Quichuana communis, 2012

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 : 88-90

QUICHUANA COMMUNIS RICARTE & ROTHERAY SP. NOV.

FIGURES 14 , 30–37

Description

Male

Head: Eye hairs brownish, denser on the upper surface; black vertical triangle, only pollinose on the anterior corner; vertical triangle with long black hairs; frontal triangle black, with long, anteriorly directed, black hairs and, at the eye margins, a line of yellow hairs; antenna red; basoflagellomere slightly darkened; bf = 1 ( Fig. 14 ); ventral part of the frontal prominence red; black face with long yellow hairs except for a central bare stripe; facial pollinosity white and restricted to a narrow line at the eye margins and a very faint stripe extending from the eye margin to the mouth edge laterally; occiput white pollinose, with white hairs, but with a line of intermixed long black hairs on the upper third of occiput.

Thorax: Black scutum with two medial, approximated, parallel, brownish pollinose stripes, extending from the anterior margin of scutum to a point behind TS; scutum with intermixed black and yellow hairs, although black hairs more abundant on the scutum surface behind TS; pleura pollinose; PAPT, NP, and PC with a dense group of long, mainly black hairs, although anterior part of PC with yellow hairs; red scutellum, black on lateral corners; scutellum with both black and yellow hairs, longer on the posterior margin; pro- and mesotibia red; metatibia with some areas conspicuously darkened; tarsomeres 3–5 black dorsally; femora extensively black, only narrowly red at the apex; profemur mainly with black hairs, only a few very short pale hairs at the apex; mid- and metafemur, all tibia, and tarsus with both black and yellow hairs; wings faintly brown pigmented on the anterior half; wings extensively microtrichose; calypter black.

Abdomen: Tergum I with a moustache arrangement of yellow hairs, which does not obscure the background colour of the tergum; terga II–IV red, or nearly so; terga II–III with a black area anteriorly; at least posterior third of terga II–IV with a band of black hairs extending forwards along the lateral margins, but not reaching the anterior margin; terga III–IV with scattered long hairs on lateral margins.

Genitalia: Superior lobes anteriorly curved in profile view ( Figs 32, 36 ); interior area delimited by the curved lobes in the shape of a horseshoe, viewed in profile ( Figs 32, 36 ); base of the surstyli with a triangular process anteriorly and, posteriorly, with long hairs ( Fig. 37 ).

Female

Same as the male except vertex and frons black; frons coarsely sculptured, with a greyish pollinose area medially; frons with long black hairs and, on the eye margins, a line of yellow hairs; frons and face narrowly pollinose at the eye margins; basoflagellomere blackish dorsally and apically; bf = 1.3; arista red, but darkened apically; black face, although reddish below and to the sides of the antennae; face sculptured except for the facial tubercle, which is smooth; frontal prominence with reddish hairs laterally and with short black hairs to the sides of the antennae; face with reddish hairs, except for a central bare stripe; facial pollinosity restricted to a faint stripe extending from the eye margin to the mouth edge laterally; genae and occiput pollinose; occiput with white hairs and a few intermixed black hairs, both short and long, on the upper third; scutum with two medial, faint, greyish pollinose stripes; PP, lateral margins of scutum, surface immediately above wings and PC with black hairs, although PC also with intermixed yellow hairs; pleuron with both black and pale hairs, although mainly black, long, and densely grouped on PAPT posterodorsally; anterior and posterior spiracles dark brown; scutellum brown; femora extensively black, only narrowly red apically; fore- and mesotibia red; metatibia blackish, with some red areas ventrally, apically, and basally; tarsomeres 1–2 red dorsally; femora and tibiae with both black and red hairs intermixed; metafemur with long hairs, mainly red; wings with slight pigmentation anteriorly, slightly darker on the basal half of wing; wings extensively microtrichose, with some small bare areas on cell CuP and alula; terga II–IV each with red markings, usually large; posterior margin of terga II–IV with a band of black hairs of variable length; sterna II–III red, with long red hairs; sternum IV partially black, also with long red hairs.

Etymology

The epithet ‘ communis ’ refers to the apparent abundance of this species.

