Neoscutops rotundipennis Malloch

Ale-Rocha, Rosaly & Freitas, Geovânia, 2011, Revision of the Neotropical genus Neoscutops Malloch (Diptera: Periscelididae), Zootaxa 3016, pp. 1-28 : 24-25

Neoscutops rotundipennis Malloch

( Figs. 61 , 74 )

Neoscutops rotundipennis Malloch, 1926: 25 ; Prado 1975: 1 [Neotropical catalog]; Amorim & Vasconcelos 1990: 39 [key, Brazil].

Diagnosis. Head rounded in frontal view; frons brown; face yellow with a pale brown spot in shape of inverted triangle on upper 1/3 and lower margin rounded, slightly pointed in the middle; clypeus yellow; antenna with darkyellow pedicel and whitish-yellow first flagellomere; palpus dark brown; scutum dark brown with postpronotal lobe yellow; legs pale brown except apical 1/3 of tibiae yellow and tarsi whitish-yellow; fore femur with series of long strong setae on posteroventral surface.

Redescription. Holotype female. Body: 1.9 mm. Wing: 1.8 mm. Thorax: 0.9 mm. Head ( Fig. 74 ). Frons shiny, dark brown, slightly paler brown on lateral margin. Face shiny, yellow, with a pale brown spot in shape of inverted triangle on upper 1/3, with scattered, thin yellow setae, lower margin rounded and slightly pointed in middle. Parafacial pale brown. Gena yellow with yellow microtomentum and scattered, short pale brown setae. Antenna: pedicel dark yellow, with 2 preapical short black setae plus few short thin setae on dorsum and ventrally; first flagellomere whitish-yellow, oval; arista sub-basal dorsal pale brown to yellow, with 6 dorsal and 3 ventral rays. Mouthparts: proboscis dark yellow; palpus short, widened distally, dark brown with thin brown setae; clypeus yellow, U-shaped. Postcranium dark yellow with band of silvery microtomentum on lateral margin of eye; with sparse gold microtomentum and setose, several brown setae laterally. Eyes with interfacetal setae not visible. Setae: 1 lateral divergent vertical and 1 medial convergent vertical pairs, long and of same length; 1 orbital pair in middle, unusually long and robust, as long as vertical; 1 long proclinate convergent ocellar pair located laterally to ocellar triangle and near vertex, plus few short setae on tubercle; 1 postocellar pair divergent, shorter than the ocellar pair; all setae pale brown.

Thorax shiny, dark brown, yellow on postpronotal lobe; pleurae and scutellum clothed in scattered fine brown microtomentum except anepisternum and anterior part of katepisternum nude. Scutum with sparse, short fine brown setae. Setae: 1 postpronotal short and weak, black; 2 short and dark notopleural; 1 postsutural supra-alar very long; 1 postalar fine and short, black; 1 very long dorsocentral prescutellar, the same length as supra-alar; 1 katepisternal short and weak, black, and few setae below; 1 scutellar pair robust, as long as dorsocentral, convergent. Supra-alar, dorsocentral and scutellar yellowish.

Legs pale brown except apical 1/3 of tibiae yellow and tarsi whitish-yellow; fore femur with series of long and strong dark brown setae posteroventral surface, as long as greatest width of femur; mid tarsus without black spines. Apicoventral seta of mid tibia robust and elongate, reaching midlength of first tarsomere.

Wing ( Fig. 61 ) pale brown, progressively paler toward apex, apex hyaline; the longitudinal fold crosses the vein dm-cu in the middle.

Abdomen dark brown, shiny, with scattered brown microtomentum. Tergite 1+2 divided longitudinally by unsclerotized medial line from base to middle of segment; setae brown and weak, short, slightly longer on the lateral of tergites. Terminalia not dissected.

Male: Unknown.

Type material. Holotype female ( USNM). Costa Rica. San Mateo, Higuito. Holotype 3; Pablo Schild coll. [ type number 28459]. Condition of holotype: fungus-covered, left first flagellomere lost; left arista broken. The type was not dissected because the general condition of the specimen did not allow dissection without the risk of serious damage to it.

Distribution. Costa Rica.

Figures

FIGURES 59 – 61. Wings (the rotundipennis group). 59, Neoscutops minor sp. nov.; 60, N. ranyseae sp. nov.; 61, N. rotundipennis Malloch.

FIGURES 72 – 74. Heads, frontal view (the rotundipennis group). 72, Neoscutops minor sp. nov.; 73, N. ranyseae sp. nov.; 74, N. rotundipennis Malloch.