Belvosia harryramirezi Fleming & Woodley, 2023

Fleming, AJ, Woodley, Norman, Smith, M. Alex, Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H, 2023, Revision of Belvosia Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera, Tachinidae) and 33 new species from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica with a key to known North and Mesoamerican species, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 103667-103667 : 103667

Belvosia harryramirezi Fleming & Woodley sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0001857 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & gusaneros; individualID: DHJPAR0001857; individualCount: 1; sex: Male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: HCIC373-05, 93-SRNP-2982,; occurrenceID: CC920D16-287A-59FD-A8DA-87582E9E21EF; Taxon: scientificName: Belvosia harryramirezi; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Diptera ; family: Tachinidae ; genus: Belvosia ; specificEpithet: harryramirezi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Woodley, 2023; 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: 2022; Event : samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Sphingidae , Callionima falcifera; verbatimEventDate: 26-Jul-1993; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0001972 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & gusaneros; individualID: DHJPAR0001972; individualCount: 1; sex: Male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: HCIC488-05, 87-SRNP-383, BOLD:ABY4918; occurrenceID: 35758F6C-9406-59AE-BAE0-B3AF34CA644C; Taxon: scientificName: Belvosia harryramirezi; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Diptera ; family: Tachinidae ; genus: Belvosia ; specificEpithet: harryramirezi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Woodley, 2023; Location : continent: Central America ; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Sector Santa Rosa ; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Cafetal ; verbatimElevation: 280; verbatimLatitude: 10.8583; verbatimLongitude: -85.6109; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal ; decimalLatitude: 10.8583; decimalLongitude: -85.6109; Identification : identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2022; Event : samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Sphingidae , Aellopos titan; verbatimEventDate: 10-Jul-1987; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0061268 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen, W. Hallwachs & Keiner Aragon; individualID: DHJPAR0061268; individualCount: 1; sex: Female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ACGBA7651-17, 17-SRNP-45650, BOLD:ABY4918; occurrenceID: 25D8F9ED-BC3D-539B-9C84-32C5CA356426; Taxon: scientificName: Belvosia harryramirezi; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Diptera ; family: Tachinidae ; genus: Belvosia ; specificEpithet: harryramirezi; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Woodley, 2023; Location : continent: Central America ; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Alajuela; county: Sector Rincon Rain Forest ; locality: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste ; verbatimLocality: Palomo ; verbatimElevation: 96; verbatimLatitude: 10.9619; verbatimLongitude: -85.2804; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal ; decimalLatitude: 10.9619; decimalLongitude: -85.2804; Identification : identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2022; Event : samplingProtocol: Reared from the larvae of the Sphingidae , Xylophanes chiron; verbatimEventDate: 20-Jun-2017; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male (Fig. 52), length: 14-16mm. Head: head slightly wider than thorax; vertex 1/3 head width; gena 1/5 of head height, 1/4 of eye height. Fronto-orbital plate light black in ground color, lightly covered with gray tomentum giving majority of the plate a glabrous dark gray sheen transitioning to silver; ocellar setae absent at most several hair-like setulae present on ocellar triangle; reclinate orbital seta absent; two rows of frontal setae, black setulae intermingled with setae. Parafacial dark yellow in ground color, densely covered in silver tomentum making the entire surface reflective brilliant silver appearance; bare overall, except for a small number of setulae extending just below lowest frontal setae; facial ridge setose along 1/2 of its length, with a few sparse hair-like setulae emerging along outer edge of row; gena covered in black setulae. Antenna, pedicel black, concolorous with postpedicel; postpedicel, 1.5X as long as pedicel; arista bare and tapered. Palps, yellow-orange throughout and densely covered in short black setulae; twice as thick along anterior 1/2 appearing like a broad club, with a gradual taper apically. Thorax: black ground color, with light gray tomentum throughout, when viewed dorsally tomentum appears thinner postsuturally, transitioning to yellow ground color directly adjacent to scutellum, some bronze tomentum on the postalar callosity; scutellum appearing reddish-black to the naked eye, under microscope bronze tomentum becomes apparent when view on an oblique caudal angle; scutum with four dorsal vittae, becoming more evident under certain angles of light, these broken at suture; lateral surface of thorax densely covered in long black hair-like setulae, with some reddish brown setulae intermingled; chaetotaxy: 3 strong setae on postpronotum arranged in a line, acrostichal setae 3:4-6 often with 2 extra setae appearing just adjacent to acrostichal setae; dorsocentral setae 3:4; intra-alar setae 3:3; supra-alar setae 2:3; 4-6 katepisternal setae; scutellum, with 5-6 pairs of long flat marginal setae of subequal length; apical setae absent; complete row of scutellar discal setae just posterior to marginal setae. Wing: strongly infuscate, black basicosta, with some orange along posterior margin; both upper and lower calypters infuscate concolorous with remainder of wing; wing vein R4+5 setose, bearing only 2-3 setulae at base; halteres orange stalk with dark black/brown capitulum. Legs: black overall, coxa on midleg and hindleg with a few reddish-yellow setulae; tarsal claws yellow with black tips, with yellow pulvilli 2/3 length of tarsal claws; Anterodorsal row of setae on hind tibia fringelike, formed by a very regular row of uniformly sized setae separated from each other by less than the width of their socket. Abdomen: globose, with dark burgundy-black ground color; T3 with bronze tomentum, confined to the anterior margin of the tergite, at most anterior 10% of surface, T4 gold tomentose along anterior 10-15% of tergite and T5 densely gold tomentose on 95% of surface absent along posterior 5%, which appears as glabrous black; middorsal depression on ST1+2 reaching to hind margin of tergite, median marginal setae present on ST1+2 wide set, stout but short, approximately 1/2 as long as median marginals on T3, T3 also with 1 pair of median marginal setae, and complete rows of marginal setae on T4 and T5; ventral surfaces of T3-T4 with clearly defined sex-patches extending from underside of tergite to lateral surface.

