Psychoda alternicula Quate

Cordeiro, Danilo, Bravo, Freddy & De, Claudio J. B., 2011, Taxonomy of Brazilian Psychoda Latreille, 1796 (Diptera, Psychodidae) with the description of thirteen new species, Zootaxa 3101, pp. 1-37 : 6-7

Psychoda alternicula Quate

Psychoda alternicula Quate, 1955: 222 . Type Locality: EUA (Florida, W. Palm Beach, Morrison Field)

Diagnosis. antenna with 13 flagellomeres, 11th fused to 12th, 13th very small; ascoids in Y with short arms; wing with infuscation at the apex of veins; male cerci longer than 1.5 times the length of epandrium; gonostylus as long as gonocoxite, and with short setae homogeneously distributed; paramere shorter than aedeagus; female subgenital plate in Y with an prominent basal band.

Additional characters. hair patch of frons extending to facet row 1 or 2, rarely to 3; 5–7 supra-ocular setae; clypeus without conspicuous alveoli; frontoclypeal suture absent; distitarsus with apical projection; female subgenital plate with a few setae at the internal margin of the lobes; genital chamber rounded, with a posterior apodeme; male gonostylus as long as gonocoxite, with an acute apex and short setae homogeneously distributed; paramere strongly curved.

Material examined. type material: Holotype Ƥ USA, Florida, Morrison Field, W. Palm, Beach, 02.x.1942, col. D. E. Hardy ( USNM). Other specimens: 3 Ƥ BRAZIL, Mato Grosso, Barão de Melgaço, baia de Brocoruré, 07.iv.1998, 20 cdc – m, col. RF /FLS/RDN (2 INPA, 1 MZUEFS); 1 3 and 2 Ƥ BRAZIL, Bahia, Dantilândia, Faz Edmilson, 14.iv.2005, Malaise trap, col. C. Chagas & R. Vieira (MZUEFS); 3 3 and 3 Ƥ Bahia, Dantilândia, 17.iv.2005, col. R. Vieira & C. Chagas (MZUEFS); 1 Ƥ Bahia, Dantilândia, x–xi.2005, Malaise trap, col. C. Oliveira (MZUEFS).

Distribution. North and Central America and Brazil (Mato Grosso and Bahia).

Comments. Psychoda alternicula and P. alternata , together with P. lativentris Berdén , compose the species complex known as the “ alternata complex” ( Quate 1955). This species group is characterized by the presence of brown spots (infuscation) on the wing apex, antenna with 13 flagellomeres, 11th-13th reduced upwardly and the short arms of the ascoids. This features are also the diagnostic characters of the subgenus Tinearia , and it seems to delimit a very homogeneous group of species. These species can be distinguished from one another mainly by the female terminalia. Psychoda alternata has a V-shaped subgenital plate, whereas the subgenital plate of P. alternicula is shaped as a Y, with a prominent basal band. Psychoda lativentris has a U-shaped subgenital plate, with a prominent basal band, as in P. alternicula . Few inconspicuous differences are present in the male terminalia: P. alternata has a robust paramere that is as long as the distiphallus, whereas P. alternicula has a thinner paramere that is curved and shorter than the distiphallus; the paramere of P. lativentris is thin and shorter than the distiphallus (according to Quate (1955)).