Stipomorpha apicula (Curran, 1930)

Reemer, Menno, 2013, Taxonomic exploration of Neotropical Microdontinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) mimicking stingless bees, Zootaxa 3697 (1), pp. 1-88 : 43-45

Stipomorpha apicula (Curran, 1930)

Fig 127 , 230 .

Microdon apiculus Curran, 1930: 5 .

Studied type specimens. HOLOTYPE. PANAMA. Male. Label 1 (red): " Microdon apicula Curran Type "; label 2: "Barro Colo Isld., Canal Zone, 1-7-1929 "; label 3: "Collector C.H. Curran". Coll. AMNH.

Redescription (based on holotype)

Adult male. Body size: 8 mm.

Head. Face occupying 1/5 of head width in frontal view; shining pale yellow with black median stripe which gradually narrows from entire width of face at level of antennae down to 1/6 of width of face at oral margin; face with white pilosity on yellow parts and just below antennae, bare on median stripe. Gena brown. Oral cavity with produced brown lateral margins and notched anterior margin. Frons and lunula black and short black pilose, except for bare triangular part posterior to lunula. Vertex black; short black pilose. Occiput black; black pilose on dorsal half, white pilose on ventral half. Eye bare. Antennal fossa about as wide as high. Antenna blackish brown, scape and pedicel black pilose; antennal ratio 5:1:5; basoflagellomere parallel-sided with narrowly rounded apex, with sensory pit located at 3/5 from base, within a vague groove that ranges from a little ventrad of base of arista to a little beyond sensory pit; arista slender, about 2/3 of length of basoflagellomere.

Thorax. Black, but paler on posteroventral part of anepisternum, posterior part of anepimeron and katepimeron. Colour of pilosity on dorsal part hard to assess because of glue that has spread over it; Curran (1930) describes this pilosity as follows: "Pile black, an undulate anterior band on the mesonotum, a small spot at the inner ends of the suture, a very broad prescutellar band and the scutellum wholly, golden-reddish pilose." Scutellum semicircular, without calcars. Anepisternum more or less flat, pilose anterodorsally. Anepimeron pilose posterodorsally. Katepisternum and katepimeron bare. Calypter blackish brown, halter pale brown.

Wing: hyaline, with pterostigma and surrounding veins pale yellow; microtrichose, except bare near the junction of veins R1 and RS, on basal 1/3 of cell br, posterobasal 1/3 of cell bm, anterobasal 1-5 of cell cup, basomedian 1/6 of alula.

Legs: Brownish black, except last two tarsomeres of each leg yellow. Femora black pilose. Front tibia white pilose; mid-tibia white pilose on basal half, black pilose on apical half. Hind-tibia white pilose on basal 1/3, black pilose on apical 2/3. Tarsi dorsally black pilose, with some yellow pile intermixed on last two tarsomeres. Tarsi ventrally with short, dense, appressed yellow pile. Coxae and trochanters blackish brown, black pilose, anterior coxa also with some yellow pile.

Abdomen. Orange brown. Second tergite wider than thorax, widest point at half the length; third and fourth tergites strongly narrowing. Tergite 1 yellow pilose laterally, but black pilose along extreme lateral margin; with anterolateral 'ridges'; with anteromedian smooth, concave area. Tergite 2 yellow pilose, but black pilose along extreme lateral margin. Tergite 3 sparsely whitish yellow pilose. Tergite 4 quite densely yellow pilose, more whitish anterolaterally; with two oval marks of greyish pollinosity on the anterior half of the tergite. Sternite 1 bare, separated from sternite 2 by a wide membrane. Other sternites sparsely pale pilose. Genitalia as in fig. 230.

Female. According to Curran (1930) there is a female paratype. This has however not been studied.

Diagnosis. Distinguishable from other known species by the black legs and thorax in combination with the orange brown abdomen.

Figures

FIGURES 124 – 129. 124 – 126. Mermerizon, male genitalia. 124. M. inbio (holotype); 125. M. mellosus (holotype); 126. M. mesmerizus (holotype). 127. Stipomorpha apicula male (holotype), habitus dorsal. 128 – 129. Stipomorpha crematogastri female (holotype). 128. habitus dorsal; 129. habitus lateral.

FIGURES 222 – 232. 222 – 224. Stipomorpha wheeleri. 222. male (paratype), head frontal. 223. female (holotype), habitus dorsal; 224. female (holotype); habitus lateral. 225 – 227. Stipomorpha zophera male (holotype). 225. habitus dorsal; 226. habitus lateral; 227. head frontal. 228 – 229. Stipomorpha, tergites 1 & 2 dorsal. 228. S. mendax; 229. S. mixta. 230 – 232. Stipomorpha, male genitalia lateral. 230. S. apicula (holotype); 231. S. elcopala (holotype); 232. S. fallax (holotype).