Armillipora Quate, 1996

Jaume-Schinkel, Santiago, 2024, Further contributions to the taxonomy of Armillipora Quate (Diptera, Psychodidae) with the description of two additional new species, Evolutionary Systematics 8 (1), pp. 145-154 : 145-154

Genus Armillipora Quate, 1996

Armillipora Quate, 1996: 29 . Type species Armillipora selvica Quate, 1996 (by original designation).

Armillipora – Quate (1999: 427) (new record); Ježek et al. (2020: 418) (updated diagnosis, redescription of type species, and description of new species); Jaume-Schinkel and Mengual (2024: 163) (differential diagnosis, description of new species, identification key).

Species included.

Armillipora bifida sp. nov., A. imitata Jaume-Schinkel & Mengual, 2024 , A. muyu Jaume-Schinkel & Mengual, 2024 , A. nawak sp. nov., A. selvica Quate, 1996 , A. suapiensis Ježek, Oboňa & Le Pont, 2020 . Species distribution can be seen in Fig. 1 .

Diagnosis.

Antennal flagellomeres with a double row of alveoli placed in the center of flagellomeres (in females, the double row of alveoli is less conspicuous than in the males); flagellomeres with simple, paired and needle-shaped ascoids. Epandrial appendages irregularly asymmetrical, with a basal patch of accessory tenacula, a row of short, cylindrical tip-folded tenacula placed in the middle region, without apical tenacula. Gonocoxites reduced and often fused; the gonostyli can be reduced and fused (as in A. selvica , A. imitata , and A. muyu ), or not reduced and clearly divergent (as in A. suapiensis , A. bifida sp. nov., and A. nawak sp. nov.). The female subgenital plate is longer than its width, with apical lobes separated by a broad concavity, and with a pair of long spines on the apical margin of the concavity.

Remarks.

In the description of the type species ( Armillipora selvica ), the gonocoxites and gonostyli were described as unusual, adhering closely to the aedeagus, and challenging to discern (Quate, 1996). Later, in Ježek et al. (2020), the gonocoxites were described as fused in a swollen bag (together with the remainder of the parameres). Still, the gonostyli were free (as divergent sickle-shaped appendages). Likewise, in Jaume-Schinkel and Mengual (2024), the gonostyli were treated as absent (fused) for the two newly described species ( A. muyu and A. imitata ). Moreover, Jaume-Schinkel and Mengual (2024) stated in the diagnosis of A. suapiensis that the “ gonocoxites are not fused ”; this was a misinterpretation of the character. In reality, the gonocoxites are reduced and fused, while the correct character they were referring to is the gonostyli (which are indeed not fused, and clearly divergent). This misinterpretation resulted in an error in the initial couplet of the identification key, where the terms “ gonocoxites not fused ” or “ gonocoxites fused ” were used instead of referring to the gonostyli. This error has been rectified in the present publication, with the identification key now accurately reflecting this character.

Therefore, based on the fusion or the lack of fusion of the gonostyli, two species groups are now proposed within Armillipora . The selvica group, where the gonostyli are reduced and fused with the gonocoxites, including A. selvica , A. imitata , and A. muyu , and the suapiensis group, in which the gonostyli are not fused, and are clearly discernible and divergent from the fused gonocoxites, including A. suapiensis , A. bifida sp. nov., and A. nawak sp. nov.

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution map of the species of Armillipora Quate.