A revision of the family Syringogastridae (Diptera: Diopsoidea)
Author
Marshall, S. A.
Author
Buck, M.
Author
Skevington, J. H.
Author
Grimaldi, D.
text
Zootaxa
2009
2009-02-04
1996
1
1
80
journal article
11755334
Syringogaster cressoni
Prado
Figs. 29–32
;
Plate 2C
; Map 5
Syringogaster cressoni
Prado, 1969: 18
.
Syringogaster brunnea
auctt., nec
Cresson, 1912
:
Cresson, 1914
;
Hennig, 1958
.
DESCRIPTION: Head orange except slightly darker ocellar tubercle. Vertex weakly convex at middle. Ocellar triangle shining, bordered on each side by a row of four minute inclinate bristles, strongly tapered and triangular, anterior apex separated from frontal margin by scape length; remainder of frons tomentose and dull. Pedicel bare and shining anteromedially, otherwise tomentose. Ocellar bristles strong. Lower parafacial with thin black bristles; shining vibrissal angle with thin black bristles. Gena and subgena subequal at middle. Supracervical collar prominent and convex, 3–4X as long as middle of pronotum.
FIGURES 29–32.
Syringogaster cressoni
Prado
, ♂ abdomen. 29, Epandrium and associated structures, posterior. 30, Phallus, left lateral. 31, Abdominal segments 1–8, left lateral. 32, Epandrium and associated structures, left lateral.
Thorax: Pronotum very short, black along anterior margin; mesonotum orange anteriorly, gradually phasing to dark brown on posterior half, middle part indistinctly vittate with median orange stripe flanked by darker stripes; lateral vestiges of transverse suture black; humeral pit black with vertical anterior surface extending laterally more than the width of the pit. Lower half of pleuron shining dark brown, upper half tomentose; propleuron and anepisternum orange, posterior part of pleuron and metathorax dark brown. Subspiracular lamella deeply bilobed, anterior lobe low and shining, posterior lobe much larger and entirely tomentose. Fore coxa, trochanter and femur pale yellow, tibia and basal ¾ of tarsomere 1 dark brown, distal tarsomeres yellow. Anteroventral margin of distal part of fore femur with row of 4–9 short, black spinules; posteroventral margin occasionally with a single distal spinule as well. Mid femur pale brown. Mid tarsomeres 1–3 with antero- and posteroventral sawlines. Hind femur orange-brown, ventral surface with two rows of stout bristles, anterior row of 12–15 bristles extending over distal 7/10 of femur, posterior row shorter. Hind tibia with apex weakly trilobate, lobes subequal. Anterior swalines of hind tarsomeres as described for mid tarsomeres but only tarsomeres 2 and 3 of hind leg each with a posterior row of 8–10 closely packed spinules on basal ¾. Wing as described for
S. brunneina
.
Abdomen: Abdomen strongly petiolate, tergites 1 and 2 parallel-sided, tergite 3 twice as wide at apex as base. Syntergite 1–3 densely microsculptured, sculpturing forming transverse ridges on tergite 1, densely tomentose. Abdomen orange, posterior margins of tergites slightly darker. Tergite 4 clearly separate from tergite 3.
Female terminalia: Tergite 7 with posteromedial emargination variable, very small to fairly long and deep. Four spermathecae in two pairs, each pair close together on short ducts, touching but not fused; each spermatheca smooth, broadly cylindrical, with a broad basal invagination and a narrower smooth, cylindrical cap (evagination) distally.
Male terminalia: Tergite 5 with ventrolateral margins unmodified, ventrolateral margin of tergite 6 narrowed laterally with a tapered anteroventral corner and a bulging, convex posteroventral corner. Spiracles 5 and
6 in
tergite. Sternites 5 and 6 each divided into two small, equal, transverse-oval sclerites with about eight small bristles on each sclerite; sclerites of sternite 5 weakly pigmented and indistinct. Synsternite 7+8 with ventral part broad. Epandrium much longer than wide. Surstylus narrow and elongate, cercus twice as long as wide, surstylus 4X as long as greatest width, slightly curved anteriorly in apical fifth. Hypandrium with three pairs of breaks or weakenings: first between basal U-shaped portion and base of hypandrial arms, second between hypandrial bridge and mesal base of each hypandrial arm, third near middle of each hypandrial arm posterior to ventral hypandrial lobe. Hypandrial bridge very wide and robust. Anterior part of pregonite with a subquadrate ventral lobe ending in two triangular and short setose points. Postgonite dark and well-developed, widest near middle, extending well beyond point of articulation with pregonite. Posterior part of hypandrial arm broad, parallel-sided; anterior hypandrial arm elongate-triangular, distally setose. Basiphallus elongate, distal part of basiphallus asymmetrically expanded, left side forming a broad plate. Distiphallus curled up left side; broad, complex, with several flat, twisted plates and a relatively narrow, finger-like sclerite directed medially from right side.
