Argentinomyia tropica (Curran, 1937)

(Figs 86, 87 and 91A)

Melanostoma tropicum Curran, 1937: 3 . Type locality: Brazil. S„o Paulo, Campos do Jord „o. HOLOTYPE Male AMNH (Examined)

Melanostoma tropicum . Frey, 1946: 157

Rhysops tropicus . Thompson et al. 1976: 44

Argentinomyia tropica . Montoya 2016: 461

Argentinomyia tropica . Montoya et al. 2017: 395

Argentinomyia tropica . Marín-Armijos et al. 2017: 168

Argentinomyia tropica . Miranda, 2017 (Distributional record from the Brazilian Amazon)

Type material. HOLOTYPE. Adult Male, BRAZIL. S„o Paulo, Campos do Jard„o, 179 m, 23.i.1936, F. Lane (AMNH) . PARATYPE. Adult Male. BRAZIL. Label same data as Holotype (AMNH) .

Length (n= 4): Body, 8.6–10.1 mm; Wings, 8.6–9.0 mm.

Diagnosis. Face less produced ventrally, the sides thickly coated with cinereous yellow pollen; legs reddish, metafemur brown, only reddish or yellowish on basal 1/2, metatibia yellow on basal and apical 1/4; abdomen with three pairs of reddish maculae, on 3 rd and 4 th terga extending from the base to apical 1/4 and 1/3; surstylus with dorsal margin slightly concave and ventral margin slightly convex, shorter than broad; aedeagal lobe oval, apex rounded.

Redescription. MALE. Head (Fig. 86A): Face less produced ventrally, tubercle low but distinct, narrowly separated from the oral anterior margin; sides of face thickly cinereous yellow pollinose, the median 1/5 shining black and not at all ridged or grooved, pile pale yellowish. Gena cinereous shining with thin, more whitish pollen, pile white. Ocellar triangle brownish-yellow pollinose with a shining, roughened area dorsal the antennae, pile black; vertical triangle thinly brownish pollinose and blackish pilose. Occiput cinereous pollinose, pile whitish, the dorsal occipital cilia fine and black. Antennae reddish, short, ratio 1.4:1.2:1.5, basoflagellomere brown dorsal and apically; basoflagellomere 1/2 longer than broad as long as the scape and pedicel. Antennae reaching to a little ventral the middle of face; arista brown, pilose. Thorax (Figs 86B–C): Aeneous, mesonotum shining, yellow pilose; with a pair of very broad, narrowly separated pale pollinose vittae in the middle on anterior half and some lights with thin brownish pollen. Pleura thinly grayish-brown pollinose, yellow pilose. Scutellum shining, with long yellowish to black hairs, with a few shorter yellow hairs intermixed; fringe long and yellow. Wing (Fig. 86C): Cinereous hyaline with orange-yellow tinge, stigma orange-yellow; microtrichose, except cell c bare basal 1/5, cells bm, r and cua bare on basal 1/3; calypter wholly white-yellowish. Legs (Fig. 86C): Reddish to orange, pro- and mesolegs yellow; metafemur brown, except reddish on almost the basal 1/2, pile reddish, black on brown portions and apical segments of tarsus. Abdomen (Fig. 86B): Long and slightly spatulate, being narrowest at the end of the 2 nd tergum and widest at the end of 3 rd; black with three pairs of reddish maculae shining with the sides and anterior border obscurely reddish, on 2 nd tergum opaque black with the lateral 1/6 reddish, on 3 rd tergum opaque black with maculae extending from the base to the apical 1/4, gently tapering posteriorly and broadly separated from the lateral margins by a sub-shining vitta; maculae on 4 th tergum extend to the apical 1/3 and the posterior margin is broadly subshining; 5 th tergum very short and wholly shining; pile short and black, long and yellowish on sides of 1 st and 2 nd and basal 1/2 of 3 rd tergum; sterna metallic brownish red with black pile; genitalia brownish-red and with thin yellowish-brown pollen; male genitalia: surstylus in lateral view (Fig. 87A) with dorsal margin slightly concave and ventral margin slightly convex, shorter than broad; hypandrium in ventral view (Fig. 87C) narrowed laterally towards the apex; aedeagal lobe in ventral view (Fig. 87C) oval, apex rounded.

FEMALE (Figs 86D–F). Similar to male except for usual sexual dimorphism and differing in frontal triangle blue-black with a broad transverse golden pollinose band in the depression, black pilose, 5 th tergum includes a pair of fasciate maculae. Female of A. tropica is similar to A. luculenta differing in the face more perpendicular and less produced below. Frontal triangle blue-black with a broad transverse golden pollinose band in the depression, black pilose. Thorax with short yellowish pile, on a background of thin brownish pollen.

Taxonomic notes. Argentinomyia tropica is a black species, face less produced ventrally, the sides thickly coated with cinereous yellow pollen (Figs 86A, C, D, F); legs reddish, metafemur brown, only reddish or yellowish on basal 1/2, metatibia yellow on basal and apical 1/4 (Figs 86A, C, D, F); abdomen with three pairs of reddish maculae, on 3 rd and 4 th terga extending from the base to apical 1/4 and 1/3 (Figs 86B, E). In A. luculenta the face is more perpendicular and less produced ventrally; frontal triangle blue-black with a broad transverse golden pollinose band in the depression, pile black (Figs 47A, C, D, F); the pile of thorax short and yellowish on a background of thin brownish pollen (Figs 47B, E); metafemur yellow on basal 1/2 (Figs 47A, C, D, F); abdominal maculae rectangular (Figs 47B, E), slightly similar to the female of A. tropica, except on 3 rd and 4 th terga, where they reach apical 1/3 and 1/2 (Figs 47E), respectively. Based on males, A. tropica differs from A. luculenta in having the aedeagal lobe in ventral view (Fig. 87C) oval, with apex rounded [versus aedeagal lobe with apex acute in A. luculenta (Fig. 48C)] (see “diagnosis” under each species or key).

