Argentinomyia choachi Montoya, 2020

Montoya, Augusto L. & Wolff, Marta, 2020, Description of six new large species of Argentinomyia Lynch-Arribalzaga, 1891 and redescription of Talahua fervida (Fluke, 1945) (Diptera, Syrphidae, Syrphinae), ZooKeys 929, pp. 19-51 : 19

Argentinomyia choachi Montoya sp. nov. Figure 3 , 15

Differential diagnosis.

Abdomen with a pair of large quadrangular maculae on the third and fourth tergum, sometimes slightly touching toward the middle. Legs black, metafemur only slightly yellow in the extreme apex. Coxae black. Metacoxa yellowish pilose. Argentinomyia choachi sp. nov. is similar in appearance to the female of Argentinomyia andina sp. nov. but in A. andina sp. nov. the third and fourth tergum have a pair of short rounded basal maculae; metafemur is extensively brown, only slightly orange on apical 1/6; all coxae yellow.

Type locality.

Colombia, department of Cundinamarca, Choachí municipality, La Victoria. 4°32.721'N, 73°55.884'E, 2450 m a.s.l.

Description.

Female. Head (Fig. 3A, C ). Black, covered with white pollinosity, oral tips, ocellar triangle, and a large triangular macula on the front, white pilose, pile on front black, on gena and face white, on ocellar triangle black, on the occiput white except for the dorsal pile, which are black. Antennae brown, orange-red ventrally, oval, longer than wide pedicel and the lower basal corner of basoflagellomere, ratio 1.0:1.3:3.1, arista orange, brown toward the tip. Thorax (Fig. 3C ). Black cyaneous, the scutum shining, with iridescent to coppery reflections in the notopleura, with two median yellowish pollinose vittae on anterior half. Wing (Fig. 3C ). Smoky apically, the stigma yellow-brown, membrane microtrichose, except for extensive bare areas on basal half (cells c, sc, r1, dm and bm); tegula black pilose, basicosta yellow pilose, alula bare, calypter whitish tawny, border whitish brown, fringe tawny, plumula yellow, halter white, knob white. Legs (Fig. 3C, D ). Black, pro and mesofemora yellow on the apical two-thirds; metafemora only slightly yellow in the extreme apex, pro and mesotibia with lateral maculae on posterior medial edge, metatibia extensively brown, only yellow on basal 2/7 and apical 1/7; protarsi black, meso- and metabasitarsus yellow, the pile yellow, black on the metatibia and above on the tarsi; coxa black, metacoxa yellowish pilose. Abdomen (Fig. 3B ). Elongate, black, with two pairs of lateral yellow pale maculae, first tergum shining black, second with broad lateral yellow maculae and only the apex black, third with rounded lateral maculae. Pile yellow-white on the maculae and only a few black down the middle and on the apical terga. Sterna black, black pilose.

Male. Unknown.

Length (N = 1). Body, 11.5-12.3 mm, wing, 10.2-10.4 mm.

Etymology.

The specific epithet " choachi " is a noun in apposition and refers to the name of the town where the type specimen was collected. Coachí is a Muiscas word derived from " Ch-igua-chía ", which means the window where the moon peeked, received the poetic name of "Window of the moon" (according to Miguel Triana). The Muiscas were indigenous people who inhabit the "Altiplano Cundiboyacense" formed by high plains on the eastern Cordillera in Colombian Andes between the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, where the species was collected.

Distribution.

Argentinomyia choachi sp. nov. (N = 1) is present on the western slope of Oriental Cordillera in Colombia (Cundinamarca) at 2240 m. a.s.l., inhabiting cloud forest in the provinces of North Andean Páramo (Fig. 15 ).

Type material.

Holotype. COLOMBIA ♀, Cundinamarca, Choachí, La Victoria. Original label: "Colombia, Cundinamarca, Choachí, Vereda La Victoria / 4°32.721'N, 73°55.884'E, 2450 m a.s.l., Net / 18.iv.2011, Leg. J. Pérez ( UNAB 5156 )". " HOLOTYPE / Argentinomyia choachi / Montoya 2020" [red, handwritten except first line]". The holotype is in good condition and deposited at the UNAB.

Comments.

Only type specimen is known.

Figures

Figure 3. Argentinomyia choachi sp. nov., female (UNAB 5156): A head, frontal, female B posterior view C dorsal view D lateral view. Scale bars: 5 mm.

Figure 15. Biogeographical distribution of Argentinomyia andina sp. nov. (yellow), A. quimbaya sp. nov. (blue) and A. choachi sp. nov. (red).