Mesoconius woytkowskii, Marshall, 2019

Marshall, Stephen A., 2019, A revision of the genus Mesoconius Enderlein (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae), European Journal of Taxonomy 548, pp. 1-126 : 91-93

Mesoconius woytkowskii sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:57CF9E41-E79E-4F9E-9DE6-BA94A0DFABF1

Fig. 37

Zelatractodes filipes – Albuquerque 1986: 204 , fig. 143.

Etymology

This species is named after the collector, Felix Woytkowski, a professional insect collector in Peru from 1929 to 1964 and the author of Peru, Moja Ziemia Nieobiecana ( Peru, my Unpromised Land), the English translation of which was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1978.

Material examined

Holotype

PERU • ♀; Cusco, Santa Isabel, River Cosnipata ; 2 Dec. 1951; Woytkowski leg.; rain forest; CNCI.

Description (female holotype only)

LENGTH. 15 mm.

COLOUR. Head black to dark brown, except as follows: clypeus, lower face, gena, parafacials and palpus yellow; first flagellomere brown and antennal base reddish-brown. Pleuron bright yellow to orange, except for dark area surrounding anterior spiracle and lower margin of proepisternum; cervical sclerite bright yellow. Notum black, with three silvery vittae and a small orange postalar strip. Legs orange, except for black distal part of fore femur, black basal part of fore tibia and yellow fore tibial apex and tarsomeres. Wing uniformly clear. Abdominal T1 and base of T2 orange, abdomen otherwise dark, pleuron with a dark dorsal margin and a vertical black band at junction of P2 and P3.

HEAD. Epicephalon and paracephalon shiny, indistinctly striate. Frontal vitta dull and rugose, distinctly raised, very broad in front of ocelli, sharply tapered posteriorly and ending at about midpoint between ocelli and postocellars; anterior part of vitta narrowly tapered almost to anterior margin of frons. Lower frons bare, shiny, but longitudinally rugose or ridged. Postocellar bristles closely spaced and slightly divergent, inner and outer vertical bristles well developed; upper fronto-orbital large, inserted in shiny part of epicephalon, lower fronto-orbital large, inserted in microtrichose area below extension of epicephalon.

THORAX. Scutum densely microtrichose dorsally, forming colour patterns described above; dorsocentral setulae minute, forming a sparse row; acrostichal setulae indistinct. Cervical sclerite subquadrate, with a vertical groove separating a large densely microtrichose posterior section from a bare anterior portion. Postpronotal lobe mostly sparsely microtrichose, with few setulae, bare on anterior half, posterior margin sloped and densely white microtrichose. Dorsocentral bristle subequal to scutellar length. Scutellum with minute discal setulae and one pair of apical bristles (slightly longer than scutellum). Vertical row of katepisternal bristles golden. Katatergite evenly convex and microtrichose, without a conspicuous swelling or point. All coxae with an anteroventral tuft of long yellow bristles.

ABDOMEN. Segment one distinctly petiolate, T1+2 elongate, about twice as long as T3.

FEMALE ABDOMEN. Oviscape lost, but the following is inferred from Albuquerque (1986): bursa small with a small ventral receptacle; paired and single spermathecal ducts arising independently from bursa, single duct slightly thinner and shorter, with an elongate but vestigial spermatheca; paired spermathecal duct constricted at apex into two very short, narrow stems, each leading to an acorn-shaped spermatheca.

Remarks

The specimen designated here as the holotype had previously been sent from CNCI to L. Albuquerque (a doctoral student in Brazil at that time), who labeled it as Zelatractodes filipes . This was certainly a misidentification, because Mesoconius woytkowskii sp. nov. differs from M. filipes in having banded femora and sharply contrasting dark dorsal and lateral parts of the thorax. The specimen was returned to CNCI without an oviscape, but it is a safe assumption that the drawing of the female terminalia of ʻ Zelatractodes filipes ʼ in Albuquerque (1986) was made from this specimen. The description of the female terminalia above was formulated based on that drawing.

I would not normally describe a species based on a single damaged female, but since this distinctive species has already been illustrated under an incorrect name, it seems worthwhile to clarify the status of the specimen.

Figures

Fig. 37. Mesoconius woytkowskii sp. nov., holotype, ♀, CNCI. A–B. Lateral and dorsolateral views. C. Sketch of spermathecae and associated structures, showing separate origins of single and double spermathecal ducts (based on illustration in Albuquerque 1986).