Trigonospila uniformis Fleming & Wood

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Janzen, Daniel H, Hallwachs, Winnie & Smith, M. Alex, 2015, Three new species of Trigonospila Pokorny (Diptera: Tachinidae), from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with a key for their identification, Biodiversity Data Journal 3, pp. 4595-4595 : 4595

Trigonospila uniformis Fleming & Wood sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0035709 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs; individualID: DHJPAR0035709; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: 09-SRNP-44688; Taxon: scientificName: Trigonospilauniformis; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Trigonospila; specificEpithet: uniformis; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2015; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste; locality: Sector Rincon Rain Forest ; verbatimLocality: Estacion Llanura; verbatimElevation: 135; verbatimLatitude: 10.933; verbatimLongitude: -85.253; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.933; decimalLongitude: -85.253; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2015; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from caterpillar of Stenoma Janzen44 (Elachistidae); verbatimEventDate: Jul-15-2009; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0040672 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs; individualID: DHJPAR0040672; individualCount: 1; sex: F; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: 10-SRNP-75629; Taxon: scientificName: Trigonospilauniformis; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Trigonospila; specificEpithet: uniformis; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood, 2015; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste; locality: Sector Rincon Rain Forest ; verbatimLocality: Quebrada Bambu; verbatimElevation: 109; verbatimLatitude: 10.93; verbatimLongitude: -85.252; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.93; decimalLongitude: -85.252; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2015; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from caterpillar of Antaeotricha spurca (Elachistidae); verbatimEventDate: 26-Apr-2010; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male (Fig. 4a, b, c), 9 mm. Head (Fig. 4b): frontal vitta dark black, slightly tapered apically to twice the width of the ocellar triangle, parafrontal 1/2 as wide as frontal vitta; frontal bristles arise no lower than level of first antennal segment; antennae black; frontoorbital plate silvery-gold turning to black apically; parafacial silvery to slightly gold tinged; palpi black gray; gena 1/8 height of head. Thorax (Fig. 4a): yellow when viewed dorsally with four longitudinal black vittae, these appear fused throughout their length with only slight separation apparent; appearing as two indistinct blotches covering 2/3rds of thorax postsuturally; three postsutural dorsocentral bristles; scutellum bearing white or yellowish pruinosity only at apex (occupying less than 1/5th of total area); 3 pairs of scutellar marginal bristles; subapical scutellars widely divergent, lateral scutellars reduced, almost half the length of the subapicals, these closer to apex, than to basal scutellars; legs black. Wings: pale smoky grayish in color, with one bristle arising at the joint between R1 and R2+3. Abdomen (Figs 1a, 4a): abdominal tergites dark velvety black, with bright, yellow bands covering less than 1/3rd of tergal surface arising at the margins of between the abdominal tergites, these bands not wrapping around to the underside; bright yellow bands straddling the margin between tergites ST1+2, T3, and the anterior margin of T4; tergal bands not possessing a sharp mid-dorsal peak rather appearing flat.

Female (Fig. 4d, e, f), 4 mm. Head (Fig. 4e): frontal vitta dark tawny, parallel sided apically equal to twice the width of the ocellar triangle, parafrontal 1.5 times as wide as frontal vitta; frontal bristles arise no lower than level of first antennal segment; proclinate orbital bristles present; antennae light black with orange present at base of first flagellomere; frontoorbital plate entirely gold; parafacial narrow, silvery to slightly gold tinged; palpi light gray at base, with orange tips, slightly haired along upper surface; gena 1/10 height of head. Thorax (Fig. 3d): yellow when viewed dorsally with four longitudinal black vittae, these becoming remaining separate postsuturally, appearing as four distinct lines covering just over 1/2 of thorax postsuturally; three postsutural dorsocentral bristles; scutellum bearing white or yellowish pruinosity over half of its area; scutellar bristles similar to males. Wings: pale smoky grayish in color, with one bristle arising at the joint between R1 and R2+3. Abdomen (Figs 2a, 4d): pointed downward apically so as to appear strongly curved; abdominal tergites dark velvety black, with dull, grayish bands covering at least 1/2 of tergal surface; bands flat and with no distinctive mid-dorsal peaks (Fig. 2a); abdominal bands wrapping around to the underside; bright yellow bands straddling the margin between tergites ST1+2, and T3 with yellow-gray color extending up to and beyond insertion point of median marginal bristles on ST1+2; T3 and T4 possessing 1 pair of medial discal bristles, insertion point of abdominal bristles punctuated by a black outline appearing as black spots.

Diagnosis

Small black and yellow fly, with 4 prominent black stripes on the thorax, these smudging together so that it appears as 2 large thoracic vittae. Males have a black scutellum, straight conical, and apically pointed abdomen, with 3 narrow gold bands interspersed with black wrapping the abdomen, terminating in a black tip. Female abdomen with a strong down-pointing curve abdominal, 3 grayish abdominal bands lacking mid-dorsal point.

Etymology

From the Latin “uniformis”, for not changing in form or character, in reference to the uniform nature of the pruinose bands on the abdomen.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Alajuela, rain forest, 109-135 m elevation.

Ecology

Reared from, Elachistidae , Stenoma Janzen44 and Antaeotricha spurca (2 records). One fly larva per caterpillar.