Elachiptera rubida Becker, 1912

Mlynarek, Julia J. & Wheeler, Terry A., 2008, Revision of the Costa Rican species of Elachiptera (Diptera: Chloropidae), Zootaxa 1754, pp. 41-51 : 48

Elachiptera rubida Becker, 1912

( Figs. 22–25 )

Elachiptera rubida Becker, 1912: 179 .

Description: Total length 2.5–2.7mm. Overall colour yellow; head yellow, frontal triangle shining, almost reaching anterior margin of frons; ocellar tubercle brown, shining; frons as long as wide; occiput yellow with vertical black lines from lateral margins of cephalic foramen to vertex; cephalic setae brown, 4 fronto-orbital setae well-developed, interfrontal setulae lining margin of frontal triangle and fronto-orbital setulae sparse; gena yellow, microtomentose, 0.1 times eye height; postgena wide, rugose; face pale yellow, shining; scape and pedicel yellow, first flagellomere yellow, brown dorsally and dorsolaterally, reniform, arista black, broad and parallel-sided in basal half, evenly tapering in distal half, very narrow at apex, pubescence shorter than breadth of arista at base ( Fig. 22 ); palpus, proboscis and clypeus yellow.

Scutum yellow, shining, punctate, especially on acrostichal and dorsocentral lines, narrowly microtomentose anterior to scutellum, dorsocentral lines slightly darker in some specimens, ventral margin of notopleuron black, pronotum black, scutum 1.3 times longer than wide; scutellum yellow, trapezoidal, 1.3 times as broad as long, flat, dorsal region rectangular, microtomentose; apical scutellar bristles strong, on small brown tubercles on dorsal margin of scutellum, lateral scutellar bristles on small brown tubercles ( Fig. 23 ). Legs yellow, fore tarsus darker; femoral organ not visible in males examined; tibial organ oval, pale, occupying middle quarter of hind tibia. Wing hyaline, veins dark, ratio of costal sectors C1: C2: C3: C4—1: 1.1: 1.1: 0.5; halter white.

Abdomen yellow-brown; syntergite 1+2 slightly longer than rest of tergites.

Male postabdomen ( Figs. 24–25 ): Epandrium higher than long in lateral view, wider than high in posterior view, with dense setae; surstylus long, narrow, curving posteriorly near apex, with short, sparse setulae; cercus triangular with a weakly developed ventral projection, cercus with sparse short setae and one long ventral seta, cerci separated by broad, semi-circular cleft; distiphallus weakly sclerotized except at apex, weakly projecting anteriorly, blunt ended.

Material examined: COSTA RICA: San José: Santo Domingo de Heredia, INBioParque (9º58.4’N 84º05.6’W), 21.xi.2002, sweep stream margin, J. Forrest and T. Wheeler (1Ψ, LEM); same except 2.xii.2002, sweep near pond (1Ψ, LEM); San Jose, iii.1915 (1ɗ, 1Ψ, USNM); GUATEMALA: Antigua (1ɗ, USNM).

Remarks: Although Becker (1912) listed Chile as the type locality, that was apparently an error for Tacna, Peru ( Sabrosky and Paganelli 1984). Sabrosky and Paganelli (1984) recorded this species only from Peru. The holotype is a female (deposited in the Staatliches Museum, Dresden, Germany), so the identity of the species can be determined only based on non-genitalic characters.

Figures

FIGURES 22 – 25. Elachiptera rubida. 22. antenna. 23. scutellum, dorsal. 24. male genitalia, posterior. 25. male genitalia, lateral. Scale bars = 0.2 mm (Fig. 22); 0.1 mm (Figs. 23, 24).