Efferia brunnescens (Bromley)

Scarbrough, Aubrey G. & Perez-Gelabert, Daniel E., 2008, Review of the West Indian species of Efferia Coquillett (Diptera: Asilidae): Part 1. Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica, Insecta Mundi 2008 (49), pp. 1-29 : 12-14

Efferia brunnescens (Bromley)

Fig. 1 , 11-13

Erax brunnescens Bromley, 1929: 22 .

Nerax brunnescens (Bromley) , Hull 1962: 478. Combination.

Efferia brunnescens (Bromley) , Martin and Papavero, 1970: 63. Combination, catalogue.

Redescription. Male. Body 15.5-16.1 mm, wing 12.5-12.9 mm. Head: Black. Tomentum dull yellowish-gray or brownish-yellow; bristles and setae mostly pale yellowish. Mystax pale yellowish with 3-9 black bristles dorsally; face at antennae and frons at ocellar tubercle only slightly wider than vertex. Palpi pale yellowish setose, 1-2 black setae sometimes present apically. Antennae mostly or entirely black setose, sometimes scape with sparse pale yellowish setae. Frons entirely pale setose or mixed pale yellowish and black setose. Ocellar tubercle setae and 4 postocular bristles black; 2 ocellar setae about as long as scape, pedicel, and flagellum combined. Sparse black postocular bristles dorsally.

Thorax: Mostly pale yellowish or brownish-yel-

low tomentose. Pronotum with mostly pale yellowish vestiture, sometimes 1 bristle black. Scutum with mostly black vestiture, sparse pale setae laterally, anterior setae thin, about 2/3 as long as scape; lateral bristles long, stout; dorsocentrals thinner and shorter than lateral bristles, seta-like, 1-2 slightly bristly. Scutellum mostly or entirely black setose, pale setae sometimes laterally; setae about as long as scape and pedicel combined and 3/ Figure 11-13. Male terminalia of Efferia brunnescens 4 as long as marginal bristles; 2-5 black marginal (Bromley), lateral views; 11. intact terminalia; 12. bristles present, usually 1-2 lateral bristles thin- gonostylus; 13a-b. phallus with aedeagus, aedeagal ner than median bristles. Pleura mostly black se- tubes, and phallic flanges. tose anteriorly, pale posteriorly. Halter knob dull brownish-yellow, stalk pale yellow.

Wing: Costal margin only slightly dilated, sometimes only costal vein thick; cells pale yellowish,

costal cell brown, r 1 and r 2+3 cells usually brown ribbed. Cell r 4 unusually narrow basally, R 4 recurrent vein as long as diameter of cell r 4 basally. Crossvein r-m at or beyond apical 2/5 of d; slightly longer than CuA 1.

Legs: Coxae grayish tomentose, vestiture pale. Femora with reddish spot ventroapical, setae mostly

pale except sparse black setae on femora apically; bristles mostly black, 1-2 pale bristles on basal 1/3 of middle and metathoracic femora. Tibiae brownish-yellow or reddish, narrow apex black, setae mostly yellow or whitish, bristles black. Tarsi reddish, becoming reddish-black or black apically; bristles black, dense ventral setae pale yellowish or orange.

Abdomen: Reddish-brown, black basally; wide sides of tergites 1-5 and sternites 1-5 pale brownish-

gray or yellowish-gray tomentose, pale tomentum extends dorsally along apical margin on tergites 1-4 or 2-4; tergites 2 pale brownish-gray or yellowish-brown tomentose dorsally, becoming darker on 3-5, each darker medially, sometimes tomentum narrowly dark brown medially; segments 6-7 white tomentose, 8 reddish-brown; setae dull whitish and long on segments 1-3, short and brown on tergites 2-5 and 8 dorsally; apical margins of sternites 7-8 with long yellowish setae.

Terminalia (Fig. 11-13): Blackish or blackish-red, mostly black setose. Epandrium 2-2.5 times as

long as wide, with minute anteroapical notch and posterior flange. Gonostylus narrow, asymmetrically pointed apically, with minute setulae. Phallus apically with slightly produced flange, aedeagal tubes angled 85-90 degrees. Gonocoxite abruptly narrowed apically, unusually narrow anteriorly, setal fringe black and thin, longer basally than apically, sometimes with sparse white setae laterally.

Female. Body 16.5 mm; wing 11.3 mm. Head: Mystax with 6 black bristles dorsally; palpi entirely pale setose; frons black and whitish setose; ocellar tubercle setae about 2/3 as long as scape; 2 postocular bristles black. Thorax: Anterior setae bristly, short, about 1/2 as long as scape. Scutellum and pleura yellow setose, scutellar setae as long as scape. Legs: Metathoracic femora with mostly yellow bristles

ventrally, apical 2-4 anteroventral bristles black. Abdomen: Pale yellowish-gray tomentose, narrow brown streak medially on tergites 2-7, pale on tergite 2, color becoming darker on succeeding tergites, brown tomentum widens to small median spot on 6 and larger diagonal spot on dorsal 1/2 of 7; tergites 2 medially, 3-7 mostly brown setose dorsally; whitish setae on most tergites laterally and sternites entirely, longest on basal 3 segments. Terminalia: Mostly blackish, as long as apical 4 segments, 4.0 mm, middle width 1/8-1/10 as long terminalia; cercus 1/2 as long as tergite 9.

Types examined. CUBA: Guantánamo, at light / Cuba 10.v.1917 / C.T. Ramsden (holotype m, USNM) . Paratypes: [style and flagella absent, left middle and metathoracic legs, terminalia glued to card], Guantánamo Cuba / 3.vi.1917 / C.T. Ramsden (allotype f, USNM) ; [head glued to thorax, left prothoracic leg absent], Guantánamo Cuba / 3.vi.1917 / C.T. Ramsden (1 m, USNM) .

Other material examined. C. Baraguá [Ciego de Ávila province] Cuba / L.C. Scaramuzza / vi-21-39 (1 f, USNM); Havana / Figure 14-16. Male terminalia of Efferia caudex (Walker) , Cuba / 1935 ~ Efferia / sp. det. GS Forbes (1 m, 2 lateral views; 14. intact terminalia; 15. gonostylus; 16af, AMNH). b. phallus with aedeagus, aedeagal tubes, and phallic

Distribution. Cuba, Guantánamo, Ciego de flanges. Ávila, Havana provinces; May-June.

Remark. The pale brownish-gray or yellowish-gray tomentose body, pale straw-colored setae, black postocular, scutellar, and metathoracic femoral bristles, narrow median black tomentose line on the abdominal tergites [females, sometimes males], and combined characters of the terminalia (Fig. 11-13) distinguish Ef. brunnescens from similar congeners. Efferia brunnescens is separated from Ef. insula and Ef. pina by the slightly dilated costal margin of the wing, mostly black ventral bristles on the metathoracic femora, and combined characters of the male terminalia, especially the apex of the epandrium, the narrow apical 1/3 and thin setae of the gonostylus, and shapes of the phallus and aedeagus. Lastly, the gonostylus of Ef. brunnescens is narrow whereas that of Ef. pina is abruptly wider basally.

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution of Efferia in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica.