 joining C beyond apex of wing; Rs somewhat longer than in other Asynaptini , strongly oblique, in line with R5; r-m+m-cu moderately curved; M absent; CuA two-branched, CuA1 weak, separate from CuA2, CuA2 apically strongly curved. Preabdomen. Tergites I–V and sternites II–VIII entire, with large, randomly distributed setae, tergites VI–VIII with fewer, smaller setae and dense transverse rows of microtrichia. Pleural membrane setose. Terminalia. Ovipositor as in Asynapta ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 153A), basicercus with 1 large bristle apicoventrally, disticercus with 1 large bristle both subapicolaterally and subapicoventrally.

Classification. The presence of more than 14 flagellomeres and the kind of circumfila leave no doubt that Feltomyina polymera is properly placed in the tribe Asynaptini (see Gagné 1981). The classification of this species in a genus of its own is justified. The number of female flagellomeres is considerably larger in Feltomyina (60+) than in any other Asynaptini (40+). Other derived character states found in Feltomyina are the absence of sensory hairs on flagellomeres and the possession of bicolored legs. Also, it is the only genus of Asynaptini and Porricondylinae known to have setae on both preepisternum 2 and metepisternum.

Figures

FIGURES 7 – 11. Morphology of male Holoneurus occidentalis (7 – 9, 11) and female Feltomyina polymera (10). 7: genitalia, ventral. 8: gonostylus, dorsal. 9: fourth flagellomere, lateral. 10: ditto. 11: parameres and copulatory organ, ventral. Scale 0.05 mm. agd = accessory gland duct, p = paramere.