Male terminalia (Fig. 53): sternite 5 with a deeply excavated median cleft along posterior edge, elongate, somewhat U shaped with a shoulder midway along cleft, margins covered in dense tomentum; posterior lobes rounded apically, hirsute, with multiple strong setae surrounded by many shorter weaker setulae. Anterior plate of sternite 5 1/2X as long as posterior lobes; unsclerotized "window" on anterior plate of sternite 5 almost entirely transparent directly basal to posterior lobes, roughly "W" shaped. Cerci in posterior view triangular, longer than surstyli; slightly rounded at apex, completely separate medially along distal 1/2. Cerci in lateral view, with a strong anterior curve on anterior 1/2, giving it an overall arced appearance; densely setose along basal 1/2. Surstylus in lateral view, almost equilateral along its entire length making the structure appear digitiform; surstylus appearing to be fused with epandrium; when viewed posteriorly surstyli divergent with outward curved apices. Pregonite broad, yet stout, well-developed, apically rounding off, usually blunt, with 2-4 strong marginal setulae. Postgonite, slightly narrowed, 1/3 as wide as pregonite, 1/2 as long as pregonite. Distiphallus broadly cone-shaped (in some species this cone or flare is much more pronounced, in others appearing square or barrel shaped), with a slender median longitudinal sclerotized reinforcement on its posterior surface, with a strong hook at tip, and a broad, anterolateral, sclerotized acrophallus, on anterior surface near apex, ~1.3X as long as basiphallus.

Female (Fig. 54) length: 14-16mm, overall morphology as in male differing in the following traits: Head: fronto-orbital plate dull gray, sometimes appearing devoid of tomentum along vertex, bearing 3-4 pairs of proclinate orbital setae in addition to 1 pair of reclinate orbital seta. Thorax: Thoracic chaetotaxy: acrostichal setae 4:4; dorsocentral setae 3:4; intra-alar setae 2:3; supra-alar setae 2:3. Abdomen: more globose than males, lacking the flattened character, setulae on abdomen not as dense, appearing far less hirsute than male abdomen (lacking sex patch); differing in terminalia, and T3 bearing goldish tomentum on ventral surface.

Diagnosis

Belvosia harryramirezi sp. n. can be distinguished from all other Belvosia by the following combination of traits: gena covered in black setulae, black basicosta, both calypters dark, anterodorsal setae on hind tibia comblike and regular, and T5 black apically, sex patch present; male terminalia: epandrium densely hirsute, surstyli digitiform and apically rounded, subequal to length of cerci.

Etymology

Belvosia harryramirezi sp. n, is named in honor of Sr. Harry Ramirez in recognition of his decades of being part of the Parataxonomist Program of Area de Conservación Guanacaste (http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr) in northwestern Costa Rica ( Janzen and Hallwachs 2011). Interim species-specific name included in previously circulating databases and publications, Belvosia Woodley07D.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Alajuela and Guanacaste Provinces, 40-645m elevation

Ecology

Belvosia harryramirezi sp. n. has been reared 30 times from seven species of Lepidoptera in the family Sphingidae , Aellopos fadus (Cramer, 1775) (N=1), A. titan (Cramer, 1777) (N=5), Callionima falcifera (Gehlen, 1943) (N=5), Cautethia spuria (Boisduval, 1875) (N=1), C. yucatana Clark, 1919 (N=10), Xylophanes anubus (Cramer, 1777) (N=1), X. chiron (Drury, 1773) (N=7), in dry foresrt, rain forest, and dry-rain lowland intergrade.