Phosocephala Townsend, 1908

Fleming, AJ, Wood, D. Monty, Smith, M. Alex, Janzen, Daniel H, Hallwachs, Winnie & Dapkey, Tanya, 2016, A new species of Phosocephala Townsend, 1908 (Diptera: Tachinidae) from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 7863-7863 : 7863

Phosocephala Townsend, 1908

Phosocephala Phosocephala Townsend, 1908

Phosocephala Townsend, 1908: 69. Type species: Phosocephala metallica Townsend, 1908, by original designation.

Phosocephala Phosocephala metallica Townsend, 1908 Townsend 1908: 69.

Description

Phosocephala belongs to the tribe Tachinini . The tribe Tachinini is defined by the presence ofthe following characters: first flagellomere elongate, bean-shaped; prosternum bare; upper side of calypter bare; first postsutural supra-alar bristle at least as long and stout as first postsutural dorsocentral bristle; hind coxa setose.

The following redescription applies to both males and females, which differ only very slightly; any differences between the sexes are noted. Head: bright yellow to dark orange, about as wide as thorax; width of frons greater than 1/2 of head width; head flattened laterally, approximately 2x longer than wide; frontal bristles not descending beyond middle of pedicel, upper two pairs of frontal bristles strong and reclinate; fronto-orbital plate with 2 pairs of strong proclinate orbital bristles; 2 pairs of reclinate vertical bristles; ocellar bristles well developed, proclinate and strongly divergent; fronto-orbital plate haired; frons concolorous with parafrontal, only differentiated by its lack of hairs; parafacial densely haired, though these hairs are not obvious unless viewed under varying angles of light; facial carina flat or absent; antennal grooves only slightly distinguishable; palpus entirely absent; eyes bare; first flagellomere approximately 2x as long as pedicel, brilliant orange, with hints of darkbrown; arista bare; gena from 0.3x to 0.5x height of eye (longer in females), and densely haired with short black to yellow-orange hairs. Thorax: thorax shiny metallic black over 90% of its surface, with a dense shiny golden pollinosity along the anterior edge; 4 gray pruinose thoracic vittae only visible under certain angles of light; prosternum bare; proepisternum bare; postpronotum translucent yellow, contrasting with remainder of scutellum, which is a metallic black; 5-7 meral bristles; anepimeron with 2 strong bristles; katepisternum bearing 3-4 bristles; anepisternum with 7 bristles along posterior fringe; 3 postsutural supra-alar bristles; 3 dorsocentral bristles; 2-3 pairs of lateral scutellar bristles and 1 pair of subapical scutellar bristles; apical scutellar bristles weak and convergent; scutellum with overall dark brown ground color, covered in a silver pollinosity. Wings distinctly smoky gray; wingvein R4+5 bearing only 2-3 bristles at base. Legs: entirely yellow, hirsute; posterior margin of metacoxa with 2-3 small, almost inconspicuous blond hairs; protibia with anterodorsal row of regularly spaced setae upper all equal in length, basal bristle 2X as long as the rest; claws and pulvilli short and thin, almost as long as 5th tarsomere. Mesotibia with 5 strong anterodorsal bristles, 2 anterior bristles almost 2/3 length of mesotibia, 2 posterodorsal bristles, and 1 ventral bristle. Metatibia with irregular row of anterodorsal setae, 4-5 posterodorsal and 2 anterior setae. Abdomen: subequal in length and width to thorax; mid-dorsal depression on T1+2 shallow and wide, extending almost to hind margin of tergite; anterior margins of tergites with narrow bands of thin silver pollinosity; median marginal bristles present on T3, and a row of marginal bristles on T4 and T5; discal bristles absent from all tergites; ground color of abdomen ranging from a deep blackish-burgundy, appearing shiny black when viewed from a distance, to a deep reddish-brown.

Species previously included

metallica Townsend, 1908: 72 ( Phosocephala ). Holotype female (USNM), by original designation [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Costa Rica, Tucurrique