Coproica hirticula Collin, 1956

Bergeron, Matthew D., Marshall, Stephen A. & Swann, John E., 2015, A review of the New World Coproica (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) with a description of 8 new species, Zootaxa 3953 (1), pp. 1-157 : 31-32

Coproica hirticula Collin, 1956

Figs. 23 , 145–155

Coproica hirticula Collin, 1956: 178 [both sexes]. Type locality: England, Cambs., Kirtling. STs (OXUM, see Pont 1995: 80).

Description. Body length 1.2–2.1 mm. Body brown to light brown. Face light brown, frons brown. Interfrontal bristles in 4 pairs, postocellar bristles slightly convergent, 1 pair of small postocellar setulae. Eye to gena ratio approximately 2:1; 3 genal setae in longitudinal row posterior to vibrissa.

Scutellum with approximately 15 discal setae in 2 rows between basal 1/4 and basal 1/2; 3 lateral setae between larger anterior and posterior marginal scutellar bristles. Katepisternum with 2 dorsal bristles, anterior and posterior bristles each approximately 1/5 and 2/3 as long as the distance between dorsal margin of katepisternum and wing base, respectively. Legs light brown, fore coxa light brown or yellow. Mid tibia without proximal posterodorsal bristles. Mid basitarsus with two stout anterior setae one subapical and one at 1/2, pair of ventral basal bristles, and pair of small ventral bristles at 1/2. Second costal sector 0.7–1.0 times as long as third costal sector. Costa extending 7 or more vein widths beyond R 4+5.

Male terminalia: Sternite 5 rounded rectangular, with paired posteromedial tabs, right tab larger, with posteromedial patch of dense microtrichia, discal bristles enlarged laterally. Sternite 6 straight medially. Epandrium with enlarged pair of dorsolateral bristles; subanal plate present, narrow, with medial suture; ventral margin of cercus convex. Surstylus curved along anteroventral margin, with row of small anteroventral bristles, and pointed posteroventral process. Postgonites straight, narrow, and unmodified. Basiphallus straight, tubular, posteriorly open dorsal to epiphallus; epiphallus with small, blunt process. Lateral sclerite of distiphallus with bifurcate proximal dorsal process extending laterally and medially, ventral apical portion cup shaped, and with additional, sharp ventral process; central sclerite short, fused to lateral sclerites beneath proximal dorsal process. Membranous sheets broad.

Female terminalia: Tergite 8 long laterally, short dorsally. Tergite 10 pollinose, narrowly fused to cerci laterally; cerci conical, pollinose, apical bristles long and sinuate. Sternite 7 broad, with large triangular point on posterior margin. Sternite 8 small, with 4 minute setae along posterior margin. Sternite 10 with 1 pair of enlarged medial bristles, posterior margin not curved dorsally, lateral margins curved dorsally. Spermathecae spherical, with conical base; duct length 7–8 times as long as spermathecal bulb.

Type material. Syntypes: ENGLAND: Cambs., Kirtling , v–vii, x.1951, (♂ ♀, OXUM, not examined) .

Material examined. See Appendix A.

Distribution: Afrotropical: South Africa; Australasian/Oceanian: Australia (ACT, NSW, QLD), New Zealand; Nearctic: Canada (AB, BC, NB, ON, SK) , USA (AK, AR, AZ, CA, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, NC, NM, OK, SC, TN, TX, UT, WY); Neotropical: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico (CHI, COA, HID, ROO, VRC), Peru, Trinidad; Oriental: China (HKG), Taiwan; Palaearctic: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is. (Spain), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece (incl. Crete), Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Madeira (Portugal), Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain (incl. Balearic Is.), Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates.

Comments. Coproica hirticula has a cosmopolitan distribution and is among the most common species of Coproica in the New World. It is easily distinguished from other Coproica by the absence of proximal posterodorsal bristles on the mid tibia ( Fig. 18 ), a short anterior and long posterior katepisternal bristle ( Fig. 5 ), and the unique arrangement of ventral setae on the mid basitarsus ( Fig. 23 ). Coproica hirticula is the sister species to a clade including C. novacula , and the C. vagans and C. urbana species groups. Coproica hirticula is most morphologically similar to C. novacula ; both species are realtively plesiomorphic and unplaced to species group.

We were unable to obtain the type specimens in order to confirm the concept of C. hirticula used here. We have used the concept of C. hirticula from Richards (1960).

Figures

FIGURES 21–28. left mid basitarsus, ventral. 21. Coproica bifurcata sp. nov. 22. Coproica brachystyla sp. nov. 23. Coproica hirticula Collin. 24. Coproica lugubris (Haliday). 25. Coproica mitchelli (Malloch). 26. Coproica novacula sp. nov. 27. Coproica rufifrons (Hayashi). 28. Coproica setulosa (Duda). Abbreviations: ARS = anterior row of setae.

FIGURES 145–147. Coproica hirticula Collin. 145. Male left wing, dorsal. 146. Male terminalia, left lateral. 147. Male terminalia, posterior (setae on right omitted).

FIGURES 148–151. Coproica hirticula Collin. 148. Spermathecae. 149. Aedeagus and associated structures with postgonites removed. 150. Male sternite 5 and synsternite 6–8. 151. Left postgonite. Abbreviations: AT = asymmetrical tab, BP = bifurcate process, LS = lateral sclerite, MS = membranous sheet, VP = ventral process.

FIGURES 152–155. Coproica hirticula Collin. 152. Female terminalia, dorsal. 153. Female terminalia, ventral. 154. Female terminalia, left lateral. 155. Female sternite 8.

FIGURES 13–20. Figs 13–15: Coproica acutangula (Zetterstedt). 13. Male left fore basitarsus, posterior. 14. Male left hind basitarsus, anterior. 15. left mid tibia, dorsal. Figs 16–20: left mid tibia, dorsal. 16. Coproica bifurcata sp. nov. 17. Coproica ferruginata (Stenhammar). 18. Coproica lugubris (Haliday). 19. Coproica novacula sp. nov. 20. Coproica rufifrons (Hayashi).

FIGURES 3–5. left katepisternum. 3. Coproica diabolica sp. nov. 4. Coproica ferruginata (Stenhammar). 5. Coproica novacula sp. nov.