Vibrissina robertwellsi Fleming & Wood

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Dapkey, Tanya, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2017, Five new species of Vibrissina Rondani (Diptera: Tachinidae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste in Northwestern Costa Rica, Biodiversity Data Journal 5, pp. 10967-10967 : 10967

Vibrissina robertwellsi Fleming & Wood sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0017875 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Roster Moraga; individualID: DHJPAR0017875; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASTAR585-07, 00-SRNP-3100, BOLD:AAC2770; Taxon: scientificName: Vibrissinarobertwellsi; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Vibrissina; specificEpithet: robertwellsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2016; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Sector El Hacha; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Sendero Bejuquilla; verbatimElevation: 280; verbatimLatitude: 11.03; verbatimLongitude: -85.527; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 11.03; decimalLongitude: -85.527; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2016; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Argid sawfly, Sericocerosvumirus; verbatimEventDate: 24-Jul-2000; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0058285 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & gusaneros; individualID: DHJPAR0058285; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: MHMYK11332-15, 89-SRNP-343, BOLD:AAC2770; Taxon: scientificName: Vibrissinarobertwellsi; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Vibrissina; specificEpithet: robertwellsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2016; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Sector Murcielago; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Camino Bahia Hachal; verbatimElevation: 5; verbatimLatitude: 10.9334; verbatimLongitude: -85.7291; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.9334; decimalLongitude: -85.7291; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2016; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Argid sawfly, Sericoceros mexicanus; verbatimEventDate: 18-Jul-1989; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0058284 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & gusaneros; individualID: DHJPAR0058284; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: MHMYK11331-15, 86-SRNP-527, BOLD:AAC2770; Taxon: scientificName: Vibrissinarobertwellsi; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Vibrissina; specificEpithet: robertwellsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2016; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Sector Santa Rosa; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Area Administrativa; verbatimElevation: 295; verbatimLatitude: 10.8376; verbatimLongitude: -85.6187; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.8376; decimalLongitude: -85.6187; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2016; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Argid sawfly, Sericocerosvumirus; verbatimEventDate: 25-Nov-1986; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0017808 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Roster Moraga; individualID: DHJPAR0017808; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASTAR519-07, 00-SRNP-3104, BOLD:AAC2770; Taxon: scientificName: Vibrissinarobertwellsi; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Vibrissina; specificEpithet: robertwellsi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2016; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Sector El Hacha; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Sendero Bejuquilla; verbatimElevation: 280; verbatimLatitude: 11.03; verbatimLongitude: -85.527; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 11.03; decimalLongitude: -85.527; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2016; Event: samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Argid sawfly, Sericocerosvumirus; verbatimEventDate: 25-Jul-2000; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male (Fig. 10a, b, c). Length: 8mm. Head (Fig. 10b): parafrontal and postorbit golden-yellow tomentose; parafacial, face, gena, and postgena silver tomentose; antenna black-brown; arista reddish brown basally, black apically; gena 0.25X eye height; 2 reclinate orbital bristles; frontal bristles not reaching below lower margin of pedicel; first flagellomere short of facial margin by 2X length of pedicel. Thorax (Fig. 10a, c): dorsum pale gold tomentose with 4 distinct dorsal vittae visible presuturally, postsuturally still distinct but widened and slightly smudging together; scutellum gold tomentose over almost its entirety; 1 short pair of discal scutellar bristles; apical scutellars weak and strongly divergent; 3 katepisternal bristles, ventral katepisternal bristle appearing greatly reduced compared to other 2; anepisternum slightly gold tomentose, anepimeron very lightly gold tomentose along anterior 1/2 only; katepisternum silver-gray tomentose with a gold tinge confined to dorsal edge. Legs: femora dark brown black, tibiae and tarsi with a light brown-reddish tinge under certain angles of light. Wings: smoky gray, bearing 2 short setulae at the base of R4+5. Abdomen (Fig. 10a): ground color of abdomen light brown laterally, black dorsally; ST1+2 all black, mid-dorsal depression extending to margin of syntergite; anterior margins of T3, T4 and T5 bearing gold tomentum over approximately ½ of tergal surface; ST1+2 bearing 1 pair of median marginal bristles; T3, T4 and T5 each bearing complete rows of marginal bristles; T3 and T4 with 3 pairs of median discal bristles; T5 bearing 1 row of discal bristles. Male terminalia (Fig. 11): sternite 5 with two broad rounded lobes, flanking a wide U-shaped median cleft; posterior lobes 0.62X length of anterior plate; inner margin covered in dense tomentum extending to upper margin of lobe, making it appear darker than surrounding cuticle; posterior lobes bearing short stout bristles throughout; anterior plate bare, wider than posterior lobes, with 3-5 small unsclerotized dots along midline; cerci triangular in dorsal view, tapering rapidly, 1.69X as long as wide, separate along entire length; cerci in lateral view dorsally slightly convex with a very slight upturn at apex, apically rounded and blade-like; surstylus, in lateral view, with ventral edge straight and with a curved dorsal edge, of a leaf-like appearance; postgonite parallel-sided and clubbed at tip when viewed laterally, entire structure with a strong curve along midopoint, giving it a rounded C shaped appearance; anterobasal heel strongly rounded; ventral sclerite of distiphallus slightly curved at apex; membranous portion of distiphallus, when viewed laterally, displaying a small downward-curved apical hook.

Female (Fig. 10d, e, f). Length: 5mm. As male except for the following traits: head: parafrontal, postorbit and parafacial gold tomentose; gena and postgena silver tomentose; antenna brown; gena 0.18X eye height. Thorax: dorsum densely gold tomentose with 4 distinct dorsal vittae visible presuturally; postsuturally vittae still separate and distinct, covering slightly over 1/2 of postsutural scutum; scutellum gold tomentose over posterior 3/4 or more; 3 strong katepisternal bristles, with ventral katepisternal bristle appearing greatly reduced compared to the other 2, but still well developed; anepisternum, anepimeron and katepisternum very slightly gold tomentose along dorsal margin. Legs: reddish brown on all segments. Wings: smoky gray, bearing 2-3 short setulae at the base of R4+5. Abdomen: ground color dark brown-black overall except for T5, whose ground color is a prominently yellow-orange. ST1+2 all black, mid-dorsal depression extending to margin of syntergite; anterior margin of T3, T4 and T5 bearing gold-gray tomentum over more than 1/2 of tergal surface; ST1+2 bearing 1 pair of median marginal bristles; T3, T4 and T5 each bearing rows of marginal bristles; T3 with 1 pair of median discal bristles; T3, T4, and T5 ventrolaterally flattened; mid-ventral portion of T3-T5 with a row of strong stout spines.

Diagnosis

Vibrissina robertwellsi sp. n. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following traits: parafacial silver and parafrontal gold; tergite 5 of strong orange ground color over more than 50% of tergite, a trait most prominent in females.

Etymology

Vibrissina robertwellsi sp. n. is dedicated to Mr. Robert Wells of San José, Costa Rica in recognition of his legal manoeuvering and contract management for INBio’s purchase of the lands on which the national biodiversity inventory collections have grown and thrived since 1989, and which have now been donated to the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, dry forest, in a dry-rain lowland intergrade at 5-295m.

Ecology

Hosts: reared on six occasions from larvae of the sawfly Sericoceros vumirus Smith ( Argidae ), feeding on the leaves of Ipomoea nil (L.) ( Convolvulaceae ), Coccoloba uvifera L. ( Polygonaceae ), Lonchocarpus guatemalensis Benth. and Lonchocarpus minimiflorus Donn. Sm. ( Fabaceae ).