Nephochaetopteryx angustifrons Lopes

Carvalho-Filho, Fernando Da Silva, Esposito, Maria Cristina & Mello-Patiu, Cátia Antunes De, 2021, Revision of Nephochaetopteryx Townsend, 1934 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Zootaxa 4928 (1), pp. 1-83 : 11-13

Nephochaetopteryx angustifrons Lopes

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Nephochaetopteryx angustifrons Lopes, 1942: 187 (description of male). Type locality: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara [= Rio de Janeiro state], Grajaú. Other references: Lopes (1969: 28; catalog); Lopes (1975a: 277–279; redescription of male and description of female); Pape (1996: 259; catalog); Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001: 304; redescription of female).

Nephochaetopteryx grajahuana Dodge, 1968a: 279 (key), 283 (description of male). Type locality: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara, Grajaú. Other references: Dodge (1968a: 279; key); Lopes (1975a; proposal of synonymy).

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♁ ( MNRJ): GRAJAU / RIO DE JANEIRO / S. LOPES 20–9 – 39 [printed on rectangular white label bordered with black] // Holotype [printed on rectangular red label bordered with black] // Nephochaetopteryx / angustifrons / n.sp. / Holotypus / Det. H.S. Lopes [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label] // MNRJ / 2195 [printed and handwritten on rectangular white label]. [Holotype in good condition, with terminalia extended.]

Additional material examined. Brazil. Ceará: Pacatuba , 350 m, 24.VIII.1973, leg. H.S. Lopes (2 ♁♁, 2 ♀♀, MNRJ) ; same data, but 26.VIII.1973 (1 ♀, MNRJ) . Minas Gerais: Santa Bárbara, Reserva de Peti , 12.XII.1988, [no collector] (1 ♁, MNRJ) ; Paraopeba , 10.IX.1969, [no collector] (7 ♀♀, MNRJ) .

Redescription. Male. Length = 6.0–7.0 mm (n = 11).

Head. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates and postocular strip with golden microtomentum. Frontal vitta black. Five to six frontal setae. Gena and postgena with golden microtomentum. Palpus yellow.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 2+2; supra-alars 1+3, anepisternals 5; merals 5. Mid femur with two median setae and without a differentiated posteroventral seta. Ctenidium consisting of four spines. Wing hyaline; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m or with two setae beyond the crossvein.

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of yellowish-gray microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces. Sternites 1 to 4 yellow, quadrate, covered with yellowish setulae and with marginal setae.

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown, with a deep cleft, nearly reaching middle of sternite; lobe rounded, with two prominent setae and many thin setae; arm wide, with rounded divergent apex; setulae restricted to posterior half ( Fig. 2E ). Syntergosternite 7+8 and epandrium brown. Cercus gently bent posteriorly in lateral view, with apex rounded and with a very small, rounded preapical protuberance dorsally (absent in some specimens) ( Fig. 2B ). Cercal prongs separated, but with tips strongly convergent ( Fig. 2A ). Inner lateral margin and tip of cercus without setulae; outer lateral margin and cercal base with long and thick setae ( Fig. 2A ). Surstylus with basal half narrowed and apical half widened and rectangular, covered with small pointed setae and without setulae ( Fig. 2B ). Pregonite elongate, tapering distally and gently curved posteriorly, with rounded apex and small pointed setae on posterior margin ( Fig. 2C ). Postgonite almost straight, with a long and small pointed setula on anterior margin ( Fig. 2D ). Basiphallus straight and elongate, as long as distiphallus. Distiphallus with apical margin almost straight and apical surface with a conspicuous pointed projection ( Fig. 2F ). Ventral margin of distiphallus predominantly membranous, with pointed sclerotized projection ( Fig. 2F ). Vesica angled in lateral view, composed of a proximal portion perpendicular to the phallic tube and a distal portion directed apically, with a spiny projection ( Fig. 2F ). Inner process of vesica absent ( Fig. 2F ). Median and lateral styli tubular and long, and both inserted close to proximal portion of vesica ( Fig. 2F ).

Female. Terminalia as described by Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001, figs 3–4, 30).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Ceará, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro).

Remarks. Nephochaetopteryx angustifrons differs from other species in having a conspicuous pointed projection at the apex of the distiphallus, of about the same length as the vesica, and vesica with a distal process covered with stout spines. Nephochaetopteryx pallidiventris also has a similar pointed projection on the distiphallus, but this is not so prominent (shorter than vesica), and the vesica has no spines.

The type specimen of the nominal species N. grajahuana was not studied, since it is possibly lost. According to Dodge (1968a), the holotype of this species is deposited at Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC). Specimens described by Dodge (1968a) and that were deposited in the IOC have since been transferred to the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ). However, the holotype of N. grajahuana was not located in MNRJ before the 2018 fire, as previously noted by Lopes (1975a).

Nephochaetopteryx grajahuana differs from N. angustifrons only by the presence of a differentiated posteroventral seta in the mid femur and by the width of the frontal vitta ( Dodge 1968a), which are both highly variable features. The terminalia seem very similar to those of N. angustifrons ( Dodge 1968a, fig. D) and both are from the same type locality (Grajaú, Rio de Janeiro). Therefore, the synonymy proposed by Lopes (1975a) is maintained here.

Nephochaetopteryx angustifrons was one of most abundant species collected in butterfly traps baited with fermenting fruits in Ceará (northern Brazil) ( Lopes 1975a). This is the first record of this species from the state of Minas Gerais.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Nephochaetopteryx angustifrons Lopes, 1942, male terminalia. Specimen from Pacatuba, Ceará, Brazil (MNRJ). A. Cerci, dorsal view (setation omitted on the left side). B. Epandrium, surstylus and cercus, left lateral view. C. Pregonite, left lateral view. D. Postgonite, left lateral view. E. Sternite 5, ventral view (setation omitted on the right side). F. Distiphallus, left lateral view; arrow showing spiny projection of vesica. Abbreviations: dp = distiphallus; ls = lateral stylus; ms = median stylus; ve = vesica. Scale bars: A, B, E = 0.1 mm; C, D, F = 0.05 mm.