Chonocephalus dominicanus Borgmeier

Disney, R. Henry L., 2002, Revisionary notes on Chonocephalus Wandolleck (Diptera: Phoridae) with keys to species of the Holarctic Region, Zootaxa 60, pp. 1-36 : 18

Chonocephalus dominicanus Borgmeier

Chonocephalus dominicanus Borgmeier, 1967: 206 .

Chonocephalus punctifascia auct. nec Borgmeier, 1935: 257. Chonocephalus wirthorum Disney, 1980: 363 . Syn. nov.

Borgmeier wrote of C. dominicanus “hypandrium mostly concealed by the internal copulatory organs”. However, the slide mount of the holotype (in the United States National Museum, Washington) has the hypopygium mounted underside uppermost. The two paler gonopods and the bilobed median lobes are readily observed overlying the darker structures of the penis complex, provided one uses critical lighting. This error of observation by Borgmeier rendered his figure misleading to the extent that specimens from Panama were not recognised as belonging to this species. I now formally synonymise C. wirthorum with C. dominicanus .

Material

Holotype male, Dominica, B. W. I., Clarke Hall, light trap, 11­20 May 1964, O. S. Flint ( USNM ­ 26­65). Holotype male of C. wirthorum , Panama, Gamboa, C. Z., Pipeline Road, July 1967, W. & M. Wirth, reared from Carludovica palmata ( USNM); 3 male, 1 female paratypes of C. wirthorum , same data ( CUMZ) and 12 male, 2 female paratypes ( USNM). Also recorded from the Seychelles.

Natural history

Apart from the rearings from the rotting spadices of Carludovica palmata (Cyclanthacaeae) and Heliconia mariae (Heliconiaceae) ( Disney, 1980) ; it has also been reared from bread fruit ( Artocarpus altilis (Z.) Frost, Moraceae ) ( Disney, 1994).