Oxysarcodexia timida ( Aldrich, 1916 )

Souza, Carina Mara De, Pape, Thomas & Thyssen, Patricia Jacqueline, 2020, Oxysarcodexia Townsend, 1917 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) - a centennial conspectus, Zootaxa 4841 (1), pp. 1-126 : 101-103

Oxysarcodexia timida ( Aldrich, 1916)

( Figs 260–263 )

Sarcophaga timida Aldrich, 1916: 283 ; Guatemala, Puerto Barrios. Holotype male in USNM (not examined).

Sarcophaga sanguisuga Hall, 1933: 283 ; Panama, Canal Zone , Taboga Island. Holotype male and three male paratypes in USNM (not examined).

Diagnosis. Male. Length 8.0–12.0 mm. Postocular plate with golden pollinosity. Ocellar bristles weakly developed. Thorax and abdomen grayish, sometimes with slight pale golden pollinosity; T5 partly with golden pollinosity. Two well-differentiated posterior and 1–3 smaller anterior post-sutural dorsocentrals. Apical scutellar bristles absent. Legs blackish. T3 with 2 pairs of lateral marginal bristles, T4 with 1 pair of median marginal and 1 lateral marginal bristles. ST5 with deep median cleft with margins almost parallel and with pilosity and bristles at the apex of the arms. Cercus straight in lateral view, with expanded obliquely cut apex. Cercus with bristles ventrally present on full length. Cerci with distal third as broad as middle part in posterior view; diverging. Pregonite with expanded base and sudden narrowing at apex, which is darker than the base. Postgonite with expanded base, gradually narrowing to apex; unicolorous. Distiphallus with smooth ventroapical margin, conical apex, straight dorsal outline and small dorsoapical swelling. Vesica asymmetrical, with angular median projection of main branch; distal lobes reduced, with filaments, tapering, sclerotized, with pointed (“spine-like”) projections only along margins.

Remarks. See under O. afficta . The female of O. timida has T7 divided into two plates ( Tibana & Mello 1985).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL. Bolivia, Brazil (Amazonas, Bahia , Ceará, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro), Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Venezuela.

Biology. This species has been reared on human feces under both natural and laboratory conditions ( Lopes 1973b). Oxysarcodexia timida has been bred from a rat carcass, taking 11 days from larval collection until adult emergence, although only one specimen developed successfully ( Carmo et al. 2017). It has been collected from human feces, cow liver and lung, chicken viscera and liver, pig and rat carcasses, dead fish, sardine, crab and squid, fermented fruit, rotten banana mixed with brown sugar, and rotten S. comosa ( Lopes 1973b, 1975a; Pamplona et al. 2000; Garcés et al. 2004; Barbosa et al. 2009; Ramírez-Mora et al. 2012; Yepes-Gaurisas et al. 2013; Vairo et al. 2014; Barbosa et al. 2015; Sousa et al. 2015; Carmo & Vasconcelos 2016; Sousa et al. 2016; Barbosa et al. 2017; Carmo et al. 2017; Valverde-Castro et al. 2017; Lopes et al. 2018). Because of its higher abundance in urban areas in Antioquia, Colombia, it was given a high synanthropic index by Yepes-Gaurisas et al. (2013). This synanthropy was corroborated by Barbosa et al. (2017), although these authors pointed out a slight preference of O. timida for modified beaches located in urban or periurban areas. In Guajira, Colombia, this species was collected in urban, forest and rural areas, in decreasing order of abundance ( Valverde-Castro et al. 2017). Besides urban areas, the species has been reported from coastal areas ( Barbosa et al. 2015, 2017), a continental island ( Carmo & Vasconcelos 2016), areas of degraded vegetation ( Pamplona et al. 2000), humid tropical rainforest ( Vairo et al. 2014), a rainforest fragment ( Carmo et al. 2017), Atlantic forest ( Lopes et al. 2018), Brazilian Cerrado, palm groves and mangrove areas ( Sousa et al. 2016), and semi-rural and rural areas ( Garcés et al. 2004; Ramírez-Mora et al. 2012). In the Brazilian state of Maranhão, O. timida was classified as accidental and rare ( Sousa et al. 2015). A similar classification was made for O. timida in Itamaracá , a continental island (Pernambuco state, Brazil), where the species was considered of low, moderate or high anthropogenic impact depending on the locality ( Carmo & Vasconcelos 2016). Lopes et al. (2018) reported O. timida as associated with the butyric fermentation and dry decay stages of decomposition of pig carcasses.

Material examined. [ ♂] VENEZUELA: Aragua, Mouth of Rio Ocumare, coastal flats nr. La Boca , 17– 20.xi.1997. T. Pape [ NHMD] // [♂] TAQUARA PETRÓPOLIS E. do RIO , BRASIL / H. S. Lopes 13.XII.70 / Oxysarcodexia timida (Aldrich) Det. H. S. Lopes ♂ [ MNRJ] // [♂] [ Brazil] REPR. CIGANOS JACAREPAGUÁ OLIVEIRA 13-X-39 / Oxysarcodexia timida (Aldrich) Det. H. S. Lopes ♂ [ MNRJ] .

Figures

FIGURES 254–263. Oxysarcodexia spp., males. 254–256. Oxysarcodexia terminalis (Wiedemann) (Argentina, MACN). 254. Habitus, lateral view. 255. Terminalia, lateral view. 256. Terminalia, posterior view. 257–259. Oxysarcodexia thornax (Walker) (Brazil, São Paulo, Campinas, LIE). 257. Habitus, lateral view. 258. Terminalia, lateral view. 259. Terminalia, posterior view. 260–263. Oxysarcodexia timida (Aldrich) (Venezuela, Aragua, NHMD). 260. Habitus, lateral view. 261. Terminalia, lateral view. 262. Distiphallus, anterior view. 263. Terminalia, posterior view. Figs 254–256 by P.R. Mulieri (MACN).