Nephochaetopteryx tinguensis Dodge

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 : 73-75

Nephochaetopteryx tinguensis Dodge

( Fig. 34 )

Nephochaetopteryx tinguensis Dodge, 1968a: 281 (key), 286 (descriptions of male and female). Type locality: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Tinguá. Other references: Pape (1996: 262; catalog); Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001: 310–311; redescription of female).

Material examined. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Iguaçu, Reserva Biológica do Tinguá [= Tinguá Biological Re- serve], sweep netting, 08.III.2002, leg. S. T . P. Amarante e equipe [= S. T. P. Amarante and team] (1 ♁, MZUSP) .

Redescription. Male. Length = 6.3 mm.

Head. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates with golden microtomentum. Postocular strip with silvery microtomentum. Frontal vitta black, with basal half reddish. Six frontal setae. Gena and postgena with silvery microtomentum. Palpus yellow.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 2+3; supra-alars 2+3; anepisternals 5; merals 5. Mid femur with three median setae and without a differentiated posteroventral seta. Ctenidium consisting of five spines. Wing hyaline, with dark brown spot beginning in the terminal portion of vein R 1, filling the distal third of cell r 1 and the upper half of the distal half of cell r 2+3; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

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

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown, longer than wide; cleft very shallow, not passing the anterior margin of lobe; lobe rounded and with a tuft of short setulae; posterior arm glossiform, projected posteriorly. Sternite 5 with small setulae restricted to posterior half ( Fig. 34E ). Cercus elongate and narrow in lateral view, with apex slightly bent anteriorly ( Fig. 34A ). Cercal prongs parallel, with convergent tips ( Fig. 34B ). Cercal base with long seta, without setulae on outer lateral margin. Cercal prong without setae on inner lateral margin ( Figs 34 A–B). Surstylus triangular with rounded apex, some slender setae apically and setulae restricted to basal half ( Fig. 34A ). Pregonite with distal half perpendicular to basal half with small pointed setae along posterior margin ( Fig. 34C ). Postgonite almost straight, tapering distally, with a long seta and with some small pointed setae on anterior margin ( Fig. 34D ). Basiphallus short, about half of the length of distiphallus, curved dorsally ( Fig. 34F ). Distiphallus with dorsal margin sinuous and apical margin rounded ( Fig. 34F ). Ventral margin sinuous with a small finger-like curved projection ( Fig. 34F ). Vesica elongate, strongly angled ( Fig. 34F ). Inner process of vesica longer than wide in lateral view ( Fig. 34F ). Lateral and median styli short, of about one-fourth width as the widest portion of lateral wall of distiphallus, and both inserted medially in distiphallus ( Fig. 34F ). Median stylus with a projection basally ( Fig. 34F ).

Female. Terminalia as described by Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001, figs 23–24, 40).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Rio de Janeiro).

Remarks. Nephochaetopteryx tinguensis shares with N. lopesi , N. paraensis and N. similis sp. nov. distiphallus with a small finger-like curved projection and vesica strongly angled. It differs from N. paraensis in having lobe of male sternite 5 rounded, with a tuft of short setulae, and surstylus lacking a pointed projection; and from N. lopesi in lacking pointed projections on the anterior margin of pregonite. The terminalia of N. tinguensis are similar to those of N. similis sp. nov., from which it differs by the shape of the gonites and distiphallus (see remarks under N. similis sp. nov.).

Nephochaetopteryx tinguensis was described based on a single male (the holotype) and 20 females (paratypes) from Tinguá, Rio de Janeiro, which were deposited in Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC) (holotype and some paratypes) and in WSU (remaining paratypes) ( Dodge 1968a). All the specimens described Dodge (1968a) were later transferred to MNRJ. However, we only found a small box with the female paratypes and the pinned label of the holotype male in MNRJ prior to the 2018 fire. Therefore, the holotype and only male specimen is presumed lost.

The present male redescription was based on one specimen from Reserva Biológica do Tinguá in Rio de Janeiro (the type locality), which runs to N. tinguensis in Dodge’s (1968a) key. In addition, the terminalia of the examined specimen are similar to those illustrated by Dodge (1968a). The female paratypes are not redescribed here, since one of them was redescribed by Mello-Patiu & Santos (2001). Dodge (1968a) identified the female specimens as N. tinguensis only because, among the material examined deposited in IOC, they were also collected in Tinguá. In addition, Dodge (1968a) mentioned that all the female paratypes (except for one specimen) differed from the male holotype in the color of palpus (yellow in males and brown in females). Therefore, considering that several species of Nephochaetopteryx whose females are unknown have been recorded from Rio de Janeiro, it is possible that the females identified as N. tinguensis belong to other species.

Figures

FIGURE 34. Nephochaetopteryx tinguensis Dodge, 1968, male terminalia. Specimen from Nova Iguaçú, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (MZUSP). A. Epandrium, surstylus and cercus, left lateral view. B. Cerci, dorsal view (setation omitted on the right side). C. Pregonite, left lateral view. D. Postgonite, left lateral view. E. Sternite 5, ventral view (setation omitted on the right side). F. Phallus, left lateral view; arrow showing finger-like projection of ventral margin of distiphallus. Abbreviations: bp = basiphallus; dp = distiphallus; ip = inner process of vesica; ls = lateral stylus; ms = median stylus; ve = vesica. Scale bars: A, B, E = 0.1 mm; C, D, F = 0.05 mm.