Itaplectops akselpalolai Fleming & Wood, 2014

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H. & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2015, Nine new species of Itaplectops (Diptera: Tachinidae) reared from caterpillars in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, with a key to Itaplectops species, Biodiversity Data Journal 3, pp. 4596-4596 : 4596

Itaplectops akselpalolai Fleming & Wood, 2014 sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceDetails: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu; catalogNumber: DHJPAR0053409 ; recordedBy: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs, Keiner Aragon; individualID: DHJPAR0053409; individualCount: 1; sex: M; lifeStage: adult; preparations: pinned; otherCatalogNumbers: ASHYM2763-13, 13-SRNP-79398; Taxon: scientificName: Itaplectopsakselpalolai; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Diptera; family: Tachinidae; genus: Itaplectops; specificEpithet: akselpalolai; scientificNameAuthorship: Fleming & Wood; Location: continent: Central America; country: Costa Rica; countryCode: CR; stateProvince: Guanacaste; county: Area de Conservacion Guanacaste; locality: Sector Rincon Rain Forest ; verbatimLocality: Palomo; verbatimElevation: 96; verbatimLatitude: 10.96187; verbatimLongitude: -85.28045; verbatimCoordinateSystem: Decimal; decimalLatitude: 10.96187; decimalLongitude: -85.28045; Identification: identifiedBy: AJ Fleming; dateIdentified: 2014; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from caterpillar of Natadamichorta (Limacodidae); verbatimEventDate: 26-Sep-2013; Record Level: language: en; institutionCode: CNC; collectionCode: Insects; basisOfRecord: Pinned Specimen

Description

Male

Length: 6mm.

Head (Fig. 2c): proclinate orbital bristles absent; first flagellomere entirely dark, brown to brownish orange over at least 1/2 of its surface; arista dark brown over 1/2 of its length, bright orange basally, with gradual taper; first flagellomere slightly shorter than facial margin by less than half the length of the pedicel; ocellar bristles well developed, at least the length of the pedicel, and arising behind anterior ocellus; ocellar triangle bare; frontal vitta approximately 4x as wide as fronto-orbital plate; facial ridge bearing at least 3 stout supravibrissal bristles; fronto-orbital plate slightly silver; parafacial bare and entirely silver; fronto-orbital plate bare.

Thorax (Fig. 2a, b): three postsutural supra-alar bristles; katepisternum with 2 bristles, anteriormost reduced in size and arising directly below to slightly anterior to suture; apical scutellar bristles short, up to 1/2 the length of subapical scutellars; subapical scutellar bristles strongly divergent; scutellum with no apparent discal bristles.

Wings (Fig. 2a): smoky yellow.

Legs (Fig. 2b): ground color of at least 1/2 of femur yellow, tibia yellow, and tarsi yellow (although these may appear dark due to hirsuteness); dorso-ventral margin of hind tarsi with yellow tufts of bristles apically.

Abdomen (Fig. 2a, b): T1+2 with mid-dorsal depression extending 2/3 along its length, but not reaching tergal margin; silver tomentosity on margins of abdominal segments T3 and T4 only visible under certain angles of light, with these bands not extending beyond 1/3 of tergal surface; median marginal bristles present on T1+2, T3, T4 and T5; reduced discal bristles present on T3, these arising within the silver tomentose band along the tergal margin, sometimes appearing like thickened abdominal hairs.

Terminalia (Fig. 2d, e): both cerci tightly juxtaposed when viewed dorsally. Cercus haired along basal 2/3rds; appearing convex when viewed laterally with a very slight thickening apically. Surstylus 9/10 as long as cercus, when viewed dorsally outwardly convex at its center, appearing bowed with a very slight acute downward bend apically, with a very slight hook at its tip. Cercus densely bristled along its entire length. Phallus 5x as long as cercus, straight and downwardly curved.

Female: unknown at this time.

Diagnosis

Itaplectops akselpalolai can be distinguished by the following combination of traits: proclinate orbital bristles absent in males; first flagellomere dark brown/black over 1/2 its surface; 3 postsutural supra-alar bristles; median marginal bristles present on T1+2, T3, T4 and T5; discal bristles present at least on T3; silver tomentosity on margins of abdominal segments T1+2, T3, and T4, confined to anterior 1/3 of tergite. It can be distinguished from its most similar congener, Itaplectops griseobasis , following couplet 9 in the key to Itaplectops (below).

Etymology

Itaplectops akselpalolai is named in honor of Aksel Palola of Vermont, USA, a supporter of Eric Palola, Shelly McSweeney, Aniken Palola and Tristan Palola, and therefore of GDFCF and ACG.

Distribution

Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Alajuela and Guanacaste, rain forest.

Ecology

Hosts

Reared from caterpillars of Limacodidae , Natada Walker spp.