Curtonotum hendelianum (Enderlein)

Klymko, John & Marshall, Stephen A., 2011, Systematics of New World Curtonotum Macquart (Diptera: Curtonotidae) 3079, Zootaxa 3079 (1), pp. 1-110 : 83-86

Curtonotum hendelianum (Enderlein)

Figure 148–154 , and 216

Diplocentra hendeliana Enderlein, 1917: 71 .

Curtonotum hendelianum (Enderlein) .—Fischer, 1933: 87 [combination].— Wirth, 1975: 78.2 [Neotropical catalogue]. Curtonotum nigripalpe Hendel, 1936: 90 syn. n. — Wirth, 1975: 78.1 [Neotropical catalogue].

Curtonotum hendeli sensu Curran, 1934: 441 [misidentification].

Diagnosis. The only Curtonotum species with wing infuscation limited to apical third to quarter and in membrane around crossvein dm-cu ( Figure 216 ).

Description. Length: 7.7–8.2 mm.

Head: Frons dark brown with pale medial vitta and (usually) broadly pale lateral margins, purple iridescent (visible from oblique angle), mild to moderate bulge ventrally and sparsely scattered pale setulae, width 1.2–1.4 times length, slightly narrower ventrally, lateral margins narrowly silver microtomentose. Ocellar triangle and narrow strip on either side of frons grey microtomentose, microtomentum of ocellar triangle not extending anterior of anterior ocellus, narrow microtomentose strip extending from median occipital sclerite to just past insertion of proclinate seta. Proclinate seta inserted just dorsal of midpoint in sagittal distance between anterior ocellus and ventral margin of frons, ventral and (in some specimens) slightly medial of major reclinate seta; minor reclinate seta ventral and slightly medial of major reclinate seta. Face silver microtomentose, ground colour light brown; vibrissa subequal to slightly larger than adjacent subvibrissals. Parafacial relatively narrow, silver microtomentose with light to medium brown ground colour, narrowing slightly ventrally; gena with slightly darker ground colour, only slightly microtomentose, eye height 11.0–16.0 times gena height. Clypeus silver microtomentose, with light to dark brown ground colour, distinctly darker laterally; palpus and prementum dark brown, former silver microtrichose, latter bare, shiny. Scape and pedicel with orange-brown ground colour, silver microtomentose, first flagellomere orange-brown on proximal ca. fifth, otherwise dark brown to black, densely white microtrichose.

Thorax: Purple-grey microtomentose everywhere but scutellum, scutellum dark brown microtomentose, ground colour dark brown dorsally, paler laterally. Scutum strongly arched, each scutal, postpronotal, scutellar and anepisternal setae and setulae with dark spot around insertion point, these confluent posteriorly. Scutum with 2 very faint narrow vittae (visible only under good light without magnification). Postpronotal lobe with 2 prominent setae, in most specimens an additional relatively elongate seta present anterior and posterior to these. Scutellum with 2 pairs of marginal setae. Notopleuron setulose; anepisternum with 3 prominent setae and 2 or 3 smaller setae on posterior half; katepisternum with 2 prominent lateral setae; linear tuft of setulae under fore coxa orange. Area below and behind posterior spiracle bare (without fringe of setulae); meron with several minute setulae arranged in a loose dorsoventrally oriented row on ventral half.

Legs: Coxae densely silver microtomentose, legs otherwise lightly so, ground colour yellow-brown, fore femur darker, mid tarsi pale yellow. Chaetotaxy black except for very dense, regularly spaced transverse rows of setulae anteroventrally on apical half of fore tibia and similar setulae on fore tarsomere 1, these gold-brown. Fore femur with 5–6 posterodorsal setae, 5–6 relatively short and stout ctenidial setae; mid femur slightly darker on apical ca. eighth (this very subtle in some specimens), with 4–6 anterior setae; hind femur slightly darker on apical ca. eighth (this very subtle in some specimens), with single subapical dorsal seta. Mid tibia with 2 very strong, 1–2 moderately strong, and several weaker apical ventral setae, more prominent moderate seta between 2 strong setae, additional moderate seta (when present) posterior to these. Mid tarsomeres 1–3 orange-brown apically, mid tarsomeres 4 and 5 orange-brown throughout; mid and hind tarsomere 5 without of short cuneiform setae on anteroventral margin.

Wing: Alula relatively broad. Non-infuscated areas of wing with pale grey tinge. Membrane around dm-cu narrowly brown infuscated. Apical ca. third to quarter faintly brown infuscated, this much darker around R 2+3, anterior margin of area of infuscation straight.

Abdomen: Ground colour dark brown. Tergite 1 very lightly grey microtomentose, microtomentum visible only from oblique angle; tergite 2 dark brown microtomentose dorsally, purple-grey microtomentose laterally, this purple-grey microtomentum tapering to and extending narrowly along anterior margin dorsally; tergite 3 purple-grey microtomentose on proximal ca. third, with narrow brown microtomentose medial vitta, microtomentum tapering nearly to posterior margin on lateral face, otherwise dark brown microtomentose; tergite 4 with purple-grey microtomentum on proximal ca. half, with relatively broad medial and relatively narrow lateral dark brown microtomentose vittae, grey microtomentum tapering nearly to posterior margin lateral of lateral vitta, otherwise dark brown microtomentose; tergite 5 with relatively dark brown microtomentum on medial vitta and posterior ca. third, otherwise purple-grey microtomentose. Tergites 2 through 5 with brown microtomentum in anterolateral corner, broadly so in tergite 5.

