Alepia clavicula Durán-Luz, Ibáñez-Bernal & Sandoval-Ruiz, 2018

Durán-Luz, Juana, Ibáñez-Bernal, Sergio & Sandoval-Ruiz, César Antonio, 2018, First record of Alepia Enderlein (Diptera, Psychodidae) in Mexico, with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 4497 (4), pp. 547-558 : 551-557

Alepia clavicula Durán-Luz, Ibáñez-Bernal & Sandoval-Ruiz , sp. nov.

( Figs. 15–29 )

Diagnosis. Eye bridge separated by less than 0.5 facet diameters; male gonostylus bifurcated from base, one is an external branch divided in two branches, one derived from the basal third and other very short and sclerotized near the apex, and an internal banana-like branch; external branch of gonostylus with a group of 6–8 sensilla at base; surstylus pear-shaped, ending in acute apex, with about 22 accessory retinacula with clavate apex scattered on the internal area.

Male description. ( Figs. 15–23 ). Head wider than long; ocular bridge with three rows of facets; eyes separated by less than 0.5 facet diameters; interocular suture as an inverted “Y”; frontal patch of alveoli with the inferior margin bilobed; palpus reaching the level of base of flagellomere 7; proportion of palpal segments: 1.0: 1.48: 1.52: 1.91 ( Fig. 15 ). Labium with an inverted “Y” sclerite, 8–10 short spiniform setae near midline and two larger isolated spiniform setae near labium base; labella bulbous, each labellum with some setae and four spiniform setae on internal margin ( Fig. 16 ). Antenna with scape 1.6 the length of pedicel, with 14 fusiform flagellomeres, that present two rows of verticilar alveoli on nodes, without differentiated ascoids; apical flagellomere with apiculus ( Figs. 17, 18 ).

Wing 2.4 times longer than wide; wing membrane with seta alveoli on the base of costal cell, slightly infuscate, with dark spots on vein apices, on radial and medial forks, over the base of R5 that expands toward R4 and in the base of M1+2, with light spots between the apices of veins; Sc short, reaching beyond the level of the base of R1; R5 ending at wing apex; radial and medial forks complete, nearly at the same level; CuA2 not expanded basally ( Fig. 19 ).

Abdominal tergum 6 with two scale patches near midline. Terminalia: Gonocoxites with anterior condyles plate-like, externally rounded, that are fused with two rounded sclerites along its anterior margin, both joined medially forming a X-like strong sclerotization; gonocoxite with 6–8 long setae on external margin and a patch of 6–8 short setae in the apical-half of internal margin. Gonostylus shorter than gonocoxite, with two branches originating from its base, the dorsal one with one external branch that produce one branch from the basal third and other very short and strongly sclerotized branch near apex, the ventral branch banana-like internally disposed in dorso-ventral view; dorsal branch of gonostylus with a basal patch of 6–8 short sensilla ( Fig. 21 ). Aedeagus with basiphallus wide, hoof-like, with large transparent bulging; distiphallus long, exceeding the level of the gonostyli apex, formed by two long and one short phallomeres; aedeagal sheath membranous, difficult to see in dorso-ventral view, covering the basal two-thirds of distiphallus ( Fig. 20 ). Distiphallus covered ventrally over the basal half, with a bell-like tunica which is somewhat membranous and has micro-pilosity denser on distal portion ( Figs. 20, 21 ). Epandrium nearly rectangular, without foramen but with two small setae in the midbasal region. Tergum X triangular in dorso-ventral view, pilose, with rounded apex. Sternum X broad, pilose, with straight apical margin. Surstyli drop-shaped, apically pointed, with scattered setae which are more numerous on the internal margin, with short cone-shaped sensilla over the posterior half of external margin and with about 22 accessory capitate retinacula, scattered over the posterior half; there is no apical retinaculum ( Figs. 22, 23 ).

Measurements. Head width: 0.653 (0.64–0.67) n=3; head length: 0.533 (0.50–0.56) n=3; length from vertex to the dorsal margin of eye: 0.11 (0.10–0.12) n=3; labrum length: 0.137 (0.13–0.14) n=3; proboscis length: 0.157 (0.15–0.16) n=3; palpus length: 0.650 (0.64–0.67) n=3; antenna length: 1.650 (1.62–1.68) n=2; wing length: 2.310 (2.25–2.35) n=3; wing width: 0.953 (0.94–0.97) n=3; R2+3 length: 0.197 (0.18–0.21) n=3; R2 length: 0.957 (0.89–1) n=3; M1+2 length: 0.563 (0.52–0.62) n=3; M2 length: 1.143 (1.08–1.15) n=3; Epandrium width: 0.290 (0.28–0.30) n=3; epandrium length at midline: 0.090 (0.08–0.1) n=3; epandrium maximal length: 0.277 (0.26–0.29) n=3; surstylus length: 0.2, n=2; goncoxite length: 0.193 (0.18–0.21) n=3; gonostylus length: 0.157 (0.14–0.17) n=3; aedeagus length: 0.543 (0.52–0.56) n=3.