Comments. The Holotype specimen of M. tropicum is currently in the AMNH. Photos are available on their website AMNH: https://sci-web-001.amnh.org/imulive/iz.html?#details=ecatalogue.10020983.

Biology. Label data and field observations suggest that A. tropica visits flowers of Libanothamnus humbertii (Asteraceae) .

Geographical range. Argentinomyia tropica (n= 50) is distributed in Argentina (Tucumán), Serra da Mantiqueira and Serra Paranapiacaba in Brazil (Brazilian Amazon, Sao Paulo, Paraná), Eastern slope of West and Eastern Cordilleras in Colombia * (Antioquia), both slopes of Central Cordillera in Colombia and Ecuador * (Tungurahua) and Cordillera de Mérida in Venezuela * (Merida) (Fig. 91A). The species is present at low, middle and high altitudes (179–3600 m) in the following biogeographical domains and provinces: Northern Andes (231–3600 m): Cauca (3600 m), Guajira (3500 m), Magdalena (2034–3150 m), North Andean Páramo (2300 m), Sabana (231 m); Paraná (179–1274 m): Araucaria Forest (867–1274 m), Atlantic Forest (179–761 m), Paraná Forest (826 m); Chacoan: Chaco (526–1426 m).

Non-type material examined. ARGENTINA . Tucumán, Burruyacu, Quebrada La Toma de Tafí Viejo, -26.499425, -64.741942, 526 m, 21.xii.1950, R.A. Golbach (3♂, WIRC) ; Same data, except: Villa Nougués, - 26.849763, -65.382689, 1426 m, i.1929, R.K. (2♀, WIRC) . BRAZIL. Paraná, Ponta Grossa, -25.187256, - 50.143897, 867 m, ix.1945, P. Machado (1♀, WIRC) . São Paulo, Campos do Jord „o, 22.742928, -45.596348, 761 m, 10.i.1936, F. Lane (2♂, 1♀, WIRC) ; Ribeirao Grande, Fazenda Intermontes, -24.197324, -48.424401, 826 m, 6.iv.2006, S. B. Vosgueritchian (1♀, CEUFLA) . COLOMBIA. Antioquia, Andes, Santa Rita, Páramo de Santa Rita, 5,549 9389, -75,9912444, 3600 m, Net, 5.xii.2009, M. Wolff (1♀, CEUA 69642) ; Van Someren-Rydon (VSR) Fish, 12.viii.2010, GEUA (1♀, CEUA 87052) ; Belmira, Páramo Santa Inés Belmira, 6,647 5556, -75,6713333, 3150 m, Net, 1.x.2011, N. Uribe (1♂, CEUA 93084) ; Bello, San Félix, Las Baldías, 6,330 58, -75,645620, 3150 m, Net, 16.viii.2015, A.L. Montoya (2♀, CEUA 93082-83) ; …, 17.ii.2013 (1♀, CEUA 93135); Girardota, Vereda La Honda, 6,347 375, -75,4359944, 2034 m, Net, 26.ix.2009, N. Uribe (2♀, CEUA 69474–75) ; …, Vereda El Palmar, Secondary Forest, 6,343 502, -75,435102, 2200 m, Van Someren-Rydon (VSR) Víscera, 23.vii.2009, N. Uribe; G. Valencia (1♀, CEUA 47457) ; Guarne, Vereda Piedras Blancas, Parque Ecológico Piedras Blancas, cerca de quebrada, 6,291 588, -75,493345, 2200 m, Net, 5.v.2009, A.L. Montoya (1♀, CEUA 47449) ; Medellín, Santa Elena, Parque Ecológico Piedras Blancas, 6,295 895, -75,499891, 2470 m, Net, 15.ii.2009, A.L. Montoya (1♀, CEUA 47449) ; San José de la Montaña, Vereda El Congo, Sector La Laguna, 6,763 791, -75,701738, 3117 m, Páramo, Net, 21- 30.vi-5.iv.2017, A. L. Montoya; A. F. Sepúlveda (2♀, CEUA 98096, 98113) ; Sonsón, Vereda Nori, Cerro Nori, 5,809 667, -75,269028, 2853 m, Forest, Malaise canopy, 31.iii-7.iv.2018, A.L. Montoya; J. P. Carmona (1♀, CEUA 103433) . Caquetá, Florencia, Las Brisas, 1,753 889, -75,747639, 2040 m, Malaise, Bosque Piso, 3er Túnel C 8, 1- 15.ii.2017, Y. Ramos-Pastrana (7#m, LEUA) . ECUADOR. Tungurahua, Baños, -1.396949, -78.421669, 2300 m, 21.vii.1939, W. C. MacIntyre (1♂, AMNH) . VENEZUELA. Mérida, Páramo Mucubaji, Laguna Negra, 8,797 016, -70,828651, 3500 m, ex flowers of Libanothamnus humbertii (89V27) 28-31.x.1989, A.L. Norrbom (1♀, USNM ENT) .