Boreantrops suchixtepecensis, Kits, Joel H. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2015

Kits, Joel H. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2015, A revision of Boreantrops Kits & Marshall (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae: Archiborborinae), Zootaxa 3915 (3), pp. 301-355 : 332-333

Boreantrops suchixtepecensis sp. nov.

( Figs. 63, 64 , 76, 119)

Diagnosis. Separable from other members of the mexicanus subgroup by the following combination of characters: Leg joints narrowly orange. Mid tibia with 1 anterodorsal bristle. Mesoscutum strongly sculptured. Male sternite 5 slightly longer than wide, not flared, with a notch in posterior margin. Male distiphallus with dorsal tube narrow at tip, without a distinct apical extension.

Description. Head orange, occiput black with orange around posterior margin of eye, frons dark reddish brown posteriorly. Prementum brown with ventral third orange, maxillary palp yellow. Mostly covered with microtomentum, frons with microtomentum medially reaching from postocellar bristles anteriorly through ocellar triangle to anterior margin of frons, microtomentum on orbital plates reaching bases of interfrontal setae, bare in a small patch just anterior to vertical bristles, face with patch of microtomentum below antenna reaching ventrally to level of U-shaped mark. Ocellar bristles at level of anterior margin of median ocellus. Subvibrissal bristle and anterior genal bristles about 0.5X length of vibrissa.

Thorax black, mostly covered with microtomentum. Proepisternum shiny, anepisternum with microtomentum along dorsal third and posterior third and in a thin line along anterior margin below spiracle, katepisternum with a shiny spot behind fore coxa, meron shiny, metapleuron shiny with a stripe of microtomentum between posterior spiracle and hind coxa. Mesoscutum sculptured. Halter white, brownish below knob.

Legs black, joints and trochanters orange, tarsi with 2 basal tarsomeres ivory white and 3 distal tarsomeres brown. Mid tibia with 1 anteroventral, 1 posteroventral, 6 subapical bristles. Hind tibia with 1 ventroapical bristle.

Wing brown, veins dark brown, crossveins r-m and dm-cu white, vein R4+5 with 2 pale spots distal to crossvein r-m.

Abdominal syntergite 1+2 heavily sclerotized with a semicircular weakly sclerotized patch anteriorly, black, covered with microtomentum. Tergites 3–4 heavily sclerotized with irregular, weakly sclerotized margin, tergite 5 weakly sclerotized. Sternites weakly sclerotized.

Male postabdomen: Sternite 5 longer than wide, wider posteriorly, posterior margin rounded, notched medially with interrupted row of setae, anterior apodeme broad, slightly shorter than external portion, without keel ( Fig. 64 ). Surstylus paddle-shaped. Hypandrial arms with ventral tab-like structures. Pregonite small, discrete. Postgonite with lobes widely separated, anterior lobe broad, rounded, posterior lobe pointed. Basiphallus with long epiphallus, broad, transparent preepiphallus. Distiphallus with strongly curved spinose dorsal tube, distal portion short, pointed apically ( Fig. 63 ).

Female postabdomen: Tergites 6–7 with anterior and lateral margins heavily sclerotized, center and posterior margin not sclerotized. Tergite 8 covered with microtomentum, except anterior margin. Epiproct without anterior arms, mostly covered with microtomentum except anterior corners, with 2 setae. Cerci broad. Sternites 6–7 with margins heavily sclerotized, center not sclerotized. Sclerites of sternite 8 broadest posteriorly, posterior half covered with microtomentum. Hypoproct lozenge-shaped, covered with microtomentum. Spermathecae about 2.5X longer than wide, annulated, apex invaginated, sclerotized duct about 1.75X as long as bulb (Fig. 76).

Type material. Holotype ♂: MEXICO: Oaxaca: [San Miguel] Suchixtepec, 8 km S, 10 Aug 1986, H. & A. Howden, debu01040404 ( DEBU).

Other material examined. MEXICO: Oaxaca: [San Miguel] Suchixtepec, 8 km S, 10 Aug 1986, H. & A. Howden (1 ♀, DEBU).

Distribution. Only known from the type locality in Oaxaca ( Fig. 119 ).

Etymology. The species name refers to the type locality.

Comments. Three species in the mexicanus subgroup occur at the type locality, causing difficulty in associating females. The female described here can be confidently separated from B. oaxacensis based on external morphology, and has distinctly different spermathecae from known B. longiphallus females; we consider it to most likely represent the female of this species but are not confident enough of the association to designate it as a paratype.

FIGURES 67–77. Boreantrops spermathecae. 67) B. alytothrix ; 68) B. durango ; 69) B. guatemalensis ; 70) B. hondurensis ; 71) B. inbio ; 72) B. longiphallus ; 73) B. mexicanus ; 74) B. oaxacensis ; 75) B. subfoveolatus ; 76) B. suchixtepecensis ; 77) B. zacapa .

Figures

FIGURES 61 – 66. Boreantrops male terminalia. B. subfoveolatus: 61) phallus, postgonite, and phallapodeme, lateral view, 62) sternite 5; B. suchixtepecensis: 63) phallus, postgonite, and phallapodeme, lateral view, 64) sternite 5; B. zacapa: 65) phallus, postgonite, and phallapodeme, lateral view, 66) sternite 5.

FIGURES 115 – 120. Boreantrops distribution maps. 115) B. masneri (diamonds), B. calceatus (circle); 116) B. oaxacensis; 117) B. peruvianus; 118) B. subfoveolatus; 119) B. suchixtepecensis; 120) B. zacapa. Elevation is indicated by grey shading at 500 m intervals.