Ficiomyia caatinga, Urso-Guimarães & Pereira, 2024

Urso-Guimarães, Maria Virginia & Pereira, Leví Oliveira Barros Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo, 2024, Two new species of Ficiomyia Felt (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) associated with species of Ficus L. (Moraceae) in Brazil, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240060) 68 (4), pp. 1-7 : 3-5

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2024-0060
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/650787E5-620E-FFC3-EC4A-F8D20275249B
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Ficiomyia caatinga
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Ficiomyia caatinga sp. nov. Urso-Guimarães urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D85F907D-48B1-4E51-AA69-6BCE7617672C Figs. 2B View Figure 2 ; 3B, 3C, 3E View Figure 3 , 5 View Figure 5 Description. Same as F.brasiliensis , except for: Adult. Body length

(without antenna): 2.1 – 3.3 mm in male (N=21); 3.0 – 4.6 mm in female

(N=21). Head ( Fig. 5A View Figure 5 ): Eyes dark brown, holoptic, facets hexagonal, closely adjacent; occipital prominence absent. Frons with 18-24 setae. Male antenna with more than 26 (male antennae were broken in all specimens) barrel-shaped and stalked flagellomeres; all with basal whorl of long setae, ten hooded pores, and one trichoid sensilla in medial to distal region of the flagellomere, circumfila appressed, with two whorls connected by a small ring at the lateral surface ( Fig. 5B View Figure 5 ); female antennae with 38 flagellomeres, barrel-shaped, stalk smaller than in male ( Fig. 5C View Figure 5 ), circumfila as in male; in both sexes: first and second flagellomeres not fused; all flagellomeres with same length, except for the two first and the two last, more elongated then the other; apical process present in the last segment, and last flagellomere fused with the preceding at least in female ( Fig. 5D View Figure 5 ). Wings: hyaline with scales on veins ( Fig. 2B View Figure 2 ); length 2.2 – 3.9 mm in male (N=21); 2.8 – 4.0 mm in female (N=21).

Male abdomen: Tergites and sclerites as in F. brasiliensis sp. nov. (see Fig. 2C View Figure 2 ). Terminalia ( Figs. 3B and 3C View Figure 3 ): cerci bilobed, each lobe triangular at tip, with 5-6 prominent caudal setae; hypoproct lobes cylindrical, lobes divided only about ¼ of their length, each lobe narrow with rounded tip, an apical setae present in each lobe; aedeagus slender, cylindrical, and as long as hypoproct; gonocoxite oblong, with a conspicuous apicoventral lobe and a mediobasal lobe round, shorter than aedeagus, lobes divided at base, and completely covered with microtrichia; gonocoxite setae mainly on distal part of dorsal surface and scattered over lateral and ventral surfaces; gonostylus clavate ( Fig. 3C View Figure 3 ) with a curved, stout, one pointed apical tooth. Setation as in Fig. 3B View Figure 3 . Female abdomen: Tergites and sclerites as for F.brasiliensis sp. nov. Ovipositor ( Fig. 3E View Figure 3 ): telescoped, protrusible portion of ovipositor, including cerci, about 1.6 time longer than 8 th sternite, with microtrichia in dense transverse rows; cercus fused, setae scattered sparsely apically; hypoproct short, cylindrical, with microtrichia densely distributed.

Pupa and larva: Unknown

Gall and Biology. The gall morphology and the gall midge biology are similar to those described above for F. brasiliensis , except that: the host plant is Ficus caatingae collected in Boa Nova municipality, galls of Ficiomyia caatinga sp. n. are parasitized by females of undescribed species of Physothorax ( Torymidae : Chalcidoidea) and Sycophila ( Eurytomidae : Chalcidoidea).

Type material. Holotype – Male [permanent slide] (deposited in MZSP); Brazil: Bahia, Boa Nova (14°23’S; 40°8’W), collected on July 5, 2019; emerged on July 8, 2019, from syconia of Ficus caatingae R.M.Castro ( Moraceae ), Barros, L.O. col.; Paratypes. The same data of the holotype, 01 male, and 01 female, emerged on July 6, 2019 [in permanent slides] (deposited in MZSP). Additional material examined: Same data of holotype, 20 males, 14 females [in ethanol 70%] and 01 male, 07 females emerged on July 8, 2019.

Etymology. The name caatinga , a noun in apposition is based on the Caatinga, an exclusively Brazilian biome, completely circumscribed in the Northeast region, including the state of Bahia, where the studied specimens were collected.

Remarks. Ficiomyia brasiliensis and F. caatinga presented the diagnostic characters of Ficiomyia , large number of antennal segments with different numbers in males and females, palpus 3-segmented, with first and second not fused, and, in males, the gonocoxite possess a conspicuous apicoventral lobe and the hypoproct range since slightly to very deeply bilobed.

The main differences between the new species andFiciomyia perarticulata lie in the characters of wing ( Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ), male terminalia ( Figs. 3 View Figure 3 A-C), and ovipositor ( Figs. 3D and 3E View Figure 3 ). In Ficiomyia perarticulata the wings are maculated; in the new species they are completely hyaline. The male terminalia ofF. perarticulata has hypoproct lobes divided at the base, with each lobe narrow with the apex round. In F. brasiliensis , the hypoproct lobes are divided about ½ of their length, each lobe is triangular-shaped, and in F.caatinga only about ¼ of their length, each lobe is narrow with a rounded tip.The mesobasal lobes also have different shapes; round in F. perarticulata , semicircular inF. brasiliensis , and cylindrical inF. caatinga . The cerci of F. caatinga have a unique triangular shape, and the apex of the apicoventral lobes round, while in F. perarticulata and F.brasiliensis the cerci and the apicoventral lobes apexes are round. Regarding the ovipositor, the protrusible region is 2.0 times longer than sternite 8 in F. brasiliensis ( Fig. 3D View Figure 3 ), and 1.5 time longer in F. caatinga ( Fig. 3E View Figure 3 ). In F. perarticulata the ovipositor is described as “slightly longer”. Finally, the comparison of the body and wing R5 vein length reveals that the new Brazilian species are larger than F. perarticulata .

Ficiomyia perarticulata has the distribution recorded to Florida (EUA), but Roskam and Nadel (1990) inferred that it could be distributed in Brazil due to the presence of specimens of Physothorax reared from big, stalked galls in syconia of F.doliaria Mart.[= Ficus gomelleira Kunth] in this country.With our results, we confirm the presence of the genus Ficiomyia in Brazil, associated with twoFicus species, and parasitoidized by females of Physothorax sp. AlthoughFiciomyia insects are not frequently observed in field, their association with a typic fig wasp group (i.e., Physothorax ) and their specialized life history (i.e., gall makers) suggest that this gall midge group shares evolutionary history with fig trees.