Helicosina sica Marshall, 2024

Kuwahara, Gregory K., Marshall, Stephen A. & Yau, Tiffany, 2024, Helicosina, a new genus of Neotropical Limosininae (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae), Zootaxa 5523 (4), pp. 459-471 : 469

Helicosina sica Marshall sp. nov.

( Figs. 1 , 2C–D , 3B , 5 , 8 )

Description. Body length: Males 2.0– 2.2 mm, female 2.1 mm.

General ( Fig. 2C ): Male fore and hind femora strongly thickened (length 3.0–3.2 × and 3.1–3.5 × width, respectively).

Male abdomen ( Fig. 5 ): S5 broad, desclerotized posteromedially, and densely setose laterally. Posterior opening of epandrium circular (medial height subequal to medial width); subanal plate with a dark, sclerotized I-shaped medial pattern. Surstylus strongly sinuate, basal half bulbous and setulose externally, apical half strongly constricted with several setae anterobasally. Postgonite small, truncate apically. Phallapodeme relatively short and weakly developed. Basiphallus stout, slightly curved, with an elongate, apically pointed epiphallus; distiphallus stout, largely membranous and supported by several sclerites: a V-shaped posterior sclerite, a triangular upper sclerite, and paired V-shaped upper-lateral sclerites; lower surface grooved with scattered darkened spots; lateral membrane with an elongate row of stout setulae.

Material examined. Holotype: ECUADOR: Napo: Jatun Sacha Reserve, 6 km E Misahualli, 1˚04’S 77˚37’W, 450 m a.s.l., landslide in forest, Malaise, 30.iv.–7.v.2002, Buck et al. (♂, QCAZ)

Paratypes: ECUADOR: Napo: Tiputini Biodiversity Station , 0˚36’50”S 76˚09’01”W, in Heliconia furl, v.2011, S.A. Marshall (2 ♂, 1 ♀, DEBU, QCAZ). One of the male paratypes is shown in Fig. 1 .

Type locality. Ecuador, Napo, Jatun Sacha Reserve.

Etymology. The specific name (from the Latin ‘sica’: dagger, poniard) is inspired by the blade- or dagger-like shape of the surstylus.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Helicosina sica gen. et sp. nov., living male, Tiputini Biological Station, Ecuador.

FIGURE 2. Habitus and head photos of Helicosina species.A, Helicosina crena sp. nov. paratype habitus, lateral; B, Helicosina crena sp. nov. paratype head, anterolateral; C, Helicosina sica sp. nov. paratype habitus, lateral; D, Helicosina sica sp. nov. paratype head, anterolateral; E, Helicosina valga sp. nov. paratype habitus, lateral; F, Helicosina valga sp. nov. paratype head, anterolateral. Scale bars indicate 0.50 mm.

FIGURE 3. Wing photos of Helicosina species.A, Helicosina crena sp. nov. paratype; B, Helicosina sica sp. nov. paratype; C, Helicosina valga sp. nov. paratype. Scale bars indicate 0.50 mm.

FIGURE 5. Helicosina sica sp. nov. male paratype terminalia. A, S5–8 and postabdomen, ventral; B, aedeagus and associated structures, left lateral; C, epandrium and surstylus, lateral; D. epandrium and surstyli, posterior. Scale bars indicate 0.10 mm.

FIGURE 8. Distribution map for Helicosina. Blue circles indicate H. crena sp. nov., red circles indicate H. sica sp. nov., and green circles indicate H. valga sp. nov.