Material examined ( INBio )

Holotype: 1m, Costa Rica, Estac. Barva, Braulio Carrillo, N.P., 2500 m, Heredia, ii.1990, leg. A. Fernández, 233400-523200 ( INBio CRI 000191288)/det. as Quichuana CR 3 by FCT.

Paratypes: COSTA RICA: 1m, Estac. Barva, Braulio Carrillo, N.P., 2500 m, Heredia, ii.1990, leg. A. Fernández, 233400–523200 ( INBio CRI 000191261), det. as Quichuana CR 3 by FCT; 46m & 14f from the following localities: ‘Prov Heredia, Braulio Carrillo, Est. Barva’, ‘Prov. San José, Siberia’, ‘Prov. San José, San Gerardo de Dota’, ‘Prov. Puntarenas, Send. El Ripario, a 3 km NE de Progreso’, ‘Prov. Guanacaste, Est. Cacao’, ‘Prov. Guanacaste, sector Cacao, sendero a cima’, ‘Prov. Heredia, Volcán Barva’, ‘Prov. Puntarenas, Monteverde, cerro Chomogo’, ‘Prov. Puntarenas, Z.P. las Tablas, sendero la Neblina’, ‘Prov. Guanacaste, Liberia, estación Mengo, bosque primario’, ‘Prov. Puntarenas, P. int. La Amistad, Buenos Aires, estación Altamira’, ‘Prov. Cartagao, Tapantí, macizo de la Muerte, el Tajo, Villa Mills y río Humo’, ‘Prov. San José, Copey, cerro Vueltas, 1.5 km W carretera Interamericana Sur’, ‘Prov. Alajuela, volcán Poas’, ‘Prov. Limón, P. INt. La Amistad, cerros Apri, Dudu y Kamuk’, ‘Prov. Puntarenas, Cotoncito’, ‘ 3.5 km N de la Lucha’, 500–3100 m, from February 1990 to August 2008, by the collectors A. Fernández, B. Thompson, M. Alfaro, D. Janzen, FCT, D. Wood, MAZ, E. Navarro, R. Villalobos, F.A. Quesada, J. Azofeifa, W. Porras, G. Rivera, M. Moraga, and A. Picado.

Range

Costa Rica.

Taxonomic notes

Medium to large size species (13.3 mm, holotype; usually 12–14 mm, additional material) with broad abdomen; Q. communis sp. nov., as well as Q. atra sp. nov. and Q. rubicunda sp. nov., can be separated from similar species such as Q. tica sp. nov. by the fact that the moustache arrangement of hairs on tergum I is not dense enough to obscure the background colour of the tergum; although superior lobes in male genitalia of Q. communis sp. nov. are variable ( Figs 30–36 ), their general shape is useful to separate Q. communis sp. nov. from the similar Q. atra sp. nov. and Q. rubicunda sp. nov.; to separate females of Q. communis sp. nov. from females of Q. atra sp. nov. and Q. rubicunda sp. nov., see ‘Taxonomic notes’ under Q. atra sp. nov.; in females of Q. communis sp. nov., when the abdomen is darkened or the abdominal hairs are pale but not golden yellow, they cannot be separated definitively from females of Q. rubicunda sp. nov.

Figures

Figures 9–14. Quichuana right antennae, lateral inner view: 9, Quichuana boliviana sp. nov., female holotype; 10, Quichuana argentea sp. nov., female; 11, Quichuana fasciata, female lectotype; 12, Quichuana solitaria sp. nov., female holotype; 13, Quichuana tica sp. nov., female; 14, Quichuana communis sp. nov., male. Scale bars: 1 mm (top scale bar applies to Fig. 9 only).

Figures 30–37. Morphological variability in Quichuana communis sp. nov. male genitalia: 30–31, 37, dominant morphotype in ‘Costa Rica, Estación Barva’; 30, hypandrium, anterior view; 31, superior lobe, anterolateral view; 37, epandrium, lateral view; 32–33, dominant morphotype in ‘Costa Rica, Estación Cacao’; 32, apical part of hypandrium, lateral view; 33, superior lobe, anterolateral view; 34–36, morphotype occurring in specimens from Costa Rica, Estación Barva, Estación Cacao, and Sendero el Ripario; 34, hypandrium, anterior view; 35, superior lobe, anterolateral view; 36, apical part of hypandrium, lateral view. Scale bar: 1 mm.