Mesembrinella bellardiana Aldrich, 1922

Whitworth, Terry L. & Yusseff-Vanegas, Sohath, 2019, A revision of the genera and species of the Neotropical family Mesembrinellidae (Diptera: Oestroidea), Zootaxa 4659 (1), pp. 1-146 : 113-116

Mesembrinella bellardiana Aldrich, 1922

( Figs 59–60, 149–150, 193, 217, 260, 304, 348, 389, 433, 472, 488–489)

Mesembrinella (Mesembolia) bellardiana Aldrich, 1922: 21 . Holotype female (USNM), examined photographically. Type locality: Espirito Santo, Brazil.

Mesembrinella bellardiana: Peris & Mariluis (1984: 261) ; Toma & Carvalho (1995: 137); Marinho et al. (2012: 142); Kosmann et al. (2013: 78); Wolff (2013: 121); Wolff & Kosmann (2016: 868); Marinho et al. (2017: tab. 1); Velásquez et al. (2017: 109); Cerretti et al. (2017: tab. 2).

Diagnosis. A fairly large fly averaging 12.2 mm (11–13/5) in length. Thorax reddish-brown; wing with stem vein setose above and anterior margin heavily infuscated along costa; subcostal sclerite setose. Similar to M. latifrons , but wing with section IV 0.67 of section III compared to 0.29 in M. latifrons ; terminalia in posterior view with surstyli gently curved ( Fig. 60), whereas they are right-angled in M. latifrons ( Fig. 26).

Redescription. Male. Head. Frons 0.05 (0.03–0.08/5) of head width at narrowest. Fronto-orbital pale gold; frontal setae ascending about halfway to vertex; frontal vitta dark orange, upper half obliterated parafacial golden; gena orange with horizontal row of stout black setae and scattered smaller dark setae; postgena orange with golden setae; occiput dark orange with yellow setae and silvery tomentum; median occipital sclerite shiny dark orange; antenna entirely orange; eye with median facets about 2x size of lateral facets; ocellar triangle with anterior ocellus slightly larger than posterior ocelli; supravibrissal setae on facial ridge brown to reddish-brown ( Fig. 193), ascending about 1/4 of distance to antennal base.

Thorax. Dorsum brown with pale tomentose stripes; pleural area pale orange with whitish tomentum; chaetotaxy: ac variable, 2:1 or 2:2, sometimes with one or more setae missing, dc 2:3, ia 1, ph 1, ppn 3x 3, kat 1:1, line of thin meral setae with short bend with only one or two horizontally-arranged setae above, 1 pair converging ap, sa and lat absent, 1 stout bas, 1 weak pb, 1 disc; subscutellum weakly developed; both spiracles orange, medium-sized; legs entirely orange. Wing with long, dark infuscation along costa to R 2+3; subcostal sclerite with long reddish setae; stem vein setose ( Fig. 489); basicosta and tegula orange; section IV 0.67 of section III; disc of calypters light tan; rim of upper calypter dark with short dark setae, rim of lower calypter pale with long pale setae.

Abdomen. T1+2 yellowish, T2–5 shiny blue with grayish tomentum; T4 and T5 with rows of marginal setae; disc of T5 with dense, short, fine setae only. Terminalia in lateral view with surstylus moderately curved backward, cercus with apical hook ( Fig. 59); in posterior view, cerci broad, in an inverted narrow V-shape distally ( Fig. 60); phallus in lateral view with broad, narrow hypophallic lobes ( Fig. 149), in dorsal view as in Fig. 150; T 6, STS7+8, pre- and postgonite, ejaculatory sclerite, ST6 and hypandrium as in Fig. 217; ST1–5 as in Fig. 260.

Female. Similar to male except frons 0.294 (0.27–0.31/5) of head width at narrowest. T6 of WU shape, T7 broad and continuous, T8 as separate sclerites, epiproct divided ( Fig. 304); ST6–8 and hypoproct as in Fig. 348; spermathecae filiform ( Fig. 389); ST1–5 as in Fig. 433.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♀ ( Brazil; USNM; examined photographically: Fig. 472), labeled: Brazil; Mesembolia / bellardiana / A. Ald.; USNMent 1295430.

