Bittacus panamensis Byers, 1958

Ardila-Camacho, Adrian, Vargas, Juan Felipe, Arango, Carlos Julio, García-García, Alexander & Machado, Renato Jose Pires, 2017, New distributional records of Mecoptera (Insecta) from Colombia, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (São Paulo) 57 (18), pp. 221-229 : 223

Bittacus panamensis Byers, 1958

( Figs. 1 , 6 )

The species was originally described from Panama, but accounts with records from Colombia, Costa Rica and Venezuela (Machado et al., 2009; Rodríguez et al., 2009). In the present work, we extend the known distribution range of this species in Colombia, to the Magdalena department in the Caribbean coast of the country. This species is distinguished by its body color pattern, uniformly brown; wing membrane is light amber colored except for pterostigma, which is slightly darker; the distal part of forewing has extra series of crossveins between Rs₁ and M₂ veins ( Byers, 1958). The male genitalia have epiandrial lobes rectangular in lateral view, and are equipped with short and black setae along the dorsal and caudal margins on the inner surface; a few longer setae in the posterodorsal angle are also present. Inner margins of both lobes are parallel in dorsal view, with anterior angles subquadrate. The aedeagus is basally thickened, abruptly narrowed at midlength and thin at the apex ( Byers, 1958).

Specimen examined. Magdalena, Zona Bananera, Caribia (Corpoica), 10°43’38,24”N; 74°13’29,48”W, 12 m, 25.VIII.1986, F. Posada, light trap (1♂ - CTNI)

Figures

FIGURE 1: Bittacus panamensis: (A) wing venation; (B) male terminalia, lateral; (C) same, dorsal. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 6: Collecting records of Colombian species of Mecoptera. The new records are bordered with red.