Metopia fofo, Carvalho-Filho & Gorayeb & Soares & Souza, 2018

Carvalho-Filho, Fernando Da Silva, Gorayeb, Inocêncio De Sousa, Soares, Jéssica Maria Menezes & Souza, Matheus Tavares De, 2018, Flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) from a white-sand habitat in the Brazilian Amazon, with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 4504 (3), pp. 401-417 : 408-409

Metopia fofo sp. nov.

( Figs 22–26 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂ ( MPEG), labeled as follows: BRASIL-PARÁ, BR-422 / Km 11, sul de Cametá [=

south of Cametá City], Campina [= white-sand vegetation] / 2°15’12”S 49°36’12”W / Arm. Suspensa [= suspended trap], 0 5 a [= to] 20.vii.2015 [printed on white label] // BRASIL-PARÁ, Cametá/ Cols: [= collectors] F.S. Carvalho Fh., B.F. dos Anjos, L./ A. Quaresma, D.R. Guimarães/ 0 5 a [= to] 20.xi.2015 [printed on white label; holotype with left fore leg and right mid leg missing, and with segment 5 of abdomen and terminalia cleared and placed in glycerin in a microvial pinned beneath the specimen].

Diagnosis. Palpus black and reduced to stubs. Male fore tarsomeres 3–5 with elongate hair-like setae dorsally ( Fig. 22 ). Veins R 1 and CuA 1 bare. Pregonite elongate and narrow, with pointed apex ( Fig. 25 ). Phallus elongate and gently curved ventrally ( Fig. 26 ). Acrophallus elongate and without spines ( Fig. 26 ).

Description. Male. Body length: 4.6 mm (n = 1).

Head. Frons distinctly protruding giving the head a trapezoidal profile. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates covered with silver microtrichia. Fronto-orbital plate with some small scattered setulae in addition to 9 frontal setae continuing on to parafacial plate to below level of aristal insertion in lateral view. Frontal vitta black, narrowing towards lunule. Inner vertical setae differentiated, outer vertical setae developed [but both broken]. Ocellar setae of about the same length as frontal setae; 2 reclinate and 2 proclinate fronto-orbital setae arranged in partly overlapping rows with anterior reclinate orbital seta positioned anterior to posterior proclinate seta (see Pape & Dahlem 2010: fig. 6). Antenna dark brown, first flagellomere with gray microtrichia; arista thickened in proximal half and as long as first flagellomere. Palpus black, reduced to a rudimentary stub.

Thorax. Black, with silvery microtrichia. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals 0+1, dorsocentrals 2+3, intra-alars 1+2, supra-alars 2+3, postpronotals 2, postalars 2, notopleurals 2, anepisternals 4–5, katepisternals 3, merals 10, scutellum with 1 pair of basal setae, 1 pair of lateral setae, 1 pair of apical setae and no discal setae. Legs. Fore femur with row of setae on posterodorsal and posteroventral surfaces. Fore tarsomere 3 with two long, hair-like setae dorsally ( Fig. 22 ). Fore tarsomere 4 with one long, hair-like seta dorsally ( Fig. 22 ). Fore tarsomere 5 with one long dorsally seta ( Fig. 22 ). Mid tibia without anterodorsal and anteroventral setae. Hind femur with row of setae on posterodorsal and posteroventral surfaces. Wing. Hyaline. Tegula dark brown. Basicosta yellowish. Vein R 1 bare. Vein R 4+5 with setae dorsally. Vein CuA 1 bare. Costal spine not differentiated. Third costal section without ventral setae.

Abdomen. Black with silvery-gray microtrichia in about anterior half of each tergite. Microtrichia on tergites 3 and 4 interrupted by a median black stripe. Syntergite 1+2 without marginal setae. Tergites 3 and 4 with a pair of median marginal setae. Tergite 5 with a row of marginal setae. Terminalia. Tergite 6, syntergosternite 7+8 and epandrium brown. Cercus dark brown, shorter than epandrium in lateral view, with distal portion abruptly narrowing towards apex in lateral view ( Fig. 23 ). Basal portion of cercus covered with many long setae ( Fig. 24 ). Ventral margin of cercal prong slightly curved; cercal apex rounded ( Fig. 23 ). Cercal prongs, in dorsal view, narrow and parallel ( Fig. 24 ). Surstylus dark brown, about half the length of cercus, with distal half narrowing toward apex and curved dorsally; with microtrichia restricted to basal half ( Fig. 23 ). Pregonite elongate, longer than postgonite, narrowed and curved ventrally ( Fig. 25 ). Postgonite longer than wide, with a long pre-apical seta and a row of small setae along ventral margin ( Fig. 25 ). Phallus elongate, gently curved ventrally, with ventral and dorsal plates well developed ( Fig. 26 ). Distiphallus with a distinct ventral swelling, with many membranous cuticular spines ( Fig. 26 ). Acrophallus elongate and rounded apically, with some wrinkles and without cuticular spines ( Fig. 26 ).

Female. Unknown.

Remarks. Metopia fofo sp. nov. runs to Metopia krombeini Sabrosky in the most recent key to the American species of Metopia Meigen ( Pape 1987a), but differs from this species in having phallus gently curved ventrally ( Fig. 26 ), acrophallus without spines and rounded apically ( Fig. 26 ), and cercal prong narrowed in dorsal view ( Fig. 24 ). In M. krombeini the phallus is almost straight, the acrophallus has small cuticular spines and is subrectangular apically, and the cercal prong has an enlarged base and narrow tip ( Pape 1987a: figs 27, 30, 33). The phallus of M. fofo sp. nov. is very similar to that of M. lateropili Allen , since both share a distinct ventral swelling with many membranous cuticular spines. Metopia lateropili differs from M. fofo sp. nov. in having palpus elongate, not reduced to a stub.

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Brazil (Pará).

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the word “fofó”, which is a famous popular festival that takes place before the carnival in the streets of Cametá (the type-locality).

Figures

FIGURES 22–26. Metopia fofo sp. nov., holotype ♂. 22. Right fore tarsus, dorsal view. 23. Epandrium, surstylus and cercus, left lateral view. 24. Cerci, dorsal view. 25. Gonites, left lateral view. 26. Phallus, left lateral view. Abbreviations: acp = acrophallus; dpl = dorsal plate; prg = pregonite; ptg = postgonite; vpl = ventral plate. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (Figs 22–25); 0.2 mm (Fig. 21).