Coproica hirtula (Rondani, 1880)

Bergeron, Matthew D., Marshall, Stephen A. & Swann, John E., 2015, A review of the New World Coproica (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) with a description of 8 new species, Zootaxa 3953 (1), pp. 1-157 : 32-33

Coproica hirtula (Rondani, 1880)

Figs. 156–165

Limosina hirtula Rondani, 1880: 40 [sex not stated]. Type locality: Italy, nr. Parma. STs, sex unknown (MZUF).

Limosina exigua Adams, 1904: 454 [a primary junior homonym of Limosina exigua Rondani, 1880 = Minilimosina fungicola ( Haliday, 1836) ; both sexes]. Type locality: USA, New Mexico, Las Cruces. STs, both sexes (? SEMC) [synonymy].

Limosina (Coprophila) hirtula var. crinita Duda, 1918: 224 [both sexes]. Type locality: Germany, Usedom. STs (?ZMHB).— Papp, 1984: 82 [synonymy].

Leptocera (Coprophila) exiguella Spuler, 1925: 123 [nom.n. for Limosina exigua Adams, 1904 ]. Type locality: USA, New Mexico, Las Cruces.— Richards, 1960 c: 206 [synonymy].

Description. Body length 1.4–2.0 mm. Body colour brown. Face brown, frons dark brown. Interfrontal bristles in subequal 4 pairs, postocellar bristles convergent or cruciate, 1 pair of small postocellar setulae. Eyes small, eye to gena ratio approximately 2:1; 3–4 small genal setae in longitudinal row, anterior seta approximately 2 times as long as posterior setae. Scutellum with approximately 15 setae in 2 sparse rows between basal 1/4 and basal 1/2; 2–3 lateral setae between larger anterior and posterior marginal scutellar bristles. Katepisternum with 2 dorsal bristles, anterior and posterior bristles each approximately 1/3 and 2/3 as long as the distance between dorsal margin of katepisternum and wing base respectively. Legs and fore coxa brown to light brown. Mid tibia with additional small anterodorsal bristle at 1/7 and small posterodorsal bristles at 1/4 and 1/2. Mid basitarsus with 2 stout anterior bristles at 3/5 and sub-basally (sometimes a third bristle present in between these), 2 anteroventral sub-basal bristles with distal anteroventral 2 times as long as proximal bristle, a posteroventral sub-basal bristle equal in length to distal anteroventral bristle, and 2 small ventral pairs of setae on distal half. Second costal sector 0.8–1.1 times as long as third costal sector. Costal bypass long, extending 7 or more vein widths beyond R 4+5.

Male terminalia: Sternite 5 rounded rectangular, with posteromedial patch of microtrichia, discal bristles uniform in size. Sternite 6 straight medially. Epandrium with enlarged pair of dorsolateral bristles; subanal plate apparently absent, epandrium not clearly delimited from perianal field ventromedially, cerci discontinuous medially; ventral margin of cercus with 2 rounded medial lobes. Surstylus with quadrate posterior process, ventral margin straight, with 12 or more posterior and ventral marginal bristles. Postgonites symmetrical, curved anteriorly, strong posterior angle, narrow on apical 1/3. Basiphallus gently curved, tubular, open posteriorly dorsal to epiphallus; epiphallus with shallow, rounded crest. Lateral sclerites rounded, and extended apically, lateral surface with spinous sculpturing, 2 dorsal processes present, second process positioned ventral and distal to first; central sclerite fused to lateral sclerites near second process. Membranes long with small spines on surface.

Female terminalia: Tergite 8 long laterally, short dorsally. Tergite 10 pollinose, narrowly fused with cerci laterally; cerci cylindrical, pollinose, apical bristles long and sinuate. Sternite 7 broad, rounded rectangular. Sternite 8 broad and rounded, slightly narrower than sternite 7. Sternite 10 with pairs of medial and lateral enlarged bristles, posterior margin curved dorsally. Spermathecae elongate, ovoid; duct length 2–3 times as long as spermathecal bulb.

Type material. Syntypes: ITALY: near Parma ( MZUF, not examined) .

Material examined. See Appendix A.

Distribution: Afrotropical: Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Yemen, Zaire; Australasian/ Oceanian: Bonin Is. (Japan), Guam (USA), Hawaii (USA), Kiribati (Onotoa Atoll), Marshall Is., Micronesia (Kapingamarangi Atoll, Satawal I., Yap Is.), New Zealand, Northern Mariana Is. (Saipan), Papua New Guinea, Palau, Pitcairn Is.; Nearctic: Canada (AB, BC, NB, ON, QC) , USA (AR, AZ, CA, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, MA, MI, MN, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OR, PA, UT, WA, WY); Neotropical: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Galapagos Is., Jamaica, Mexico (NLE), (other records: Bermuda and Bolivia, are misidentifications of C. rufifrons ); Oriental: China (HKG), India, Japan (Okinawa), Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam; Palaearctic: Afghanistan, Andorra, Austria, Azores (Portugal), Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is. (Spain), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece (Thíra), Hungary, Italy, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Madeira (Portugal), Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia (CET), Serbia, Slovakia, Spain (incl. Balearic Is.), Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan; South Atlantic: Saint Helena.

Comments. Papp (2008) speculated that C. hirtula var. crinita ( Duda 1918) is a good species and is currently misinterpreted as C. hirtula auctt., nec (Rondani, 1880). According to Papp, the true hirtula is a senior synonym of C. rufifrons Hayashi, 1991 . We were unable to obtain the types for C. hirtula from Museo Zoologico La Specola in Florence, Italy. We therefore follow the widely accepted concept of C. hirtula and consider C. rufifrons as a distinct species. However, it is possible that nomenclatorial changes will be required if the types of C. hirtula and C. hirtula var. crinita are critically examined.

Coproica hirtula is the only species of Coproica that has a known association with birds. Specimens are often taken on chicken dung and have been collected out of Screech Owl and American Kestrel nests in New York. This species abounds in poultry houses in Ontario and has also been recorded from poultry houses in Oregon and Iowa (see label data in Appendix A) .

Figures

FIGURES 156–158. Coproica hirtula (Rondani). 156. Male left wing, dorsal. 157. Male terminalia, left lateral. 158. Male terminalia, posterior (Setae on right omitted).

FIGURES 159–161. Coproica hirtula (Rondani). 159. Left postgonite. 160. Aedeagus and associated structures with postgonites removed. 161. Male sternite 5 and synsternite 6–8.

FIGURES 162–165. Coproica hirtula (Rondani). 162. Female terminalia, dorsal. 163. Female terminalia, ventral. 164. Female terminalia, left lateral. 165. Spermathecae. Abbreviation: S8 = sternite 8.