Myopa nebulosa Barahona-Segovia, 2020

Barahona-Segovia, Rodrigo M. & Barceló, Matías, 2020, Myopa nebulosa sp. nov. and Myopa bozinovici sp. nov. (Diptera: Conopidae): New thick-headed flies from a threatened biodiversity hotspot in central Chile, Zootaxa 4780 (2), pp. 291-306 : 294-296

Myopa nebulosa Barahona-Segovia sp. nov.

Figs 1 , 3–9

Type material. HOLOTYPE [in excellent condition, pinned and deposited in MEUC] ♂ (1) “ Rio Teno , Curicó, Maule, Chile / 1200 m, 24-26.I.1968 / Leg. L. E. Peña ”; (2) “ Holotypus / Myopa nebulosa / spec. nov. ♂ / det. Barahona-Segovia 2018 ” . PARATYPES: 2♀ Huatacondo , Tarapacá, 24. VI.1987, Leg. A. Gallardo ( MNHNCL and RBSPC) ; Las Pillallas, Pampa del Tamarugal , 8.X.1986, Leg. D. Bobadilla ( UTA) ; 1♂ Refresco, Tal Tal , 1990; Leg. R. Mendoza ( UTA) ; 1♀ La Jaula, Los Queñes, Cord. Curicó , 14-18.II.1968, Leg. L.E. Peña (Deposited in MEUC) ; 2♂ Rio Teno, Curicó , 1200 m, 24-26.I.1968 (deposited in MEUC) ; 1♀ 3♂ Rio Teno, Curicó , 1200 m, 24-26.I.1968 (deposited in MEUC and CNC) .

Type locality: Rio Teno , Curicó, Región del Maule, Chile

Diagnosis. Measures: Body length 8.3 ± 0.47 mm; width 2.15 ± 0.35 mm, mesonotum 5.95 ± 0.74 (n=5). Head with frons yellow with irregular brown areas. Thorax with anterior scutum black with two blue stripes. Several thoracic segments present violet, reddish and light brownish colors depending on perspective. Wing spotted. Abdominal tergites with violet irregular areas mixed with black and brown color. Tergites from 5 to 8 and pale yellow.

Description. MALE. Body length 7.8 mm; width 2.21 mm; mesonotum 2.79. Head. Eye blackish. Several black outer vertical setae. Scape, pedicel and flagellum brown; front margin black with upward curvature ending in a point as in other Myopa species; pedicel longer than scape. Pedicel with some short black bristles on dorsal and anterior margins. Arista subapical, blackish brown and basal area 2x wider than the middle. Frons yellow with lateral and upper brown parts with brown hairs unevenly distributed. Ocellar triangle black; ocelli blackish-red. Face strongly concave, projected and with pale color ( Fig. 3 ). Gena pale yellow with short and pale pile; labrum and proboscis blackish-brown; palp blackish-yellow. Thorax. Postpronotal lobe blackish-brown with pale tints and several black postpronotal setae; posterior margin black. Scutum anteriorly black with two blue stripes, with several short, black presutural acrostichal setae; supra-alar area brown with red, orange, violet and black tints in gradient ( Fig. 4 ); posteriorly with light violet or red-brownish color and undefined margins; a few widely spaced dorsocentral setae. Scutellum blackish brown-yellow and lateral margins light violet with some grade of variability (see variability section below); one pair of black discal scutellar setae and four pairs of black marginal scutellar setae. Proepisternum blackish violet; anepisternum, katepisternum, anepimeron, katatergite, anatergite and meron with intermingled colors ranging from pale red to brown, yellow and black (see Fig. 4 ); proepimeral and anterior katepisternal setae large and black. Legs. Coxae and trochanters brown-violet; femora, tibiae and tarsi light brown, covered with black setae; one black spot on the middle of the femur; tibiae with two similar black spots, one proximal to trochanters and coxae and the other distal; blackish claws. Wings. One dark spot surrounding anterior crossvein r-m (see Fig. 1 ); r 2+3 with two extra dark spots, one in subapical area and the other at apex; r 4+5 with one spot in apical section; single dark spots at junction of both M1 and M4 with outer crossvein dm-cu. Halter yellow. Abdomen. Light violet-blue to black with some irregular yellow-pale areas. Tergite 1 violet and black on side margins, but with the violet basal coloration extending across the disc as far as the posterior margin. Tergite 2 brown-yellow on side margins with some black or violet spots with violet basal color to irregular black areas or spots, producing an irregular square in the middle of the segment (see Figs 5–6 ). Tergite 3 similar to the previous segment, except that the irregular area is approximately triangular. Tergite 4 violet-brownish with several irregular black spots. In some specimens these black spots form a large area (See Figs 5–6 ). Tergite 5 and 6 pale yellow with some little black spots. Hairs in center and in a marginal area of tergites 4–5 not obviously longer than those on tergite 2. Hairs on tergite 6 often shorter than hairs described in previous tergites See Figs 5–6 ). Genitalia: Epandrium in side view as shown in Figs 7–8 , expanded ventrally with long black microtrichia distributed heterogeneously on dorsal side but concentrated on lateral margin ( Figs 7–8 ).