Additional material examined. Argentina, Misiones. 1 ³, 1 ♀, Puerto Uguazu , i.1979, [no collector listed] ( CNC) . Bolivia, La Paz. 1 ♀, S. Inicua Riv. Alto Beni, 15–18.i.1976, 1100 m, L.E. Pena ( CNC) . Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. 1 ³, Yellow Fever Service, M.E.S Brazil, x.1938, R.C. Shannon ( USNM) . Distrito Federal. 1 ♀, Ser- vicio Febre Amarela, M.E.S . Brasil, xii.1932, [no collector] ( USNM) . Rondônia. 3 ♀♀ ♦ ( TLW232 – TLW235 ) , 1 ♀, 62 km SW Ariquemes, nr Fzda Rancho Grande , 4–16.xi.1997, fish carrion pitfall, J.E. Eger ( FSCA) ; 1 ♀ ♦ ( TLW235 ) , same data except 3–15.xii.1996 ( FSCA) . São Paulo. 1 ³, Registro , 2.xii.1965, R. Inoue ( CNC) ; 1 ³, Est. Biol. Boracéia nr. Salesópolis , 850 m, 13.iii.1972, E.G.L. & F.A. Munroe ( CNC) ; 1 ♀, R. Parana Porto Cabral , 20–31.iii.1944, Trav. Fo. & Carrera & E. Dente ( USNM) . Santa Catarina. 1 ♀, Nova Teutonia , v.1969, F. Plau- mann ( CNC) ; 1 ³, Nova Teutonia , 27°11ʹS, 52°23ʹW, 300–500 m, 30.i.1960, F. Plaumann ( CNC) ; 1 ³, 1 ♀, same data except ii.1965 . Ecuador, Napo. 1 ♀, Finca Primavera Rio Napo, 240 ft., 0°24ʹS 76°46ʹW, 26.vi.1980, J.P. & K.E. Donahue ( LACM) ; 1 ♀ ♦* ( TLW236 ) , Puerto Misahuali , 1650–1900 ft, 6–19.ix.1998, J.E. Eger ( FSCA) ; Paraguay, Alto. 2 ♀♀, Parana Centro Forestal Alto Paran km 12 N of Puerto Stroessener, 29.iv–5.v.1986, R.E. Woodruff ( FSCA) . Peru, Cusco. 1 ♀, Quincemil , 1–15.xi. 1962, 700 m, L. Pena ( CNC) ; 1 ³♦* ( TLW361 ) , Estación Biológica Villa Carmen , 12°53ʹ39ʺS 71°24ʹ14ʺW, clearing edge, 15–27.xi.2012, Malaise trap, citrus tree, T. Forster ( FSCA) ; 1 ³♦* ( TLW360 ) , La Merced, Fundo Genova , 30.vii.2008 ( CEUA) .

Distribution. Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru. Bonatto (2001) listed Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Suriname and Venezuela.

Remarks. Guimar„es (1977) described a subspecies of M. bellardiana , M. bellardiana fuscicosta Guimar „es, 1977, distinguishing populations in northern and southern South America based on some color variation. Marinho et al. (2017) noted that presumed populations of this species that are widely separated geographically may actually belong to separate species.

Seven specimens were barcoded: TLW 232–234 from Brazil grouped closely; TLW 235, also from Brazil, and TLW 236, from Ecuador, were about 2% different from other Brazilian specimens. Barcoded specimens from Peru ( TLW 360–361) were much different, around 6.8%, from the Ecuador and Brazilian specimens ( Fig. 488). Morphologically all these specimens key to M. bellardiana , though some minor differences in the epandrium, cerci and surstyli were noted. The specimens illustrated herein are from Brazil, where the holotype came from, and the barcoded Brazilian specimens were mostly very similar. At this point, morphological differences between the Peruvian and Brazilian specimens do not seem sufficient to merit describing the specimens from each area as a different species, but further studies are needed.