Efferia vinalensis, Scarbrough & Perez-Gelabert, 2008

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 : 25-26

Efferia vinalensis n. sp.

Fig. 1 , 46-48

Description. Male. Body 14.9 mm, wing 10.3 mm. Head: Yellowish or yellowish-gray tomentose with yellow vestiture. Antennae brown to black, black setose except sparse yellow setae below scape. Ocellar setae black, 2 slightly longer than scape and pedicel combined. Occiput yellowish-gray tomentose with yellow setae; postocular bristles yellow.

Thorax: Yellowish-gray tomentose. Pronotum vestiture yellowish. Scutal vestiture mostly black, sparse yellow setae laterally, anterior setae as long as scape; lateral bristles mostly black, 2-3 yellow; 8-9 black dorsocentrals bristles with first 2 before transverse suture, bristles shorter and thinner than lateral bristles, longest-thicker bristles posteriorly. Scutellum yellowish-gray tomentose; setae yellow, about 1/2- 2/3 as long as scape; 6-7 yellow marginal bristles, 4 thick with lateral bristles thinner and shorter. Pleura yellowish-gray or gray tomentose, vestiture yellow. Halter knob dull brown, stalk yellow.

Wing: Yellow, costal cell brownish medially;

costal margin straight, not dilated; costal vein yellow setae basally. Cell r 4 just beyond cell d, base narrow with R 4 recurrent vein about as long as diameter of cell basally. Crossvein r-m at apical 1/ 4 of d, slightly shorter than CuA 1.

Legs: Bristles and setae yellow except sparsely

black on femora apically; coxae yellowish-gray tomentose. Tibiae yellow, narrow apex black, vestiture mostly yellow, apical bristles black. Tarsi red to blackish-red, paler basally, becoming darker apically; bristles mostly black, prothoracic and mesothoracic tarsi with 6-7 and metathoracic tarsi with 1-2 yellow bristles laterally; setae yellowish.

Abdomen: Mostly yellowish-gray tomentose

and yellowish setae; tergites 1-5 and 7 and basal 1/2 of 6 brown tomentose. Segments 1-3 with long setae, much shorter elsewhere; brown setae on tergites 2-5 and 8 dorsally; tergite 8 laterally and sternites 6-7 apically whitish setose.

Terminalia (Fig. 46-48): Reddish, mostly black

setose. Epandrium twice as long as wide, squared apically, with thin flanges dorsally. Gonostylus narrow, asymmetrically pointed apically, base abruptly wider; shaft posteriorly with long spinules. Phallus abruptly narrow apically with produced Figure 49-51. Male terminalia of Efferia sp. A , lateral evenly contoured flanges produced, aedeagus angled views; 49. intact terminalia; 50. gonostylus; 51a-b. phallus at 90 degrees. Gonocoxite unusually narrow with aedeagus, aedeagal tubes, and phallic flanges. apically, setae long and dense.

Female. Body 16.5 mm; wing 11.3 mm. Head: Mystax and frons with 1-2 black bristles or setae.

Thorax: Scutum with anterior setae less than length of scape; 3-4 lateral bristles yellow. Abdomen:

Tergites 1-6 brown tomentose dorsally, wide sides and sternites 1-6 grayish tomentose; setae whitish or yellowish, long on sternites 1-3, brown medially on tergite 6, dorsally on 7, narrow sides of latter brown tomentose, yellow setose. Terminalia: Black, narrow beyond base, as long as apical 3 1/2 segments, 4.8 mm, at middle 1/9 as wide as long.

Types. CUBA: Cuba 24 K[m]. S. of Vinales [Sierra de los Organos mountains, Pinar del Rio province] / 16-22.ix.1913 ~ Erax nigritarsis / Hine (1 m, AMNH). Cuba 12 1/2 K[m] / S. of Pinar Rio [Pinar del Rio province] / 12-23.ix.1913 (1 f, AMNH) .

Etymology. The species name, vinalensis , refers to Viñales Valley, the type locality.

Distribution. Cuba, Pinar del Rio province; September.

Remark. Efferia vinalensis keys to the couplet containing Ef. nigritarsis (Hine) in Bromley’s key (1929) but is distinguished from that species by the yellow vestiture of the face, the 2-3 yellow lateral bristles on the scutum, and the combined characters of the terminalia (Fig. 46-48).

Figures

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