Xycores Kameneva & Korneyev, 2017

Kameneva, E. P., Korneyev, V. A. & Ramos-Pastrana, Y., 2017, A New Genus, New Species And New Records Of Ulidiidae (Diptera, Tephritoidea) From Colombia, Vestnik Zoologii (Vestn. Zool.) 51 (2), pp. 125-136 : 130-132

Xycores Kameneva & Korneyev , gen. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6542AC1C-A8B1-4888-973C-85D9616468BF

T y p e s p e c i e s: Xycores igniceps Kameneva & Korneyev , sp. n.

Diagnosis. The new genus belongs to the subfamily Otitinae and is preliminarily assigned to the tribe Cephaliini by the combination of the high straight (i. e. not concave in profile) clypeus, subtriangular palp, setulose vein R 1, and ejaculator with short sperm pump and long fan-like apodeme. It clearly differs from other members of the tribe by the combination of elongate, narrow, apically truncated flagellomere 1, robust, mainly shining thorax with pair of microtrichose vittae, well developed proepisternal, postpronotal, acrostichal, 2 pairs of dorsocentral and scutellar setae, wing with apically setulose vein R 1, cell bcu very short lobate, abdominal tergites devoid of microtrichia, sternites and abdominal pleura narrow, male genitalia with short epandrium, numerous (7–8) prensisetae arranged into a row along posterior margin, shallow hypandrium with pair of setulose pregonites, no postgonites or epiphallus, and an almost bare phallus with a pair of long spines submedially.

Description. Head ( figs 14–16 ) higher than long. Frons setulose; all the setulae proclinate. Vertical plate with two orbital setae, anterior seta shorter than posterior. Medial and lateral vertical setae strong and long; lateral vertical seta as long as posterior orbital. Frontal vitta matt, non-microtrichose, orbits densely microtrichose. Ocellar seta lateroclinate, shorter than posterior orbital. Eye vertical oval. Face straight vertical, slightly higher than wide, with strongly produced facial carina, antennal grooves shallow. Clypeus lower than flagellomere 1 width, straight and slightly receding in profile, neither convex nor produced anteriorly. Parafacial narrow, half as wide as flagellomere 1 width; gena moderately high, as high as flagellomere 1 length. Occiput slightly swollen in ventral two-thirds. Postocellar setae as long as ocellars, divergent. Postvertical and postocular setae slightly shorter than anterior orbital seta. Genal and postgenal setae long. Antenna slightly longer than face; pedicel as long as wide, with moderately long dorsal seta and without notch; flagellomere 1 moderately long, narrowed towards apex, apically truncated or bluntly rounded. Prementum large, not swollen; labella fleshy, broad; palp wide, oval, slightly wider than flagellomere 1 width.

Thorax ( fig. 17 ) moderately elongate and anteriorly narrowed, shining. Scutum slightly convex, moderately setulose, sparsely microtrichose, with densely microtrichose vittae submedially and small patches of microtrichia on anterior surfaces of postpronotum and proepisternum. Scutellum dorsally flattened, shining. Anepisternal suture distinctive. Proepisternal seta present; 1 postpronotal, 2 notopleural setae; 2 supra-alar, 1 intra-alar, 1 postalar, 2 dorsocentral setae in postsutural portion of scutum; 1 well-developed acrostichal seta behind level of posterior dc; 2 pairs of scutellars. 2 anepisternal 1 katepisternal seta distinctive, large. Anepimeron bare.

Wing ( fig. 18 ) hyaline, tinged with yellow, microtrichose over whole surface, with dark pattern as follows. Costa with two constrictions (“breaks”) apical of humeral crossvein and basal of subcostal vein apex, bearing 2 rows of moderately short setulae (as long as vein width) from humeral break to the apex of R 2+3; well-developed seta before humeral break on ventral side; no longer costal spurs. Vein Sc complete, slightly bowed at apex. Stigma short, at most 0.3 times as long as costal cell. Vein R 1 setulose above on all its length; its apex at mid-length of wing, slightly posterior of r-m level. Veins R 4+5 and M subparallel at apical portion. Cell r 4+5 not narrowed towards its apex. Vein CuA 2 slightly sinuate, cell cup with a very short extension at its lower apex. Anal lobe well developed; vein CuA 2 +A 1 developed in basal half, reaching wing margin as fold; vein A 2 fold-like. Alula developed. Calypters moderately narrow, brown to black, with long black ciliae; upper calypter slightly longer than lower one.

