Atomosia anacaona, Scarbrough & Perez-Gelabert, 2006

Scarbrough, Aubrey G. & Perez-Gelabert, Daniel E., 2006, A review of the asilid (Diptera) fauna from Hispaniola with six genera new to the island, fifteen new species, and checklist, Zootaxa 1381, pp. 1-91 : 22-25

Atomosia anacaona sp. nov.

( Table 1, Figs. 3–7)

Male. Black, face in part shining black, black mystax, body white setose and tomentose. Measurements, body 6.7–6.9 mm; wing 5.5–6.1mm. Head: Face largely white tomentose, white setose, mystax shining black, atomentose with black vestiture, epistomal margin sparsely black. Palpus, proboscis, and occiput white setose. Antenna mostly or entirely black setose, flagellum ( Fig. 3) about 1/3 as long as scape and pedicel combined, scape slightly longer than pedicel, pedicel wide, 2.5 times basal width; flagellum blackish-brown tomentose, scape grayish; flagellum with short spine at or beyond apical 1/3, apex of spine sometimes white; sensory area oval, tapered apically, about 1/4–1/3 as long as flagellum. Frons white tomentose, white setose, sparse black setae sometimes present. Ocellar tubercle with 2 long, apically diverging setae, black, sometimes one black, or both white. Occiput mostly sparse brownish tomentose, white laterally and ventrally, postocular bristles dull white.

Thorax: Black, white tomentose, white setae and bristles. Scutum with bluish reflections dorsally, narrow apical and lateral margins white tomentose; setae sparse, short, white, less than length of pedicel, longer setae posteriorly, forming triangular pattern medially; lateral bristles and dorsocentral setae black, latter about as long as scape. Scutellum with bluish reflections and long, decumbent white setae; 2 stout pale yellow marginal scutellar bristles plus one or 2 shorter, thinner ones on each side, stout bristles about as long as scutellum medially. Anatergite with 6–7, stout, whitish or pale yellowish bristles. Pleura entirely dense white tomentose, white vestiture; thick pleural bristle about as long as anepisternum. Halter creamy yellow, base dull brown.

Wing: Hyaline, iridescent, mostly brownish microtrichose, basal cells partly amicrotrichose. Cell r 4 with base just beyond d cell, wide at wing margin; cell r 5 usually open at wing margin, diameter about as great as length of r-m crossvein, rarely petiolate apically. Cell m 1 ventrally slightly convergent apically; m 3 just before or in line with apex of cell d.

Legs: Whitish setae and bristles. Coxae black, white tomentose, white setose. Trochanters brownish-yellow dorsally, apical margin of hind trochanter, especially ventrally, blackish. Femora and tibiae mostly black, setae and bristles yellowish; fore and middle femora basally, and apex of all femora narrowly yellow, fore and middle femora sometimes pale brownish-yellow anteriorly; hind femur with basal 1/3 or 1/2 yellow; basal 1/3–2/3 yellow, or grading from yellow to black; hind tibia with sparse brown bristles. Tarsi blackish with mostly yellowish setae dorsally, sparse long black setae apically on anterior pairs and entirely black on hind tarsus dorsally; fore and middle tarsi with mostly pale yellow bristles, reddish or black bristles anteriorly; hind tarsus with only black or sparse amber colored bristles. Basal tarsomere of hind tarsus mostly brownish-yellow or yellowish-brown.

Abdomen: Black with blue reflections, twice as long as scutum and scutellum combined, sides parallel, junction of tergite 2 and 3 slightly constricted; short black, recumbent setae dorsally, setae longer, white or yellowish laterally; tergites 1–3 with stout whitish bristles laterally. Narrow apical margins of tergites 2–5 white tomentose; narrow apical margin of tergite 1 black, white tomentose laterally. Brownish-gray tomentose, white setose ventrally, rarely with sparse black setae.

Terminalia ( Figs. 4–7): Gonocoxa narrow apically. Aedeagus longer than wide dorsally, trifid apex declinate. Ejaculatory apodeme clavate, slightly curved forward apically. Hypandrium triangular.

Female. Measurements, body 7.5–8.7mm; wing 6.7–7.5mm. Flagellum about 1/3 longer than pedicel and scape combined; spine at apical 1/3; sensory spot 1/3 as long as flagellum. Legs: More extensively yellow with base of femora and tibiae often yellow on basal 1/4 or 1/2; hind tibia with apical 1/4 blackish; basal tarsomere of hind tarsus mostly to entirely yellowish or brownish-yellow. Abdomen: Tergite 1 only slightly wider than tergite 2, tergites 3–6 usually slightly wider, constriction at junction of tergite 2 and 3 absent.

Types. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: RD-243 Babosico, on way to / Jánico , Santiago prov., 515 m / 19 o 20.955'N, 70 o 47.503'W, 27. / iv.2004 D.Perez, B.Hierro, / R.Bastardo (d) (holotype ♂, USNM). Paratypes, same data (6 ♂, ♀, USNM, MHND) .

Distribution. Known only from type locality in Santiago province, Dominican Republic. Collected at 515 meters in elevation, in April, from the trunks of palm trees.

Etymology. Named after Anacaona, also called ' golden flower', who was an Indian 'queen' and wife of Caonabo, one of the five 'caciques' of the island of Santo Domingo.

Remarks. Atomosia anacaona is distinguished from congeners in the West Indies by the black mystax wide yellow base of the hind femur, brownish-yellow basal tarsomere of the hind tarsus, and combined characters of the antenna and terminalia ( Figs. 3–7). Though similar to A. parva Bigot (Bigot 1856, Bromley 1929, Curran 1935) in the black mystax, A. anacaona is distinguished by the yellow base of the femora and tibiae, the short stout marginal scutellar bristles which are about as long as the scutellum medially, the black lateral scutal bristles, the white setose palps and thoracic dorsum, and the black setose abdominal tergites. In A. parva , the face and palps are entirely black setose, the legs are largely black, the scutellar bristles are much thinner and longer than the scutellum medially, the lateral scutal bristles are largely yellowish, only the notopleural bristle is black, and the dorsum of the thorax and abdomen are yellowish setose.