Syringogaster lopesi Prado, 1969

Marshall, S. A., Buck, M., Skevington, J. H. & Grimaldi, D., 2009, A revision of the family Syringogastridae (Diptera: Diopsoidea), Zootaxa 1996 (1), pp. 1-80 : 48-50

Syringogaster lopesi Prado

Plate 2E; Map 8

Syringogaster lopesi Prado, 1969: 14 .

DESCRIPTION: Head with upper frons and median occipital sclerite dark brown; ocellar tubercle black, lower frons, occiput and gena luteous; face mostly pale, longitudinally ridged, with darker areas at venterolateral corners, middle of face bare but anterolateral areas densely long-setose. Vertex weakly convex at middle. Ocellar triangle flat, shining, bare, bordered on each side by a row of ca. four minute inclinate bristles, strongly tapered and triangular, anterior apex separated from frontal margin by scape length; remainder of frons tomentose and dull. Ocellar bristles strong. Pedicel almost entirely tomentose, a small anteromedial area shining. Gena equal in height to subgena at middle, with only fine pale setulae posterior to shining and sparsely setose vibrissal angle. Supracervical collar large, much longer than the black, transverse pronotum.

Thorax: Mesonotum dark at middle, orange anterolaterally, humeral carina black and prominent. Supraalar carina very large, extending as a broad lamella over the wing base. Notopleural carina large, subtending a broad, shining pit at the anterodorsal margin of the notopleuron. Mesopleuron mostly dark brown, reddish brown on anterior part of anepisternum only, shining reddish anterior part of anepisternum demarcated from dark and tomentose posterior part; katepisternum mostly bare and shining, tomentose along anterodorsal margin and with scattered long setulae; anepimeron dull and tomentose. Metathoracic spiracle prominent and long setose, first prespiracular lobe small, second prespiracular lobe forming a prominent knife-like ridge abutting raised spiracle; subspiracular ridge with a small glabrous anterior part and a large tomentose posterior part. Fore coxa and trochanter white, tibia and basal 2/3 of tarsomere 1 dark brown, otherwise fore leg yellow to pale brown. Fore femur with 6–7 black anteroventral spinules and rarely with one posteroventral spinule distally. Mid femur white basally, rest of leg pale brown. Mid tarsomeres 1–3 with antero- and posterodorsal sawlines. Hind femur with white basal ring; remainder of leg orange-brown. Hind femur shining over most of dorsal surface except distal third, with anteroventral row of 10–12 bristles extending over distal 7/10 of femur, posterior row shorter. Hind tibia dark brown, with apex weakly trilobate, lobes subequal. Hind tarsomeres 1–3 with sawlines.

Wing dark with clear patches forming transverse bands before and after crossvein dm-cu and before crossvein bm-cu. Fork of CuA distal to bm-cu, separated from bm-cu by more than twice the length of bm-cu (bm-cu indistinct); A 1 +CuA 2 and CuA 1 each extending about half way to wing margin. R 2+3 running almost parallel to costa distally, not distinctly turned up to costa near apex. Cell r greatly tapered from apex to level of r-m; r-m less than one third as long as dm-cu.

4+5

Abdomen: Abdomen strongly petiolate, syntergite 1–3 parallel-sided on at least basal 2/3, tergite 3 about 3X as wide at apex as base. Syntergite 1–3 densely microsculptured, sculpturing forming transverse ridges on tergite 1, densely microsetulose. Abdomen orange, becoming dark brown towards apex, posterolateral margins of tergites slightly darker. Tergite 4 clearly separate from tergite 3.

Female terminalia: Tergite 7 with deep posteromedial emargination. Four spermathecae in two pairs, each pair close together on short ducts, touching but not fused; spermatheca smooth, broadly cylindrical, with a broad basal invagination and a small smooth, cylindrical cap (evagination) distally, cap about 0.25X spermathecal diameter. One specimen (Pernambuco) contains five large, elongate, strongly granulose eggs, each about ¼ length of abdomen.

Male terminalia: Tergite 5 with ventrolateral margins unmodified, ventrolateral margin of tergite 6 with a tapered anteroventral corner, otherwise unmodified; spiracles 5 and 6 in tergite at or near margin. Sternite 4 entire, sternites 5 and 6 each divided into two small, equal, transverse-oval sclerites with about eight small bristles on each sclerite; sclerites of sternite 5 weakly pigmented and indistinct. Synsternite 7+8 forming a complete and symmetrical ring, ventral part broad, both spiracles in sides of ring but left spiracle slightly more dorsad. Epandrium longer than wide, posterolateral lobes somewhat projecting beyond level of hypandrial bridge. Cercus and surstylus narrow and elongate, cercus twice as long as wide, surstylus 4X as long as greatest width. Hypandrium with three pairs of breaks or weakenings: first between basal U-shaped portion and base of hypandrial arms, second between hypandrial bridge and mesal base of each hypandrial arm, third near middle of each hypandrial arm posterior to ventral hypandrial lobe; basal U-shaped portion robust, without anterior apodemes. Hypandrial bridge robust, asymmetrical, widest medially, with a posterior emargination on right side. Pregonite with three flat, rounded lobes. Posterior part of hypandrial arm broad and parallel-sided; anterior part triangular, ventral lobe setose. Basiphallus elongate, distal part of basiphallus asymmetrically expanded, left side forming an elongate, flat, translucent lobe. Distiphallus with short basal sclerites; distal part curled up left side, broad, complex, with a large, roughly circular, translucent lamella and a large, narrow, finger-like sclerite directed medially from right side and curved basally to almost meet a shorter lobe on right side.

TYPE MATERIAL (not examined): Holotype ♂ ( FIOC, #13.365) and 2♂, 3♀ paratypes ( FIOC). BRAZIL. Bahia, Salvador , 20.xi.1965, H.S. Lopes.

MATERIAL EXAMINED: BOLIVIA. La Paz, 5 km W Mapiri, Arroyo Tuhiri , 750 m, 15º17.8’S, 68º15.6’W, 16.iii.2001, S.D. Gaimari (1♂, USNM) . BRAZIL. Bahia, Piruja , Rock. Found. Lab., vii.1929, Shannon (1♂, USNM); Pernambuco, Bonito, “Feb.83” (1♀, USNM) .

COMMENTS: Prado (1969) describes and illustrates a single pair of spermathecae, but the female we examined has two pairs (each of which match Prado’s description) like all other members of the family. Our material also differs slightly from the wing illustrated by Prado, which lacks crossvein bm-cu and has R 2+3 gradually bent up to the costa. Crossvein bm-cu is indistinct and could have been overlooked by Prado, and Prado’s wing drawings do not seem to have captured the subtle difference between R 2+ 3 in the different species groups (running almost parallel to costa versus bent up near apex). Although the types were not available for examination, the material described above matches Prado’s description in all regards other than the spermathecae and those small wing details, which are probable errors. Furthermore, one of the specimens examined is from near the type locality. Syringogaster lopesi resembles two other species described by Prado, S. carioca and S. cressoni , from which it can be distinguished by its dark hind femora.