FEMALE. Morphological characters similar to male except sternite 7 brownish and strongly tapering towards base. Lateral tooth of apical syntergosternite twice as long as its width at base ( Fig. 9 ).

Intraspecific variability. Both males and females possess variation in color of the scutal area from darkish brown-yellow to darkish red, while lateral margins are light violet or red-brownish ( Figs 5–6 ); scutellum and abdominal segments vary, ranging from violet, reddish and orange areas to black. Black spots of tergites also variable (see Figs 5–6 ).

Etymology. The specific epithet “ nebulosa ” is a feminine adjective that refers to the term applied in astrology to all celestial objects of diffuse appearance. Nebulous spots are composed of different chemical elements that are reflected due to the light of neighboring stars, and therefore emit different colors that determine their identity, which is called the spectral fingerprint. This thick-headed fly species was given this name due to the diffuse shape of the colors of its different body segments.

Distribution. From Pampa del Tamarugal, Tarapacá;Western of Barrancas, Coquimbo Region, (data: 10.X.2000, Leg. L. Packer; only one individual by photo assigned to this species and deposited in LPPC) and Los Queñes, Romeral and Teno River, foothills of the Andes Range, Maule region, Chile ( Fig. 21 ).

Remarks. One of the most remarkable characteristics of this species is its spotted wings. According to Stuke & Clements (2008), this trait is typical of Myopa species of the M. polystigma group of the Palearctic region. The ecosystem where this species occurs is dominated by sclerophyllous forest and shrubland in valleys, and hygrophilous forest in ravines. This species is distributed much further south than M. metallica , thus becoming the most southernmost known species of Myopa . Its host is unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Distribution of Chilean Myopa species: Myopa nebulosa sp. nov. (black triangles), Myopa bozinovici sp. nov. (red squares) and Myopa metallica (blue circles).

FIGURES 1–2. Lateral view of new Myopa species. (1) Myopa nebulosa sp. nov. (Rio Teno, Curicó, male). (2) Myopa bozinovici sp. nov. (Fundo El Manzano, female). Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 3–6. Myopa nebulosa sp. nov. (3) Lateral view of head (Rio Teno, Curicó, male). (4) Lateral view of thorax (Rio Teno, Curicó, male). (5) Dorsal view (Rio Teno, Curicó, male). (6) Color variability (Rio Teno, Curicó, male). Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 7–9. Myopa nebulosa sp. nov. (7) Dorsal view of male genitalia. (8) Ventral view of male genitalia. (9) Lateral view of abdomen of female. Abbreviations: cerci = cercus; epand = epandrium; hypd arm = hypandrial arm; hyp = hypoproct; hypd = hypandrium; hyprct = hypoproct; phapod = phallapodeme; pos sur = posterior surstyli; syntrgst 7+8 = syntergosternite 7+8. Scale bar = 500 μm (Figs 7, 8); scale bar = 1 mm (Fig. 9).