TYPE MATERIAL
(not examined):
Holotype
♂
(
FIOC
, #13.369) and
paratype
♂
(
FIOC
).
BRAZIL
.
Pará
,
Fazenda Velha
,
30.vi.1965
,
H.S. Lopes.
MATERIAL EXAMINED
:
BOLIVIA
. Mapiri, “Sarampioni” [= Sarampiuni],
700 m
,
ii.1903
(specimen without abdomen,
SMTD
, second label reads “
Syringogaster brunnea
det. W. Hennig 1939”); Mapiri,
15º18.6’S
,
68º13’W
,
720 m
,
15.iii.2001
, W.N. Mathis (
2♂
,
1♀
,
USNM
); Mapiri,
15º17.8’S
,
68º15.6’W
,
750 m
,
16.iii.2001
, W.N. Mathis (
1♀
,
USNM
).
ECUADOR
.
Napo
, Puerto Misahuallí,
350 m
,
ii.1983
, M. Sharkey (
2♀
,
CNCI
);
Morona-Santiago
, Miazal,
50 km
SE Macas,
300 m
, 4–7.i.93, M. & J. Wasbauer (
1♀
,
CSCA
).
PERU
.
Cuzco
, Quincemil,
780 m
,
13–31.viii.1962
, L. Peña (
1♂
,
1♀
,
CNCI
); Yurac.,
67 mi
E Tingo María,
350 m
,
4.x.1954
, E.I. Schlinger & E.S. Ross (
2♂
,
♀
,
AMNH
); Monsón Valley, Tingo María
9.x.1954
, E.I. Schlinger & E.S. Ross (
1♀
,
AMNH
); Callanga (
1♂
, with an older label reading “
Syringogaster brunnea
det. Kertész”, a newer red label reading “
Holotype
Syringogaster peruviana Steyskal
”, and a smaller label reading “
CNC
”; the latter is the same as other labels Steyskal put on specimens from
CNCI
, and the specimen was borrowed from
CNCI
although it was possibly originally from the Hungarian Natural History Museum (see comments below)).
SURINAME
. Raleigh, Vallen-Voltzberg Res., Foengoe
4º43’N
,
56º12’W
,
26.i–15.ii.1982
, J. Carpenter & D. Trail (
1♀
,
AMNH
).
COMMENTS: Cresson described
S. brunnea
on the basis of female specimens from
Costa Rica
in 1912, later (1914) publishing a paper describing a male from Callanga,
Peru
as the male of the same species. As suspected by
Prado (1969)
, the male from
Peru
is not
S. brunnea
, but a new species named by him as
S. cressoni
Prado. Cresson
described his Peruvian male on the basis of a specimen from the Hungarian Natural History Museum sent to him by Kertész, presumably the same specimen listed above from Callanga. Steyskal also recognized this species as different from
brunnea
, but he considered it to be different from
cressoni
and gave it the manuscript name “
S. peruviana
”. We can find no significant differences between the Peruvian material and the thorough description of Brazilian specimens by Prado, and concur with Prado that these are the same species although the ventral hypandrial lobe illustrated by
Prado (1969)
is somewhat more lobate than in the Peruvian material listed above.
Feijen (1989)
commented on the same material, adding that he had examined additional material from
Peru
and stating “it represents a still undescribed species with irrorated wings and four spermathecae”. It is not clear whether Feijen saw the male from Callanga that was the subject of
Cresson (1914)
, but
Syringogaster cressoni
also has four spermathecae and irrorated wings.
Prado (1969)
was also correct in surmising that a specimen from
Bolivia
referred to by
Hennig (1958)
as
S. brunnea
was actually
S. cressoni
, although Prado did not see the specimen in question. The Bolivian specimen listed above, labelled “
Syringogaster brunnea
det. W. Hennig 1939”, is almost certainly the fly referred to by
Hennig (1958)
, and we consider it to be
S. cressoni
even though Hennig indicated the number of spermathecae to be three. The specimen examined by Hennig no longer has an associated abdomen, and
S. cressoni
was described on the basis of males only. All
Syringogaster
females examined during this study have four spermathecae.
Syringogaster cressoni
can only be recognized based on a combination of characters: It differs from other species in the
brunnea
-group in possessing both ocellar bristles and fore femoral spines, a reddish (not dark) hind femur, and unmodified ventral margins of male tergite 5. The posteriorly projecting postgonite is also diagnostic (shared only with
S. brunneina
).
Syringogaster cressoni
is the only species in the
brunneina
- subgroup lacking the deep posteromedial emargination of female tergite 7.