Male terminalia: Apical margin of sternite 5 truncate, setulose and well sclerotized to margin (sometimes small area of weak sclerotization present along distal margin); tergite 6 weakly sclerotized, desclerotized dorsally on posterior margin; tergite 7 relatively narrow, dorsal width ca. one-third dorsal width of epandrium; both sternite 6 and 7 well separated into right and left portions, sternite 6 and left portion of sternite 7 broad and uniformly well sclerotized, left portion on sternite 6 more heavily sclerotized proximally, right portion of sternite 7 ca. half length of right portion of sternite 6. Epandrium relatively large, with large posterolateral lobe (particularly evident in posterior profile), setulose, longest setulae on posterior margin of lateral lobe (1–2 setae on posterior lobe quite thick); surstylus articulating laterally and fused medially with epandrium, rounded ventrally and concave posteriorly in lateral profile, laterally rounded in posterior profile, medial margin with acute medial process, minutely setulose on ventral margin and medial surface, area adjacent to postgonite concave. Cercus stout, posterior margin rounded, ventral margin flat, longest cercal setulae shorter than longest epandrial setulae. Hypandrium with broad quadrate dorsobasal lobe, posterior bridge produced ventrally, arm with pair of short ventromedially oriented setulae proximal to postgonite, broadly fused distally to opposite hypandrial arm; postgonite narrowing into blunt apex, obscured by surstylus in lateral profile. Phallapodeme with small, somewhat quadrate “fan”, margin opposite fan convex basally, concave distally, basiphallus very elongate, weakly sclerotized basally; distiphallus base elongate and parallel sided, apex bilobed, lobes of subequal length, left lobe at base at ca. 45˚ from axis of phallus, bending posteriorly before midpoint, with well-sclerotized region ventrally nearly to apex and along lateral margin on proximal half, this ending at short stout membranous lateral lobe, otherwise membranous, with fine spinules on left margin, apex narrow, right lobe straight, in same axis as phallus, with well-sclerotized region ventrally on basal ca. two-thirds, otherwise membranous, with fine spinules dorsally and fine pebbled texture ventrally, with slight contraction subapically. Ejaculatory apodeme outside of basiphallus, with slight expansion and small pores basally.

Female terminalia: Ovipositor slender (as in Figure 202 ). Sternite 5 length 1.8–2.3 times width, sternite 6 length 1.3–1.4 times width. Tergite 7 desclerotized medially. Tergite 8 and sternite 8 weakly sclerotized proximally. Sternite 8 with broad heavily sclerotized marginal area on apical ca. half, sclerotized area free of microtrichia, posterior surface slightly concave, posterior margin broadly rounded to nearly truncate. Sternite 8 heavily sclerotized distally, slightly concave, heavily sclerotized area without setulae or microtrichia. Sternite 10 heavily sclerotized medially, the apical half arrow-shaped. Proximal edge heavily sclerotized, bent dorsally. Spermatheca slender and very elongate, with coarse rugae and minute, sparsely scattered papillae. Ventral receptacle with conical heavily sclerotized neck and bent, dish-shaped, weakly sclerotized head, duct with minute longitudinal wrinkles.

Comments. Photographs of the C. nigripalpe holotype (NHMW) clearly show the diagnostic wing patterning of C. hendelianum and these putative species agree in all other respects visible in the photograph, so C. nigripalpe as such it is here treated as a junior synonym of C. hendelianum .

Some specimens of this species (a male and female both labeled “Type” and deposited at AMNH and two males deposited at CASC both labeled “ Paratype ”) are labeled with the unpublished manuscript name Curtonotum varipennis Curran. The information associated with these specimens (locality, date, sexes) and their appearance matches the collection information and description given by Curran for C. hendeli ( Curran, 1934: 441–442) . We are unsure if Curran labeled these as types of his manuscript species then changed his mind and misidentified them (but never relabeled them) as C. hendeli , or if he had intended to formally describe them but never did so.

Type material. A female specimen of C. nigripalpe Hendel labeled as the holotype was photographed by SAM during a 2001 visit to NHMW. In this photograph the diagnostic wing pattern of C. hendelianum is visible. We have since been unable to obtain further information about the type series from NHMW.

Figures

FIGURES 148–154. Curtonotum hendelianum (Enderlein). 148. Male terminalia, left lateral. 149. Distiphallus, dorsal. 150. Male terminalia, posterior. 151. Female sternite 8, ventral. 152. Female sternite 10, ventral. 153. Spermatheca. 154. Ventral receptacle.

FIGURES 210–218. Wing. 210. Curtonotum trypetipenne Hendel. 211. Curtonotum impunctatum Hendel. 212. Curtonotum curtispinum Klymko & Marshall, sp. n. 213. Curtonotum brunneum Klymko & Marshall, sp. n. 214. Curtonotum pantherinum (Walker). 215. Curtonotum tumidum Enderlein. 216. Curtonotum hendelianum (Enderlein). 217. Curtonotum scambum Klymko & Marshall, sp. n. 218. Curtonotum papillatum Klymko & Marshall, sp. n.

FIGURES 195–202. Curtonotum punctithorax Fischer. 195. Male terminalia, left lateral. 196. Distiphallus, dorsal. 197. Male terminalia, posterior. 198. Female sternite 8, ventral. 199. Female sternite 10, ventral. 200. Spermatheca. 201. Ventral receptacle. 202. Ovipositor, left lateral.