Syringogaster sharkeyi Marshall & Buck, 2009

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 : 62-64

Syringogaster sharkeyi Marshall & Buck , new species

Figs. 54–56; Map 9

DESCRIPTION: Head uniformly pale reddish brown except for dark brown ocellar tubercle. Ocellar triangle shining and completely devoid of tomentum, strongly contrasting with dull tomentose frontal vitta; ocellar triangle with slightly convex sides and with slightly convex surface, anterior apex rounded and separated from frontal margin by about scape length. Pedicel largely shining medial to dorsal seam. Ocellar bristles present, broken off in holotype. Face pale, lower part expanded and with black bristles; shining vibrissal angle with thin black bristles. Subgena shining and subequal in height to gena at middle. Supracervical collar 2–3X length of pronotum, lateral carina continuous with a prominent, anteriorly directed posterior tentorial pit.

Thorax almost mostly reddish brown except for the following darker areas: katepisternum below distal portion of front coxae and small area of postmetacoxal bridge above hind coxae, blackish brown humeral pit and associated large triangular humeral carina, anterior part of supra-alar carina, carina at the anterior margin of notopleuron, two prescutellar pits, and area around metathoracic spiracle including subspiracular lamella. Pronotum short medially, with two dark longitudinal lines. Mesonotum darker on posterior half, holotype with a distinct pattern enclosing four pale spots and three dark medial lines extending on to anterior half. Proepisternum entirely shining. Anepisternum shining except tomentose posterior part up to level of middle of notopleuron. 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. Legs largely reddish brown except for dark brown fore tibia and basal 4/5 of fore tarsomere 1, yellowish fore coxa, basal fourth of mid femur and base of hind femur, and whitish fore tarsus from tip of tarsomere 1 to tarsomere 5. Fore femur with inconspicuous pale hairs but lacking short, black, spine-like bristles. Mid tarsomeres 1–3 with anteroventral and posteroventral sawlines. Hind femur with distal 2/5 of dorsal surface tomentose; anteroventral row of 11–12 bristles extending over distal 3/4 of femur, posteroventral row shorter. Hind tibia with apex trilobate, lobes subequal. Sawlines present on basal three tarsomeres of hind leg. Wing as in S. brunneina .

Abdomen: Tergites dark brown except reddish brown tergites 1 and 2 and medium brown tergite 3, medial third of tergite 4, and lateral portion of tergite 7; abdominal sternites pale to medium brown. Syntergite 1–3 petiolate, tergites 1 and 2 very narrow and parallel-sided, twice as long as tergite 3; tergite 3 3X as wide at apex as at base, tergites 2 and 3 fused without suture. Syntergite 1–3 densely microsculptured, with indistinct longitudinal ridges on tergite 1, densely tomentose. Tergite 4 clearly separate from tergite 3.

Female terminalia: Spiracles 5 and 6 at very margin of tergite, spiracles 7 in tergite. Tergite 7 with deep posteromedial emargination, tergite 8 with weakly sclerotized midline. Spermathecae not observed (female paratype not dissected).

Male terminalia: Tergite 5 with ventrolateral margins unmodified, ventrolateral margin of tergite 6 narrowed laterally with a tapered anteroventral corner and a weakly convex posteroventral corner. Spiracles 5 and 6 in tergite, similarly positioned on both sides. Sternites 5 and 6 each divided into two small, equal, transverse-oval sclerites with about eight small bristles on each sclerite. Synsternite 7+8 with ventral part broad. Epandrium much longer than wide. Surstylus narrow and elongate (dorsoventrally flattened and appearing linear in lateral view), cercus twice as long as wide, surstylus 4X as long as greatest width, slightly curved anteriorly in apical fifth. Hypandrium with three pairs of breaks or weakenings: first between basal Ushaped 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. Hypandrial bridge moderately wide and robust. Subepandrial sclerite relatively small and divided into two transverse sclerites, one above each surstylus. Posterior part of hypandrial arm subquadrate, meeting broad surface of tripartite pregonite at right angles. Postgonite dark and well-developed, extending slightly beyond point of articulation with pregonite. Anterior part of hypandrial arm elongate-triangular, distally setose. Basiphallus with dorsal surface abruptly bent upward at end of basal third, distal portion with pair of longitudinal, dorsolateral carinae, left apex forming a narrow, tapered lobe. Distiphallus slightly curled up into a broad, pale, sinuate-margined lobe on left side; base narrow and heavily sclerotized, apex with relatively narrow, pointed finger-like sclerite directed medially from right side.

TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype M ( DEBU): PERU. Dpto. Huánuco, Río Llullapichis, right tributary of Río Pachitea , Station “Panguana” (of H.-W. Koepcke), 9°36’53”S, 74°55’57”W, 220 m, 1981, yellow pans, M. v. Tschirnhaus, “X270” . Paratype ♀: ECUADOR. Napo, Tena , 400 m, 16–17.ii.1983, M. Sharkey ( CNCI) .

ETYMOLOGY: The species is dedicated to M. Sharkey, who collected more than half of the known South American species of Syringogaster on a single trip to Ecuador, including the only known female specimen of this species.

COMMENTS: This species is a distinctive member of the brunnea -group. It can be separated from other species without fore femoral spines by the shining ocellar triangle and contrastingly colored fore tarsus. Unlike any other species of the brunnea -group the proepisternum is entirely shining and the anepisternum possesses a relatively small tomentose area. It is remarkably similar to S. cressoni in most other respects, and it is indistinguishable from S. cressoni on the basis of external genitalia. The internal male genitalia of S. sharkeyi , especially the abruptly bent (lateral view) and bicarinate dorsal surface of the basiphallus, will distinguish it from S. cressoni , in which the dorsal surface of the basiphallus is nearly straight and ecarinate. These closely related species both have an unusual pregonite-postgonite junction, in which the apex of the postgonite is beyond the junction between these two sclerites.