Paraleia

Oliveira, Sarah Siqueira & Amorim, Dalton De Souza, 2012, Six new species of Paraleia Tonnoir (Diptera, Mycetophilidae): amphinotic elements at the northern range of the Andes, Zootaxa 3186, pp. 1-24 : 19-22

Paraleia sp.

( Figs. 12 , 23 )

Diagnosis. Two ocelli. Wing nearly translucent. Female sternite 8 pointed, with some black setulae along distal margin.

Material examined. 1Ƥ, COLOMBIA, State of Cundinamarca, PNN Chingaza, Bosque Palacio, 04°31’N 73°54’W, 2,939 m, 17.i–04.ii.2001, M1258 (E. Niño Leg.) (IAvH). 1Ƥ State of Boyacá, SFF Iguaque, Cabana Mammaramos, 05°25’N 73°27’W, 2,855 m, 23.v–08.vi.2000, M146 (P. Reina Leg.) (IAvH). 2Ƥ State of Huilla, PNN Curva de los Guácharos, Mun. Acevedo, 01º37’N 76°06’W, 2,150 m, 15–19.vi.2003, M3787 (J. Lopes Leg.) ( MZUSP).

Description. Female. Head. Vertex lighter ventrally, with scattered, whitish, longer bristles. Two ocelli close to but not touching eye margin, mid ocellus absent. Frons light brown, covered with scattered setulae, clypeus light yellow; labella yellow; maxillary palpus whitish yellow, five palpomeres, last palpomere length almost twice penultimate, first two palpomeres short. Scape smaller than pedicel, both yellow, apical half of first flagellomere light brown, basal half lighter, second and third flagellomeres brown with lighter basal fourth, remaining flagellomeres brown. Thorax. Pronotum yellowish-brown, five strong yellow setae, three stronger, dorsally, and two smaller, ventrally. Scutum dark yellow, with a small, undefined latero-posterior brown macula. Scutellum yellow mesally, brownish at margins, with four scutellar bristles. Antepronotum and proepisternum light yellow, bare. Pleural sclerites brown, bare, katepisternum, mesepimeron and laterotergite each with a yellowish mesal macula, metepisternum light yellow. Legs light yellow, darker to apex, hind coxa with a brown mesal macula. Tibial spurs 1:2:2, brown, spurs almost twice width of tibial apex. Some few dark apical setae on fore tibia, mid and hind tibiae with long, strong, black setae. Haltere whitish, setose. Wing ( Fig. 12 ). Length, 4.8 mm, width, 1.7 mm. Membrane without macrotrichia, hyaline. C extending slightly beyond R5; Sc complete, reaching C at basal third of wing; sc-r present. R1 pretty shorter than r-m length, reaching C beyond distal third of wing; first sector of Rs almost transverse, directed basalwards distally; R5 reaching C close to wing tip; r-m almost longitudinal, about five times length of first sector of Rs. M1+2 obviously shorter than r-m length; medial fork long, M1 and M2 more than twice length of M1+2; CuA slightly depressed midway to apex. M1 and M2, M4, second sector of CuA and A1 setose. Abdomen. Abdominal tergites 1–7 brown, with a whitish band at distal margin, and yellow brown lateral bands on tergites 2– 7. Sternites almost entirely whitish yellow, with slender, irregular brown bands laterally. Terminalia ( Fig. 23 ). Terminalia yellow. Sternite 8 pointed, with some black setulae along the distal margin; cercus almost longer than rest of terminalia, basal cercomere longer than apical one.

Comments. In most of the Paraleia species studied here, there is not much color variation between males and females, but there are a few exceptions. The female specimens included here as Paraleia sp. show some variation concerning the presence of a brown spot basally at the hind coxa (which is missing in some specimens), and yellowish spots may be present or absent on the brownish anepisternum and katepisternum. Interestingly, all these females have identical female terminalia, suggesting that, despite some variation in coloration, these specimens may be conspecific. These females, on the other hand, are similar to the male of P. tonnoiri sp. n. for most details of the morphology, including the number of ocelli, but were collected in different localities in Colombia. In P. tonnoiri sp. n. the coloration of the scutum is brown with two narrow yellow bands joining posteriorly, a feature present in one of the specimens of Paraleia sp., less evident in the remaining females. At this stage, the fact that the distal part of the wing is missing in P. tonnoiri sp. n. and that there are no males collected together with the females included here under Paraleia sp. makes it advisable not to propose a separate species name for these latter specimens.

Figures

FIGURE 23. Female terminalia of Paraleia sp., lateral view. Paratype. Scale 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 3 – 12. Wings of Paraleia. 3. Paraleia bolivari sp. n., male paratype. 4. Paraleia bolivari sp. n., female paratype. 5. Paraleia fumosa sp. n., male paratype. 6. Paraleia fumosa sp. n., female paratype. 7. Paraleia denticulata sp. n., male paratype. 8. Paraleia denticulata sp. n., female paratype. 9. Paraleia tonnoiri sp. n., male holotype. 10. Paraleia nidorosa sp. n., female holotype. 11. Paraleia sharkeyi sp. n., female paratype. 12. Paraleia sp., female paratype. Scale 0.5 mm.