Neopleurophora scutellata ( Brues, 1903 )

Ament, Danilo Cesar & Amorim, Dalton De Souza, 2013, Taxonomic revision of the genus Neopleurophora Brown (Diptera: Phoridae), with the description of thirty seven new species, Zootaxa 3657 (1), pp. 1-93 : 6

Neopleurophora scutellata ( Brues, 1903)

Phora scutellata Brues, 1903: 344 .

Spiniphora scutellata ; Malloch, 1909: 26.

Paraspiniphora scutellata ; Malloch, 1912: 426; Brues, 1919b: 499.

Chaetocnemistoptera scutellata ; Schmitz, 1927: 31; 1929: 93.

Chaetopleurophora scutellata ; Brues, 1943: 52; Borgmeier, 1961: 10; 1962: 451; 1968: 14; 1969: 38; 1971: 178. Neopleurophora scutellata ; Brown, 1992: 51.

Paraspiniphora scutellata var. jamaicensis Brues, 1919a: 431 ;

Chaetocnemistoptera jamaicensis ; Schmitz, 1927: 31; 1929: 93.

Chaetopleurophora jamaicensis ; Brues, 1943: 52; Borgmeier, 1961: 3; 1962: 452; 1968: 13.

Chaetopleurophora scutellata var. jamaicensis ; Borgmeier, 1969: 38. (syn.).

Material examined. Holotype ♀, WEST INDIES: Grenada ( USNM).

Comments. Neopleurophora scutellata was described based on a female holotype ( Brues, 1903). Borgmeier (1969) stated that there were two males of N. scutellata in his collection, one from Rio de Janeiro state ( Brazil) and one from Pará state ( Brazil). Borgmeier (1975) illustrated the hypopygium of specimens assumed to be this species from the State of Rondônia ( Brazil). Examination of these three male specimens revealed that they have very different hypopygium, and that they should be considered three different species. As great part of the features in the species diagnoses in Neopleurophora are restricted to males, any male-female association is difficult to be made with confidence. None of Borgmeier’s specimens could be clearly associated to the female holotype of N. scutellata , and they were described here as new species N. scleropyga , N. odontopyga and N. marquesi . Neopleurophora scutellata remains without a male description.