Psychoda amazonensis Cordeiro & Bravo

Cordeiro, Danilo, Bravo, Freddy & De, Claudio J. B., 2011, Taxonomy of Brazilian Psychoda Latreille, 1796 (Diptera, Psychodidae) with the description of thirteen new species, Zootaxa 3101, pp. 1-37 : 7

Psychoda amazonensis Cordeiro & Bravo

Psychoda amazonensis Cordeiro & Bravo, 2008: 116 . Type Locality: Brazil (Amazonas, Silves, Saracá)

Diagnosis. eyes separated by 0.3 facet diameters; antenna with 14 flagellomeres, 12th–14th fused; ascoids with 1 inferior and 3 superior arms; gonostylus with a long basal setae; gonocoxal bridge expanded posteriorly, with acute apex, extending beyond apex of distiphallus; paramere absent; female terminalia reduced (cerci and subgenital plate reduced), genital digit absent.

Additional characters. hair patch of frons extending to facet row 2 or 3; 4–5 (rarely 6) supra-ocular setae; interocular suture absent; clypeus with 2 stronger lateral alveoli; frontoclypeal suture absent or apparently incomplete; distitarsus with apical projection.

Material examined. type material: holotype 3 BRAZIL, Amazonas, Silves, Saracá, 30.vi.1997, no collector name ( INPA); 2 paratypes 3 e 5 paratypes Ƥ, same dates and locality as the holotype, no collector name (13 e 3Ƥ INPA, 13 e 2Ƥ MZUEFS). Other specimens: 2 3 e 3 Ƥ Amazonas, Silves, 01.vi.1997, 6cdc- 1m, no collector name ( INPA); 1 3 e 1 Ƥ Amazonas, Silves, área alterada, 29.v.1997, 7 cdc/m, col. TVB/FLS (MZUEFS).

Distribution. BRAZIL (Amazonas).

Comments. according to Cordeiro & Bravo (2008), this species is likely obligatorily viviparous, making it the only known viviparous species in Psychoda .

Four-branched ascoids are found only on two subgenera of Psychoda : Falsologima and Apsycha comb. nov, but in the subgenus Falsologima the females have three-branched ascoids. Although the long setae seen on gonotylus of males of this species is also a character of subgenus Falsologima , the number of apical flagellomeres and the shape of female ascoid clearly separate it from this subgenus. Also, according to original description and key of Ježek (2007), in the subgenus Apsycha the 13th and 14th flagellomeres are separated and also 14th is shortly spindle-shaped, what is not true for P. amazonensis . This species cannot be also assigned to any of other subgenera of Psychoda because of differences between the pattern of fusion of the three apical flagellomeres.

Psychoda amazonensis is morphologicaly similar to P. quiniversa Quate ( Costa Rica) in the following characters: shape of the antennal apex; pattern of the frons pilosity; female ascoids with 3 upper arms; male with no paramere; ventral pilosity of the gonocoxal bridge; and gonostylus with one long basal setae. However, Psychoda amazonensis has 4 facet rows on the eye bridge, subgenital plate reduced and long gonocoxal bridge, whereas Psychoda quiniversa has 5 facet rows, subgenital plate normal and gonocoxal bridge short. The last character, of diagnostic value according to our observations, is frequently neglected in the descriptions of Psychoda . We believe that more attention should be given to this character, and to the pattern of pilosity of the female subgenital plate and male gonostylus.