Lutzomyia naiffi Freitas & Oliveira

Teles, Carolina Bioni Garcia, Freitas, Rui Alves & Oliveira, Arley Faria José De, 2013, Description of a new phlebotomine species (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) and new records of sand flies from the State of Acre, northern Brazil, Zootaxa 3609 (1), pp. 85-90 : 86-88

Lutzomyia naiffi Freitas & Oliveira sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–6 )

Description. Male. Total body length (thorax to the end of the style), 1620 (1580). Overall Color: Light brown, slightly contrasting with pleurae and coxae. Head: length (from vertex to clypeus apex), 330 (320), width and interocular distance unmeasurable due to bilateral flattening during mounting process; eyes normal, with incomplete interocular suture; cibarium normal, without denticles, virtually complete chitinous hyaline arc; elongated and blurred narrow pigmented spot; antenna with flagellomere I = 190 (180) long; II + III = 200 (200); IV = 100 (110); V-IX = 90 (90); X and XI = 80 (80); XII and XIII = 60 (60); XIV = 50 (50), flagellomere I slightly shorter than II + III. Simple, elongated ascoids inserted nearly at the same level, with apices sometimes reaching the apical third of flagellomeres, not visible in apical two flagellomeres. Antennal formula: AIII-AXIV.2, AXV- AXVI.0. Pharynx without denticles or striations posteriorly, measuring (130) long. Labrum 190 (170) long. Palpus with total length of 490 (470), segments individually measuring: P1 = 30 (30); P2 = 100 (90); P3 = 100 (90); P4 = 90 (90); P5 = 170 (160), palpal formula: 1.4. (2.3). 5.; P5 slightly smaller than P2 + P3. Newstead’s campaniform sensilla inserted medially on third palpus segment. Thorax: length: 400 (390) from the anterior edge of the mesonotum to the scutellum apex. Anepisternum with 6 (8) upper, 2 (2) lower bristles. Wing length, from insertion point to apex, 1320 (1300), maximum width 360 (390); alar indices: alpha = 220 (230), beta = 190 (180), gamma = 230 (240), and delta = 10 (10), gamma slightly greater than alpha. Legs of holotype and paratype absent. Abdomen: length from first tergite to style apex 1210 (1190); style length 80 (80), style width 30 (30), with two to four spines distributed as follows: three strong spines at apical 1/3, 1 apical, 1 subapical and 1 external placed immediately below subapical spine, 1 smaller, more narrow spine inserted medially halfway at middle 1/3 of style; subterminal bristle present. Coxite ( Fig 4 ) length 190 (190), width 100 (100), with a tuft of approximately 20 long, foliaceous, flexible bristles, grouped in circular area on medial surface of coxite. Paramere length 140 (150), width 40 (40), wider basally, narrowing apically, apex dilated, turned dorsally, covered with long, slim bristles. Conical, elongate aedeagus with slim apex extending to approximately mid length of lateral lobe. Lateral lobe length 190 (160), normal aspect, unarmed, equal in length or slightly shorter than coxite. Genital filaments length 480 (440), slightly greater than five (5) times the length of genital pump, superficially striated, with round apex; genital pump length 90 (80).

Female. Unknown.

Type data and depository. Holotype (male), Brazil, State of Acre, Assis Brasil municipality, São Francisco road, 10º56’29”S 69º34'01"W, CDC light trap, 06/IX/2009, coll. L.M.A. Camargo and C.B.G. Teles. Paratype (male), same data as holotype. Type specimens are deposited in the entomological collections of the National Institute of Research of Amazonia (INPA).

Etymology. Lutzomyia naiffi is named in honor of our research colleague and friend, Mr. Roberto Daibes Naiff, for his substantial contributions to the field of medical entomology and parasitology in Brazil.

Comments. Based on morphological characters, Lutzomyia naiffi undoubtedly belongs to the verrucarum group, defined by Theodor (1965) and Young & Duncan (1994). This species group is characterized by the following combination of character states: antennal ascoids simple; palpomere 5 longer than palpomere 3; coxite with persistent setae, style with four spines, subterminal seta present; paramere simple, without arms or extensions. The verrucarum group sensu Theodor (1965) was originally divided into two series, the serrana series, which includes species with two or three strong spines on the style, and the verrucarum series, which includes species with four spines on the style. In contrast, Kreutzer et al. (1990) placed all species of the verrucarum series with an isolated basal spine and three distal spines in the townsendi series and all other species with two distal median spines in the verrucarum series.

Lutzomyia naiffi is similar to L. columbiana (Ristorcelli & Van Ty 1941) in the shape of the parameres, although it differs in the following main aspects: the coxite bristle tuft, which is basal in L. columbiana and medial in L. naiffi ; the position and thickness of the spines of the style, with L. columbiana having four strong spines of similar thickness, two inserted more basally and one inserted medially on the style, though all are nearly at the same level, while in L. naiffi , the two more basal spines (one of them being smaller and much thinner than the other) are inserted a little beyond the middle of the structure; the genital ducts of L. naiffi are longer than those of L. columbiana and slightly more than five times the genital pump length, while in L. columbiana they are about three times the pump length. Lutzomyia naiffi is different from all other species of the verrucarum group due to the presence of an internal median spine on the style that is much thinner compared to those of other species in the group. Nonetheless, the two more basal spines are situated almost at the same level as in other species of the verrucarum series; therefore, we propose that the new species should be included in this series. Galati (1995) treated the verrucarum group as part of genus Pintomyia Costa Lima, subgenus Pifanomyia Ortiz & Scorza.

The center of endemism of the verrucarum group is in northwestern South America with species distributed mainly in the Andes (Bejarano et al. 2003). However, some species of the verrucarum group, such as Lutzomyia odax (Fairchild & Hertig) , Lutzomyia nevesi (Damasceno & Arouck) and Lutzomyia serrana (Damasceno & Arouck) are known to occur in Brazil.

Lutzomyia termitophila Martins , Falcão & Brasil (Rondônia, Tocantins, Piauí, Minas Gerais*, Bahia, Silva Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Goiás, Mato Grosso)

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Lutzomyia naiffi sp. nov. Holotype male. 1, Head frontal view, Bar: 200 µm. 2, Flagellomere II, Bar: 50 µm. 3, Wing, Bar: 500 µm. 4, Terminalia (a, style; b, coxite; c, paramere; d, lateral lobe; e, pump, genital filaments and aedeagus), Bar: 100 µm. 5, Style in ventral position. 6, Tip of genital filament.