Legs unmodified, femora and tibiae setulose, femora moderately thickened, fore femur with one row of long postero-ventral and two rows of postero-dorsal setae, mid femur without long setae; hind femur with one subapical seta on dorsal surface. Fore tibia with two short erect subapical setae dorsally; mid tibia with pair of subequal long apical setae ventrally and two short subapical setae dorsally. Tarsi short setulose. Claws simple.

Abdomen ( fig. 19 ) shining, moderately setulose, without microtrichose areas.

In male, protandrial segments as in all other Ulidiidae , moderately developed, without spiracles. Hypandrium ( figs 23–24 ) with shallow phallic guide. Pregonites symmetrical, each with 2 setulae. Phallus moderately short and narrow, without glans or sclerotized preglans, with two sclerotized taeniae and with pair of acute spinulae on middle portion ( figs 21–24 ).

Epandrium ( figs 21–23 ) vertical, slightly expanded in dorso-ventral direction. Surstyli joined to epandrium medio-caudally and laterally, with more or less distinct seam, large, mesally curved, with row of 5 prensisetae postero-ventrally and few setulae on ventro-medial surface ( fig. 22 ). Cerci poorly sclerotized, wide, long setulose.

Female unknown.

Discussion. In the key to genera of Otitinae (including Pterocallini) of the Americas south of the United States ( Steyskal, 1982) this genus runs to Seioptera Kirby. It differs from the latter, as well as from the other genera of the Seiopterini, in the absence of all the apomorphies of that tribe; Seiopterini usually have 2 katepisternal setae, the anepisternal setae lacking and no paracercal prensisetae in males.

In the key to Central American Ulidiidae ( Kameneva, Korneyev, 2010) , the new genus runs to Proteseia Korneyev & Hernandéz, 1999 from Mexico (see Hernandez-Ortiz et al., 1999), readily differing from the latter by the face straight in profile with high carina (concave without carina in Proteseia ), dorsal margin of the palp arcuate, palp wide oval (straight dorsal margin of subtriangular palp in Proteseia ), stigma conspicuously shorter, not reaching r-m level (stigma long with R 1 apex far distally of r-m level in Proteseia ), epandrium with numerous posterior prensisetae (two pairs of distantly separated prensisetae in Proteseia ), hypandrium without postgonites (postgonites well developed in Proteseia ), and phallus almost entirely bare, except for a pair of spines (densely spinulose over whole surface in Proteseia ).

The new genus is assigned to the subfamily Otitinae because of having a sperm pump with large fan-like ejaculatory apodeme with relatively small vesica, which is not common for Pterocallini or Lipsanini. Numerous prensisetae occur mainly in the tribes Myennidini, Cephaliini and Otitini. However, its position in the system of Ulidiidae ( Kameneva, Korneyev, 2006) is quite uncertain, as in the case of other Neotropical Otitinae .

“ Seioptera ” importans Hennig from Central Chile which has 2 supraalar, 2 anepisternal seta, 1 katepisternal seta, bluish body sheen, and similar wing pattern and venation, differs by having the vein R 1 bare in basal part, epandrium with two prensisetae closely located at median part of surstylus, and densely setulose phallus.

Xycores shares several characters with the genera of the Cephalini. These are the face straight; high, straight clypeus, and large, subtriangular palp. Xycores is apparently related to the genera of this tribe. Nevertheless, inclusion of this genus into the Cephalini requires re-definition of the latter tribe, which is out of scope of this paper.

S p e c i e s i n c l u d e d. The type species, Xycores igniceps Kameneva & Korneyev , sp. n.

Etymology. The name of the genus is an anagram of the name Ceroxys , the Palaearctic genus of the Otitini to which most Neotropical species of the tribe were misplaced by Steyskal (1991); gender is feminine.

Figures

Figs 12–19. Xycores igniceps (12–14, 17 — holotype Ơ from Venezuela, 15–16, 18–19 — paratype Ơ from Colombia): 12 — label and habitus, lateral left view, 13 — habitus, dorsal view, 14–16 — head, 17 — mesonotum, 18 — wing, 19 — abdomen (14 — lateral left, 15, 17–19 —dorsal, 16 — posterior view and label).Scale bar 1 mm.

Figs 20–24. Xycores igniceps (paratype Ơ from Colombia): 20 — abdomen, ventral view, 21–22 —epandrium and phallus, 23–24 — epandrium, hypandrium and phallus (21 — posterior, 22 — postero-ventral, 23 — lateral right, 24 — ventral view). Abbreviations: ej ap — ejaculatory apodeme, ph — phallus, phad — phallapodeme, pregon — pregonite, prset — prensisetae, sst — surstylus.