Syringogaster brachypecta Marshall & Buck, 2009

Marshall, S. A., Buck, M., Skevington, J. H. & Grimaldi, D., 2009, A revision of the family Syringogastridae (Diptera: Diopsoidea), Zootaxa 1996 (1), pp. 1-80 : 25-27

Syringogaster brachypecta Marshall & Buck , new species

Figs. 14–16; Plates 3C, 4F, 5B; Map 3

DESCRIPTION: Head orange except darker ocellar tubercle. Vertex evenly convex at middle. Ocellar triangle shining, bordered laterally on each side by a row of four minute inclinate interfrontal bristles, strongly tapered and broadly triangular, anterior apex separated from frontal margin by 2X scape length; remainder of frons tomentose and dull. Anteromedial surface of pedicel shining. Ocellar bristles strong. Face with narrow bare strips laterally, parafacial with small pale bristles on ventral half; shining vibrissal angle with thin black bristles. Gena distinctly higher than subgena, with a row of fine brown bristles; supracervical collar subequal in length to pronotum, with a dense, pale, patch of sensilla dorsally.

Thorax: Pronotum orange, with a strong anterolateral carina on each side; antepronotum and propleuron shining, notum otherwise dull, tomentose and very sparsely setulose, orange except for small, black, subquadrate humeral pit; posterior half more or less darkened except posterolateral corners of scutum and entire scutellum. Notopleural carina and humeral carina small but distinct, postpronotum not raised, dull, densely tomentose and sparsely setulose; black humeral carina short, restricted to anterior face of humeral pit. Supra-alar carina strongly developed, tomentose. Laterotergite with carinate anterior margin raised well above anepimeron, otherwise flat. Pleuron mostly reddish yellow and shining except for subspiracular ridge and sometimes narrow dark depressed area along margin between metapleuron. Upper posterior part of anepisternum tomentose, katepisternum sparsely covered with fine golden bristles, mesopleuron otherwise shining. First prespiracular lobe a narrowly triangular tooth extending posteriorly (in some specimens the apex of this tooth is dark); second prespiracular lobe indistinct, forming a small, narrow bare ridge along the anterior margin of the otherwise setulose spiracle. Subspiracular ridge low and indistinct but divided into a bare anterior part and a tomentose posterior part. Fore coxa, trochanter and base of femur yellow to pale brown, bristles long and pale, longer in male. Fore femur without series of anteroventral spinules. Males with fore tibia and basitarsus with black bristles, ventral bristles long, black and thin, most conspicuous near apex. Mid femur white basally, rest of femur pale brown; tibia brown on basal half, yellowish on distal half. Mid basitarsus of males with an anterior row of longer blackish hairs, longer distally. Mid tarsomeres 1–3 and basal half of tarsomere 4 with antero- and posteroventral sawlines. Hind femur with a white basal ring followed by a brown ring of similar length; hind tibia dark brown on basal ¾, pale distally. Hind femur concave dorsobasally, convex for balance of dorsal surface; row of six bristles extending over distal third of femur, posteroventral row shorter. Hind tibia ending in three subequal flat lobes. Metanotum well-developed, orange except for black points of articulation with mesonotum and tergite 1.

Wing clear with dark patches over all crossveins, and a large oval discal band extending from below apex of R 2+3 to dm-cu. Fork of CuA slightly distal to bm-cu; A 1 +CuA 2 strongly developed and almost reaching wing margin; CuA 1 extending from dm to wing margin. R 2+3 indistinctly turned up to costa near apex. Cell r 4+5 almost parallel-sided from apex to level of r-m; r-m over half as long as dm-cu; dm-cu strongly bowed.

Abdomen: Syntergite 1–3 elongate, tergites 1–2 parallel-sided, tergites 2 and 3 fused but delineated by a distinct suture. Base of tergite 1 dark, color otherwise uniformly reddish orange. Tergite 1 minutely punctate and tomentose; tergites 2–3 without distinct microsculpture or grooves, sparsely setulose. Tergite 4 not fused with tergite 3.

Female terminalia: Tergite 7 simple, without posteromedial emargination. Four spermathecae in two pairs, each pair made up of fused (base to base), dark, tire-shaped spermatheca; each spermatheca ringed by grooves, without a visible cap but with a shallow, apical, cylindrical invagination.

Male terminalia: Postabdomen entirely pale. Tergites 5 and 6 unmodified, ventrolateral margins straight. Sternites 5 and 6 each reduced to a pair of small, pale sclerites each with two long bristles; synsternite 7+8 narrow but forming a complete ring, spiracles in lateral margins of ring although right spiracle slightly lower. Cercus almost sessile, much smaller than the broad, mitt-shaped surstylus. Hypandrium entire, without breaks. Hypandrial arm with greatly inflated, quadrate, densely setose ventral lobe; pregonite forming a large, darkly sclerotized, three pointed piece. Hypandrial bridge briefly interrupted medially. Subepandrial sclerite weakly sclerotized small and inconspicuous. Basiphallus narrowly cylindrical at base, expanded distally; basal part of distiphallus U-shaped, directed sinistrally; distal part of distiphallus with a long, anteriorly directed, spatulate lobe, and a smaller, pale, narrow dorsal lobe.

TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype ♂ ( QCAZ): ECUADOR. Napo, Jatun Sacha Reserve , 6 km E Misahuallí, 450 m, 1°4’S, 77°37’W, 30.iv–8.v.2002, varzea, S.A. Marshall, debu00196252 . Paratypes: ECUADOR. Locality and date as for holotype, on foliage, M. Buck (5♂, 7♀, DEBU, QCAZ); Prt. Orellana, Río Tiputini , 0°38.2’S, 76°8.9’W, 12–26.viii.1999, W.N. Mathis, A. Baptista & M. Kotrba (6♂, 10♀, USNM); Sucumbíos, Sacha Lodge, 270 m, 0.5°S, 76.5°W, 16–27.viii.1994, malaise, P. Hibbs (1♂, LACM) . PERU. Madre de Dios, Manú, Río Manú, Pakitza , 20 m, 12°7’S, 70°58’W, 9–23.ix.1988, A. Freidberg (2♀, USNM) .

ETYMOLOGY: The specific name refers to the relatively short row of stout ventral bristles on the hind femur.

COMMENTS: Syringogaster brachypecta differs from other species in the rufa -group by the shorter row of stout ventral bristles on the hind femur, the unusually numerous long hairs on the male femora, the elongate epandrium, the greatly inflated and densely setose ventral hypandrial lobe, the interrupted hypandrial bridge and the basally fused spermathecae. The latter character is unusual, but identical in each of two females dissected and stained.