Meropidia nitida Morales

Morales, Mirian N., Stahls, Gunilla & Hippa, Heikki, 2013, Two new species of Meropidia Hippa & Thompson, 1983 (Diptera, Syrphidae) from the Andes Mountains, ZooKeys 338, pp. 55-65 : 57-59

Meropidia nitida Morales sp. n. Figs 1-8

Type specimens.

HOLOTYPE. Adult female, missing left midleg. Deposited at AMNH, New York City, USA. Type locality: BOLIVIA. Labels (Figs 6-8) "BOLIVIA: Sta Cruz Dept. / Caballero Prov., PN Amboró / 17°50.124'S, 64°23.454'W / 2070 m, X.18-19.2001 / S. Spector & J. Ledezma / mallaise ‘sic’ trap"; “COBIMI0011824”; "HOLOTYPE / Meropidia nitida / Morales, 2013".

Paratype. Adult female. BOLIVIA. Deposited at AMNH, New York City, USA. Labels: same data as Holotype; “COBIMI0011826”; "PARATYPE / Meropidia nitida / Morales, 2013".

Description.

Adult female. Body size: 9-10.5 mm

Head. Face shiny black medially, becoming brownish to yellowish laterally, white pollinose laterally to bases of antenna, yellow pilose on pollinose area (Figs 1, 5), with a subdeveloped tubercle on inferior half (Fig. 5); gena shiny black, white pollinose and yellow pilose posteriorly (Fig. 5); facial stripes brown pollinose, with short yellow pile; lunula dark brown; frons shiny black in an anterior triangular area (Figs 1, 2), with brownish pile which became yellowish on their apexes, yellow pollinose elsewhere, sparse medially, intermixed with brownish and yellow pile; ocelli yellowish; ocellar triangle slightly isosceles obtuse (Fig. 2); occiput dark, yellowish pollinose dorsally, white pollinose elsewhere (Fig. 5), brownish and yellowish pilose dorsally, light yellow pilose elsewhere. Antenna. Scape and pedicel 2 × longer than broad, dark brown (Fig. 1); arista dark brown, except apex reddish, with very short vestiture, downy; distance between antenna approximately 1.5 times its basal diameter (Figs 1, 2).

Thorax. Postpronotum yellow, densely pale pollinose and yellow pilose; scutum black, golden pollinose on lateral margins and on transverse suture, four longitudinal pale pollinose vittae extending in front of scutellum (Fig. 3), long yellow pilose (Fig. 5); scutellum yellowish, with longer yellow pile than scutum (Figs 3, 4), with scattered brownish pile on margin. Postalar callus with longer pile than scutum pile, as long as in scutellum, anterodorsal edge with long pile on posterior half, postalar wall bare. Calypter, haltere, plumula and spiracles yellow. Pleura dark brown, sparsely pale pollinose, except densely pollinose on posterior anepisternum, dorsal part of katepisternum and anterior anepimeron. Proepimerum, posterior anepisternum, anterior anepimeron and katatergum yellow pilose; pile of posterior anepisternum and anterior anepimeron somewhat produced posteriorly. Katepisternum mostly yellow pilose, except a few dark brown pile ventrally; metasternum black pilose.

Legs: simple, coxae and trochanters dark brown, mostly yellow pilose, intermixed with brownish pile. Pro and mesofemora brownish on basal half and yellow on apical half, yellow pilose, with longer pile ventrally; metafemur mostly dark brown, but apically yellow (Fig. 5), yellow pilose, ventral pile shorter than anterior and posterior surfaces, but longer than dorsal surface, longest pile on anterior and posterior surfaces erect, tilted apically elsewhere. Tibiae yellow, except metatibia slightly brownish medially (Fig. 5), yellow pilose. Metatarsus dark brown (Fig. 5), mostly brownish pilose, with few scattered yellow pile on anterior and posterior surfaces; pro and mesotarsus brown, lighter than metatarsus, yellow pilose.

Wing: completely microtrichose; vein CuP long, almost reaching the level of posterior apex of cell bm (Fig. 5); alula shorter than anal lobe;

Abdomen. Tergum I black (Figs 3, 4), lateral corners brownish yellow, with long yellow erect pile laterally, shortest black tilted backward pile elsewhere; tergum II mostly black, with yellow pile on the yellow maculae region (Figs 3, 4), laterally they are erect and longer, on anteromedial 1/3 yellow pilosity tilted backward, pile black and tilted backward elsewhere, scattered pale pollinose on anterior half; tergum III mostly black, with yellow pile on lateral corners and on the yellow macula region (Figs 3, 4), black, posteriorly inclined pile elsewhere, whitish pollinose on anterior half; tergum IV black (Figs 3, 4), black pilose, except white pilose on anterior corners, whitish pollinosity forming two anterior triangular–like macula. Sterna dark brown, slightly pale pollinose; sterna I–III yellow pilose, IV yellow pilose intermixed with brownish pile; sternum V brownish pilose.

Comments.

The holotype has four stigmatic crossveins on the left wing and five on the right; in the paratype there are six stigmatic crossveins on both wings. Only type material is known.