Platynochaetus nigra

Ricarte, Antonio, Marcos-García, M. Ángeles, Hancock, E. G. & Rotheray, Graham E., 2012, Revision of the New World genus Quichuana Knab, 1913 (Diptera: Syrphidae), including descriptions of 24 new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 166 (1), pp. 72-131 : 87-88

PLATYNOCHAETUS NIGRA GIGLIO- TOS, 1892: 6

QUICHUANA CHAMPIOINI ( WILLISTON, 1892: 69) SYN. NOV.

FIGURES 28 AND 29

Quichuana cincta was described from a male collected in Mexico. The holotype lacks the left basoflagellomere, the mesolegs, and the right metaleg, and has the abdomen stored in a plastic capsule. It is labelled as follows: Holotype /ex. Coll. Bigot., Pres. By G. H. Verrall., B.M. 1894-234/NHM (E)# 230744/ L. cincta ♂, Loc. cit. 345, Mexic. Lippe., J. Bigot (handwritten) (NHM). Quichuana championi was also described from a male collected in Mexico. The holotype lacks most of the legs and the left wing, and is labelled as follows: Holotype /Amula, Guerrero, 6000 ft, Aug. H.H. Smith./Biol. Centr. Amer., Dipt.- Syrphidae . F.D. Godman, O. Salvin. 1903-51, and on the back side of the label with ‘ Mallota championi Willis. ’ (handwritten)/ Mallota champioini Williston (NHM) . Based on the examination of these two holotypes, Q. championi is proposed as a junior synonym of Q. cincta . The holotype of Q. cincta (8 mm) is only a small specimen of Q. championi (11 mm). Thompson, Vockeroth & Sedman (1976) proposed Q. nigra to be a junior synonym of Q. championi , but we could not re-examine the holotype of Q. nigra because it was not possible to access Bellardi’s collection (UTOR).

Diagnostic features

Male

Basoflagellomere elongate, as long as the pedicel or slightly longer; scape and pedicel usually with conspicuous red markings; basoflagellomere black to reddish black, except for red base; bf = 1.7–2.3 (N = 4); arista red; shiny black face, only white pollinose on the eye margins; occiput white pollinose on the eye margins, more conspicuously on the lower half of the occiput; scutum extensively golden yellow haired, with only a few black hairs on the area above the wing insertion, PP, and PC, and sometimes with black hairs also on the marginal area between the PP and the TS; PP and AEP anterodorsally with black hairs; area of the AA below the anterior spiracle with a few fine yellowish white hairs; PAPT extensively black haired, but always with scattered yellow hairs; NP usually with a tuft of golden yellow hairs; scutellum golden yellow haired; wing cells BM, CuP, CuA1, and DM, and anal lobe with areas bare of microtrichia, sometimes large; alula with an area bare of microtrichia anteriorly; tergum I with a moustache arrangement of laterally directed golden yellow hairs; anterior margin of tergum II dull black on an area of variable shape and extension, with the remaining area and terga III–IV shiny black; terga II–IV extensively golden yellow haired, sometimes with scattered black hairs posteriorly; hairs on tergum II nearly erect, on tergum III posteriorly directed, and on tergum IV nearly backwards adpressed; apical half of the hypandrium including the superior lobes straight; superior lobes trapezoid, gently serrated anteriorly ( Fig. 28 ); surstyli of about the same width along all its length, with the apical third slightly in-curved backwards; surstyli with long hairs posteriorly ( Fig. 29 ).

Female ( Fig. 80 )

Same as the male except frons with an anteriorly directed chevron of pollinosity; basoflagellomere sometimes more oval than elongate; ventral area of the frontal prominence with a tapering stripe of white pollinosity from the eye margin towards the antennae; face with white pollinosity on the eye margins; sometimes without black hairs on PP.

Material examined

Holotypes of Q. cincta and Q. championi : see data above.

Additional material: MEXICO: 1m & 3f with puparia, Hidalgo, Tzincuatlán, 13.vii.2006 (1m & 2f) and 31.vii.2006 (1f), ex larva, leg. MAM (720, 721, 723, and 722) ; 1m & 1f with puparia, Hidalgo, Tlanchinol, El Pozo, ‘ Potrero’, 20.xii.2006 & 7.xi.2006, ex larva, leg. MAM (717 and 716) ( CEUA) ; 1f with puparium, Hidalgo, Tlanchinol, 30.i.2007, ex larva, leg. MAM (714) ( CEUA) ; 1f with puparium, Veracruz, Xalapa, Instituto de Ecología , ex bromeliad, larva 5.vii1999, adult 8.vii.1999, leg. EGH ( HM) .

Range

Mexico (Chiapas, Durango, Guerrero, Hidalgo, and Veracruz) .

Taxonomic notes

Small to medium size species (8–11 mm) with moderately broad abdomen ( Fig. 80 ); in general, Q. cincta is very similar to Q. melas sp. nov., but lighter in colour; Q. cincta can be separated from the similar Q. melas sp. nov. by the colour of the hairs on the scutum, scutellum, and terga II–IV, which are extensively golden yellow in Q. cincta and extensively black in Q. melas sp. nov.; in Q. cincta hairs on tergum I are golden yellow, whereas in Q. melas sp. nov. hairs are white to light yellow; comparing puparia, that of Q. cincta has hooks on the thorax, but hooks are absent in Q. melas .

Figures

Figures 28–29. Quichuana cincta sp. nov. male genitalia, lateral view: 28, hypandrium; 29, epandrium. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figures 80–83. Overall appearance of different Quichuana species, dorsal view. 80, Quichuana cincta, female from Mexico; scale bar = 2 mm. 81, Quichuana inca, male holotype; scale bar = 1 mm. 82, Quichuana parisii, female paralectotype, scale bar = 1 mm. 83, Quichuana undulatipila sp. nov., female paratype; scale bar = 2 mm.