Halictophagus dominicus Cook

Cook, Jerry L., 2013, Two new species of Halictophagus (Strepsiptera, Halictophagidae) from the Dominican Republic, Zootaxa 3620 (4), pp. 569-578 : 574-577

Halictophagus dominicus Cook , n. sp.

( Figs. 8–14)

Holotype. Male deposited in CMNH.

Type locality. Dominican Republic, La Altagracia, Parque del Este, 2.9km SW Boca de Yuma, 18°21´51´´N, 68°37´05´´; 26–27 May 2004; 28 May 2004; W, J. Rawlins, C. Young, C. Nunez J. Fetzner; semihumid dry forest, UV light sample 52114, CMNH no. 350,662.

Description. Female, Larva and Host: Unknown.

Male: Habitus shown in Fig. 8, Lateral view in Fig. 9 .

Color: Light to dark brown throughout; head and eyes dark brown; antenna lighter brown than head, pro- and meso-dorsum dark, almost black.

Total Length: 1.87

Head: Head as in Fig. 8; Bulbous; clearly wider than the width of the pro- and meso-thorax; with large indentation posteriorly making head almost U-shaped in dorsal view, approximately 30 facets of eye visible in dorsal view; up to 70 facets total; head width (with eyes), 0.63.

Mouthparts: Mouthparts as in Fig. 10; maxillary base length, 0.07; maxillary palp length, 0.08; Mandibular length, 0.05; hairs present on maxillary palp as are small sensoria visible above 50X magnification. Mandibles are relatively large for Halictophagus and sclerotized.

Antennae: Antennae as in Fig. 11; seven-segmented with flabella on 3rd–6th segments. Length of segments including flabella: I, 0.09; II, 0.05; III, 0.35; IV, 0.28; V, 0.24; VI 0.23; VII 0.22.

Thorax: Sclerites as in Fig. 8.

Wing: Wing as in Fig. 12 . Subcosta prominent; R1 complete, intersecting dorsal wing margin approximately 2/ 3 distance to margin; R2 heavy, with distinct curve, shorter than R3; R5 about two-thirds the length of R4; MA extends approximately to the margin; MP present, extending about half way to margin; and CuA extending approximately ¾ to the margin; CuP is prominent, extending approximately 1/3 distance to margin.

Legs: Shapes and dimensions of legs as in Fig.6. Fore coxa length 0.23; fore femur length 0.28; fore tibia length 0.30; fore tarsi lengths I 0.09, II 0.12, III 0.11; mid-coxa length 0.26; mid-femur length 0.38; mid-tibia length 0.37; mid-tarsi lengths I 0.11, II 0.15, III 0.13; hind coxa length 0.13; hind femur length 0.34; hind tibia length 0.31; hind tarsi lengths I 0.11, II 0.14, III 0.31. Tarsi are all three segmented; first tarsi on fore leg thick almost square; all other tarsi narrow and elongated; all tarsi II and III arising from just before mid-length of the previous tarsi.

Abdomen: Abdomen as in Fig. 8.

Aedeagus: Aedeagus as in Fig. 17. Base only slightly wider than apex, strongly curved, length 0.14; lateral spur relatively short and straight, length 0.04.

Diagnosis. Halictophagus dominicus n. sp. appears to most closely resemble Halictophagus americanus Perkins 1905 . The aedeagus is similar in these two species in that they are both similar in length and shape. The thorax also has some similarities but differs in the shape of the scutellum, being somewhat pentagonal in H. dominicus n. sp. but very triangular in H. americanus . Other sclerites of the thorax are similar but with minor differences in shape and dimension. Additionally, H. dominicus n. sp. is almost twice the size of H. americanus .

Halictophagus dominicus n. sp. and H. americanus resemble Halictophagus omani Bohart 1943 and Halictophagus insularum (Pierce 1908) in many characters. Halictophagus insularum differs from the others in having a tooth-like basal extension of the femur and H. omani has a head that is approximately four times as wide as the eye length. Halictophagus dominicus n. sp. also has a relatively large head that is wider than the first two segments of the thorax and the shape of its thoracic dorsal sclerites are clearly different form H. omani . Thus, Halictophagus dominicus n. sp. does not have a single character (like the extension of the femur in H. insularum ) that defines the species but it is defined by a unique combination of characters.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type distribution of this species being the Dominican Republic.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Lateral view of Halictophagus dominicus n. sp. Scale bar = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 12. Wing of Halictophagus dominicus n. sp., SC = subcostal vein, R = radial vein, MA = anterior medial vein, MP = posterior medial vein, CuA = anterior cubital vein, CuP = posterior cubital vein. Scale bar = 0.5 mm. FIGURE 13. Legs of Halictophagus dominicus n. sp., fore-leg (pro-thoracic) at left, mid-leg (meso-thoracic) in middle, hind leg (metathoracic) at right. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.