Dasyhelea scissurae Macfie

Grogan, Willliam L., Díaz, Florentina, Spinelli, Gustavo R. & Ronderos, Maria M., 2016, The biting and predaceous midges of Guadeloupe (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). II. Species of the subfamily Dasyheleinae, Zootaxa 4184 (2), pp. 201-254 : 235

Dasyhelea scissurae Macfie

Dasyhelea scissurae Macfie, 1937: 15 (Trinidad) ; Macfie 1953: 103 (redescribed; Costa Rica); Wirth 1974: 18 (in Catalog of New World species south of the USA; distribution); Borkent & Spinelli 2000: 26 (in Neotropical catalog; distribution); Borkent & Spinelli 2007: 61 (in Neotropical catalog; distribution); Borkent & Grogan 2009: 11 (in Nearctic catalog; distribution).

Dasyhelea koenigi Delécolle & Rieb, 1994: 267 (Guadeloupe) ; Borkent & Spinelli 2000: 26 (in New World catalog south of the United States; distribution); Borkent & Spinelli 2007: 60 (in Neotropical catalog; distribution); Grogan et al. 2010: 24 (as new synonym of D. scissurae Macfie ).

Diagnosis. The only Neotropical species of the mutabilis group in which males have a gonostylus with a deeply bifid apex. Females with broad V-shaped apical portion of subgenital plate; sternite 9 halves very slender with curved sharply pointed anteriorly directed apices; and a small (length 48 µm) ovoid spermatheca with a short narrow neck.

Discussion. Borkent & Spinelli (2000, 2007) and Borkent & Grogan (2009) listed this wide ranging Neotropical species from Florida. However, Grogan et a l. (2010) noted that the bases for these Florida listings were unknown to them, and therefore, they provided the first definitive records of D. scissurae from Florida and the United States . In addition, Grogan et al. (2010) noted that the illustrations of the male genitalia of the holotype of D. koenigi Delécolle & Rieb (1994) described from Guadeloupe are virtually identical with illustrations of the male genitalia of D. scissurae described by Macfie (1937) from Trinidad . Accordingly, Grogan et al. (2010) considered both species conspecific, and regarded D. koenigi as a junior synonym of D. scissurae . Unfortunately, we did not find any males or females of D. scissurae in the 2010 or 2012 Basse Terre, Guadeloupe collections.