Neuratelia altoandina, Henao-Sepulveda, Carolina, Wolff, Marta & Amorim, Dalton de Souza, 2019

Henao-Sepulveda, Carolina, Wolff, Marta & Amorim, Dalton de Souza, 2019, Revision of the Neotropical Neuratelia Rondani (Diptera, Mycetophilidae, Sciophilinae): two new species, a new combination, and a new synonym, ZooKeys 861, pp. 63-79 : 66-67

Neuratelia altoandina sp. nov. Figs 2A, 3A, D, G, 4A, 5 A–C, 6A, B

Type locality.

Colombia, department of Antioquia, San José de la Montaña municipality, El Congo municipal rural settlement, paramo El Congo locality, 6°46.5651'N, 75°42.5701'W, alt. 3000 m a.s.l.; forest, L. Rios leg.

Type specimen.

Holotype male, wing mounted in Euparal on microscope slide, rest of body in alcohol 96%, genitalia in glycerine microvial. Original label: " Colombia, Antioquia, San José de la Montaña, Vda. El Congo, páramo El Congo; 6°46'33.91"N, 75°43'34.21"W, 3000 m a.s.l.; forest, Malaise trap; 10-15 Sept. 2011; L. Ríos col.; CEUA 94078".

Material examined.

Holotype ♂, Colombia, Department of Antioquia, San José de la Montaña municipality, El Congo municipal rural settlement, paramo El Congo locality; 6°46.551'N, 75°42.5701'W; alt. 3000 m a.s.l.; Malaise trap forest, 10-15 Sept. 2011; L. Rios leg., CEUA 94078.

Diagnosis.

Thorax brown, scutum with a pair of lighter longitudinal stripes medially. CuA with strong apical curve, reaching wing margin at an angle of about 90°, CuP long, ending at distal third of CuA. Syngonocoxites wide, fused medially, extending posteriorly almost to level of apical end of gonocoxites. Gonocoxite with a wide dorso-posterior lobular projection. Dorsal gonostylus shape like clamps, tapering apically.

Description.

Male (Fig. 2A). Body length, 5.8 mm. Head (Fig. 5A). Width 0.57 mm, height 0.35 mm. Vertex brown, with abundant brownish-yellow short setae. Three ocelli, mid ocellus smaller; lateral ocelli separated from eye margin by less than their diameter. Occiput chestnut brown. Ommatrichia abundant, short, yellowish. Scape, pedicel brownish yellow, cylindrical, scape slightly longer than pedicel, both with small brownish-yellow setae; 14 flagellomeres, mostly light brown, with scattered small dark setae; first flagellomere almost twice as long as second. Frons, clypeus brown, longer than wide, subtriangular; palpus with five palpomeres, light brown, apical palpomere twice as long as fourth. Thorax (Figs 3D, G). Mostly brown. Scutum with medial, light brown, triangular area, wide at anterior margin narrowing towards scutellum. A row of stronger setae present above wing; a single row of differentiated dorsocentrals. Scutellum with scattered smaller setae over disc, some longer setae along margin. Pleural sclerites mostly chestnut brown, katepisternum and laterotergite dark brown ventrally. Pleural membrane yellowish brown. Antepronotum with nine setae, proespisternum with three setae of different size. Proepimeron, anepisternum, katepisternum, mesepimeron, and metepisternum bare, laterotergite with about 20 dark large setae, mediotergite with 9 or 10 dark long setae laterally on the basal area. Halter pedicel yellowish, knob chestnut brown, setose. Legs. Coxae, femora yellow, tibia, tarsi brown. Foreleg tibia with ventral oval depression distally with abundant and irregularly distributed trichia; first tarsomere 1.5 times tibia length. Tibiae and tarsi with dark, short erect setae along their whole length. Tibial spurs 1:2:2, light brown, spurs as long as tibia apical width. Tarsal claws with large apical tooth, smaller basal tooth. Wing (Fig. 4A). Length, 5.0 mm, width, 2.0 mm. Membrane light brown, densely covered with macrotrichia, decumbent on all cells; veins brown. Sc complete, setose ventrally, reaching C well beyond base of Rs, almost at mid of the wing; sc-r present, bare, basal to the mid of Sc. C ending at apex of R5. R1 long, reaching C beyond apical fifth of wing. First sector of Rs oblique, setose ventrally, slightly longer than r-m; R5 sinuous, reaching C at wing apex; r-m bare, oblique. Medial and cubital veins complete, reaching wing margin. M1+2 stem shorter than anterior fork. M1 weak, obsolete basally. CuA strongly curved towards wing margin for apical third, reaching margin at an angle of about 90°. CuP long, reaching level of apical third of CuA. Abdomen. Segments chestnut brown, cylindrical, slender, brownish long setae covering tergites, sternites. Sternite 8 longer than wide, projecting medially, tergite 8 wider than long, also projecting medially. Terminalia (Figs 5 A–C, 6A, B). Slightly wider than longer, gonocoxite ventral surfaces almost fused medially, forming a syngonocoxite with a ventral deep medial cleft, extending nearly to level of ventroapical margin of gonocoxite; gonocoxites dorsally with apical large, setose, lobular projections. Gonostylus small, dorsal branch digitiform, tapering towards apex, with scattered small setae. Tergite 9 weakly sclerotized, wide, short, restricted to basal portion of terminalia. Parameres projecting slightly beyond gonocoxite apical margin. Aedeagus short. Cerci typically well developed, lobular, setose, projecting beyond distal margin of gonocoxites.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology.

The specific epithet of this species combines the Latin word altus (nominative, adjective masculine or neutre) for “high”, with the name andina (nominative, adjective feminine) for the South American mountain chain system, referring to the presence of this species in higher elevations in the Andean ecosystems.