Parabezzia unica Felippe-Bauer & Spinelli

Felippe-Bauer, Maria Luiza & Spinelli, Gustavo R., 2015, New species and new records of the predaceous midge genus Parabezzia Malloch (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Brazil, Zootaxa 3915 (3), pp. 390-402 : 391-392

Parabezzia unica Felippe-Bauer & Spinelli , sp. nov.

Figs. 1–7

Diagnosis. The only Neotropical species of Parabezzia in which the females lack the costal section III, scutellum with 4–6 setae, fore and hind tarsomeres 5 with ventral swelling, tarsal claws unequal, the longest talon nearly 2X longer than shorter talon, spermathecae very unequal, the larger ovoid and the smaller round. Male Unknown.

Female. Head brown. Eyes separated by V-shaped space equal to diameter of 2.4–3.0 (n= 6) ommatidia at level of interocular setae ( Fig. 3 ). Antennal flagellum pale brown ( Fig. 2 ); pedicel brown; antennal ratio 1.00–1.14 (1.10, n=6). Clypeus with 10–13 slender setae. Palpus pale brown ( Fig. 4 ); segment 3 with few capitate hyaline sensilla on inner mesal surface; palpal ratio 3.2–4.0 (3.7, n=6). Mandible with 8 teeth.

Thorax dark brown. Scutum with two (rarely one) presutural, 4–5 posterolateral setae; scutellum with 4–6 (4 stout, 1–2 delicate) setae. Wing (Fig. 1) length 0.93–0.98 (0.95, n=6) mm; breadth 0.41–0.43 (0.43, n=6) mm; membrane slightly infuscated; Sc, M, r-m, R1 and R3 brown; wing sections lenght 550–430 µ, two setae on costa proximad of basal arculus; costal fringe long in the margin and center of costa, uniformly distributed along margin of vein and sparsely distributed on center of vein in distal ½ of section I; R3 ending at wing apex. Halter pale brown. Legs brown, hind leg darker ( Fig. 6 ), base and apex of tibiae and apex of fore and mid femora, slighlty paler; hind tibial comb with 5–7 spines, commonly 6 spines (n=6); tarsi paler ( Figs. 6–7 ), palisade setae in single row on hind tarsomere 1; fore and hind tarsomere 5 with ventral swelling; mid tarsal claws slightly smaller than fore and mid ones, that are similar in length, lengths of larger and smaller talons of fore, mid and hind claws: 75/ 37.5–62.5/30–75/35 µ (n=6); longest talon of fore, mid and hind leg claws smaller than lenght of their respective tarsomeres 5, LC/T ratios of fore, mid and hind legs 0.84–0.78–0.80 (n=6); hind tarsal ratio 2.7–2.9 (2.8, n=6).

Abdomen brown. Two very unequal spermathecae ( Fig. 5 ) with very short necks, the larger ovoid and the smaller slightly rounded, measuring 70 X 58 µ and 48 X 45 µ (n=6).

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Brazil (Rio de Janeiro).

Types. Holotype ♀, BRAZIL, Rio de Janeiro, Casimiro de Abreu, Union Biological Reserve (22° 25′ 35″ S, 42° 2′ 4″ W), 28.XII.2012 – 31.I.2013, “ Biota Diptera Fluminense ” team col., Malaise trap (CCER). Paratypes, 5 ♀: 4 ♀, same data as holotype (2CCER; 2 MLP); 1 ♀, same data as holotype except 28.IV–17.V.2013 (CCER).

Etymology. The specific epithet is from Latin: unica = unique, referring the only species of the genus Parabezzia lacking costal section III.

Taxonomic discussion. Parabezzia unica can be distinguished from the other species of Parabezzia by the absence of the costal section III, a character typical of all species of this genus ( Wirth, 1965; Grogan & Wirth, 1977; Clastrier & Raccurt, 1979; Spinelli & Grogan, 1987; Wirth & Grogan, 1988). Although this new species lacks what is likely the clear generic synapomorphy, the combination of all other morphological characters is coincident with that present in Parabezzia , and therefore we provisionally place it within Parabezzia . Due to the pattern of distribution of setae on costal vein, P. unica is placed in the brunnea species group. The females of the new species differ from Neotropical species of the brunnea species group by the presence of ventral swelling on fore and hind tarsomere 5 (ventral swelling absent in hind leg in P. arenosa and in P. caribbeana , in all legs in P.

brunnea ), by the very unequal spermathecae (slightly unequal in P. caribbeana and P. indistincta sp. nov., subequal in P. arenosa , P. brunnea and P. casimirensis sp.nov., not described in P. fuscipennis ) and by the hind tarsal ratio 2.7–2.9 (2.4 in P. arenosa , 2.5 in P. caribbeana and P. indistincta sp. nov., 3.6 in P. fuscipennis ).

FIGURE 1. Parabezzia unica sp. nov., female. A. Wing; B. Wing base, showing costa; C. wing apex, showing r3.

Figures

FIGURES 2 – 7. Parabezzia unica sp. nov., female. 2. Antenna; 3. Eyes separation, anterior view; 4. Palpus, lateral view; 5. Spermathecae; 6. Legs (left to right) of fore, mid- and hindlegs, lateral view; 7. Tarsi (left to right) fore, mid-and hind tarsomeres, lateral view.