Itaplectops antennalis Townsend, 1927

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2015, Nine new species of Itaplectops (Diptera: Tachinidae) reared from caterpillars in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with a key to Itaplectops species, Biodiversity Data Journal 3, pp. 4596-4596 : 4596

Itaplectops antennalis Townsend, 1927

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: Adult; Location: countryCode: BR; stateProvince: São Paulo; county: Brazil; municipality: Cantareira; locality: Cantareira, S. P., Brazil ; Identification: identifiedBy: C.H.T. Townsend; Event: verbatimEventDate: 23 de Out.; Record Level: institutionCode: USNM

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsantennalis Townsend, 1927; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: antennalis; Location: continent: North America; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Veracruz; locality: Jalapa ; verbatimLocality: Jalapa, VC MEX; Event: eventDate: 1961-08-03; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsantennalis Townsend, 1927; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: antennalis; Location: continent: North America; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Veracruz; locality: Jalapa ; verbatimLocality: Jalapa, VC MEX; Event: eventDate: 1961-08-03; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsantennalis Townsend, 1927; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: antennalis; Location: continent: North America; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Veracruz; locality: Cordoba ; verbatimLocality: Cordoba Mex Vera Cruz; Event: eventDate: 1966-07-13; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; disposition: abdomen and genitalia dissected out and glued to locality label; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsantennalis Townsend, 1927; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: antennalis; Location: continent: North America; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Veracruz; locality: Cordoba ; verbatimLocality: Cordoba Mex Vera Cruz; Event: eventDate: 1966-07-13; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsantennalis Townsend, 1927; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: antennalis; Location: continent: North America; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Veracruz; locality: Cordoba ; verbatimLocality: Cordoba Mex Vera Cruz; Event: eventDate: 1966-07-13; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsantennalis Townsend, 1927; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: antennalis; Location: continent: North America; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Veracruz; locality: Cordoba ; verbatimLocality: Cordoba Mex Vera Cruz; Event: eventDate: 1966-07-13; Record Level: institutionID: CNC; institutionCode: CNC

Description

Male and female

Length: 5-6mm.

Head (Fig. 4c): proclinate orbital bristles present in both males and females, 3 stong pairs in male; first flagellomere brilliant pale orange; arista brilliant pale orange at its base and darkening to brown at its tip, with gradual taper; first flagellomere slightly shorter than facial margin by a distance not exceeding the length of the pedicel; ocellar bristles proclinate and reduced, but not so much as to be considered hair-like, 1.5x length of pedicel, arising behind anterior ocellus; ocellar triangle bearing few short hairs; frontal vitta 2x as wide as fronto-orbital plate; facial ridge bearing 4-8 stout decumbent bristles; fronto-orbital plate and parafacial brassy gray; parafacial bare; fronto-orbital plate of both sexes haired; male with two rows of fine hairs intermingled with, and lateral to, frontal bristles, these not extending past upper margin of pedicel.

Thorax (Fig. 4a, c): three postsutural supra-alar bristles, anteriormost greatly reduced; katepisternum with 2 bristles, anteriormost arising directly below suture; apical scutellar bristles long, 1/2-3/4 the length of subapical scutellars; subapical scutellar bristles parallel or convergent (often crossed); scutellum with 1-2 pairs of widely separated discal bristles.

Wings (Fig. 4a, b): smoky brown.

Legs (Fig. 4b): appearing dark overall, femur yellow at joint with tibia, tibia and tarsi yellow.

Abdomen(Fig. 4a, b): T1+2 with mid-dorsal depression extending halfway along its length, not reaching tergal margin; median marginal bristles present on T4 and T5, but absent on T1+2 and T3. Discal bristles absent. Silver tomentosity on margins of abdominal segments T3 and T4 not extending beyond 1/3 of tergal surface.

Male terminalia (not pictured, examined in situ): cerci tightly juxtaposed when viewed dorsally; haired up to tapering point, then bare until the tip; apparently convex when viewed laterally; apically clubbed; surstylus 4/5 the length of the cercus, outwardly convex at its center so as to appear outwardly bowed with an apically hooked tip, visible in lateral view; densely bristled along its entire length; phallus 1.5x as long as cercus, with a downward bend.

Diagnosis

Itaplectops antennalis can be distinguished by the following combination of traits: proclinate orbital bristles present in males; first flagellomere brilliant pale orange; parafacial bare; median marginal bristles absent on T1+2 and T3 but present on T4 and T5; discal bristles absent from all tergites; silver tomentosity present on margins of abdominal segments T3 and T4. It can be distinguished from its most similar congener, Itaplectops ericpalolai , following couplet 3 in the key to Itaplectops (below).

Distribution

Brazil: São Paulo, Cantareira; Mexico: Veracruz, Cordoba, Jalapa.