Female description. ( Figs. 24–29 ). Like male, except by the following characteristics: Proportion of palpal segments: 1.0: 1.48: 1.57: 1.96 ( Fig. 24 ). Antennal scape 1.5 times the length of pedicel; flagellomere 1 with a hyaline circle but without ascoid, and flagellomere 2 with two circles with no ascoids; flagellomeres 3 and 4 with one ascoid, and flagellomeres 5–14 with two long and thin digitiform ascoids ( Figs. 25, 26 ); and wing length 2.44 its width ( Fig. 27 ).

Subgenital plate short, with the anterior margin V-shaped, and with a group of long setae on anterolateral portion; hypogynial valves longer than the plate, with the external margin concave and the internal margin convex, laterally directed, with contiguous bases ( Fig. 29 ). Genital chamber with a pair of posterior lateral sclerotizations, a median posteriorly bifurcated rod that continue anteriorly along the ventral receptacle and two groups of fine sensilla on the dorso-central portion; ventral receptacle with a pair of subquadrate plates, a pair of transversal rods that produce a pair of short lateral struts, and a pair of longitudinal curved struts ( Figs. 28 ). Cerci long, 1.6 times longer than the subgenital plate and hypogynial valves ( Fig. 29 ).

Measurements. Head width: 0.665 (0.65–0.68) n=2; head length: 0.565 (0.56–0.57) n=2; length from vertex to the dorsal margin of eye: 0.14 (0.13–0.15) n=2; labrum length: 0.15 (0.14–0.16) n=2; proboscis length: 0.17 (0.16–0.18) n=2; palpus length: 0.69 (0.68–0.70) n=2; antenna length: 1.56 n =1; wing length: 2.475 (2.40–2.55) n=2; wing width: 1.015 (0.95–1.08) n=2; length of R2+3: 0.215 (0.21–0.22) n=2; length of R2: 1.09 (1.05–1.13) n=2; length of M1+2: 0.605 (0.60–0.61) n=2; length of M2: 1.265 (1.20–1.33) n=2; basal width of subgenital plate: 0.245 (0.24–0.25) n=2; total length of subgenital plate: 0.295 (0.29–0.30) n=2; hypogynial valves length: 0.17 n =2; cerci length: 0.47 n =2.

Material examined. Holotype ♂: Mexico, Puebla, Jolalpan, Rancho El Salado, 18°20'28.2" N, 98°57'18.0" W, altitude: 944 m, CDC light traps, J. Durán-Luz, col., 15–x–2014 . Paratypes 2 ♂, 2 ♀: same data as holotype, except: 15–x–2015, 2 ♂; 15–ii–2015, 1 ♀; 25–xii–2015, 1 ♀.

Type locality. Mexico, Puebla, Jolalpan, Rancho El Salado.

Etymology. The Latin name clavicula (English: peg, Spanish: clavija) refers to the peg-like structures on the external surface of the surstyli.

Comments. The male of Alepia clavicula is in general similar to Alepia santacruz Ježek, Le Pont, Martinez & Mollinedo, 2011 , but this species differs by the bifurcate gonostylus, with the two branches divided from nearly its base; in addition, it has a retinaculum near apex of surstylus, the distiphallus is composed by three branches, the short one ending very close to the apex of the two other phallomeres, and wing with a different pattern of dark spots. The form of gonostylus of A. clavicula remember three more species from Panama: A. fissura Quate, 1999 , A. bulbula Quate, 1999 , and A. sectilis Quate, 1999 . Nevertheless, in these species the gonocoxite is shorter than the gonostylus and the aedeagal sheath strongly applied to the distiphallus, not expanded distally.

Alepia clavicula belongs to the group of species proposed by Quate & Brown (2004), characterized by the accessory retinacula scattered, absence of dark area on the surstyli, and broad eye bridge with three facet rows.

Figures

FIGURES 15–19. Male of Alepia clavicula sp. nov. 15. Head in frontal view. 16. Mouth parts and first palpus segment. 17. Scape, pedicel and two basal flagellomeres. 18. Last three flagellomeres. 19. Wing. Scale in millimeters, figures 3 and 4 at same scale.

FIGURES 20–23. Male terminalia of Alepia clavicula sp. nov. 20, 21. Aedeagal complex and gonopods. 22. Epandrium and surstyli. 23. Surstylus in lateral view. Scale in millimeters, figures 20‾22 at same scale. Aes: aedeagal sheath; Bph: basiphallus; Dph: distiphallus; Gcc: gonocoxite condyle; Gcx: gonocoxite; Gst: gonostylus; Tun: tunica.

FIGURES 24–29. Female of Alepia clavicula sp. nov. 24. Head in frontal view. 25. Scape, pedicel and two first flagellomeres. 26. Last three flagellomeres. 27. Wing. 28. Genital chamber. 29. Subgenital plate and cerci. Scale in millimeters, figures 25 and 26 at same scale.