Mberu takwajasu, Silva & Capellari & Oliveira, 2025

Silva, Paulo Cesar, Capellari, Renato S. & Oliveira, Sarah S., 2025, Revision and morphological phylogeny of the Neotropical genus Mberu Capellari & Amorim (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with description of twelve new species, Zootaxa 5637 (3), pp. 469-514 : 501

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5637.3.3
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E1718F54-6375-4DF0-8ACF-EF4D87E12381
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15562716
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B18E5C-FFBF-FFE7-5AAD-4CA6FC51F80F
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Mberu takwajasu
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Mberu takwajasu sp. nov.

( Figs 20 View FIGURE 20 , 21 View FIGURE 21 , 22A View FIGURE 22 )

Description. Male. Body length: 2.20 mm. Wing length: 2.15 mm long, 0.73 mm wide (n = 1). Similar to M. amorimi sp. nov. in both general habitus and chaetotaxy, except as noted. Body mostly brown, with slight blue reflections. Head ( Fig. 20B, C View FIGURE 20 ). Eyes touching on face, forming triangle at upper and lower face; palpus yellow, with one brown seta on apex; pair of tiny poc s. Postpedicel dark brown, triangular and pointed, covered by many pale setulae, elongate, about 2.3 times longer than basal width; stylus about two times longer than postpedicel. Thorax ( Fig. 20C View FIGURE 20 ). Dark brown, with some green or blue reflections, 1.7 times as long as abdomen. 6–7 dc s, increasing in size posteriorly, posteriormost three conspicuously longer than anteriormost; three pprn s, one strong dark seta and two white setulae below; one npl s, one large pal s; one pair of strong l sctl s, laterad setae absent.

Wing. Sc ending at middle of R 1; R 1 ending at about basal third of wing; R 2+3 ending in C at apical fourth of wing. Lower calypter white, long, increasing in size towards apex. RMx ratio = 2.2, CuAx ratio = 0.2. Legs. Completely yellow, except coxa I with anterior surface light brown, coxae II and III light brown, sclerotized. Leg I. Femur I with av row of small white setae; one dark posterior preapical seta; It1 with ventral surface covered by short dark setae less dense than dorsal region, dorsal surface covered by dark setae; It1 as long as remaining tarsomeres combined, with row of small av and pd setae on apical third. Leg II. Coxa II with a few pale setae anteriorly, decreasing in size towards apex, bare laterally; femur II with ventral surface with sparse dark setulae, row of pv setae on apical fourth and one strong brown pv seta near apex; It1–4 without conspicuous setae at apex. Leg III. Femur III with av row of 10–12 white setae increasing in size towards apex; tibia III with apical comb of small pale setae projecting towards tarsal excavation; IIIt1–2 with row of ventral setae, IIIt1 with ventral excavation at base. Relative podomere ratios: I: 6.1/ 6.9/ 3.6/ 1.4/ 1.3/ 1.2/ 1; II: 7.7/ 8.1/ 2.6/ 2.6/ 1.7/ 1.1/ 1; III: 7.4/ 10/ 2.7/ 3.1/ 1.9/ 1.2/ 1. Abdomen. Mostly brown, lighter than thorax. Segment 6 not hidden under Tergite 5; sternite 8 enlarged, globular. Hypopygium ( Fig. 21 View FIGURE 21 ). Epandrium elongate, three times longer than high, dark; MEp narrow, about six times wider than height, dorsally branched, without setae at apex ( Fig. 21C, H View FIGURE 21 ); DSur and VSur covering internal appendages ( Fig. 21A, B View FIGURE 21 ); VSur ( Fig. 21C View FIGURE 21 ) narrow, as high as DSur, four times wider than high, with apicoventral projection and one seta at apex (probably being LEp fused with VSur (see Quevedo et al. 2025); DSur ( Fig. 21D View FIGURE 21 ) narrow, about four times wider than high, subtriangular, increasing in height near apex. Hypandrium basally fused to epandrium. Phallus ( Fig. 21E View FIGURE 21 ) straight, without apical projection. Postgonite ( Fig. 21G View FIGURE 21 ) slender, slight curved near apex. Cercus ( Fig. 21F View FIGURE 21 ) elongate, about three times wider than height, divided in two parts, ventral part elongate, with slender, pointed branch dorsally, rounded at apex, with one apicodorsal seta, dorsal part elongate, base covered by fine setae and apex narrow. Female ( Fig. 22A View FIGURE 22 ). Body length: 2.39–2.42 mm. Wing length: 2.13–2.59 mm long, 0.83–0.91 mm wide (n = 3). Similar to male except as noted. Head. Eyes not touching on face; postpedicel brown, triangular, pointed, covered by many pale setulae. Wing. RMx ratio = 2.1, CuAx ratio = 0.2. Legs. Leg I. Femur I without posterior preapical seta; Leg II. Femur II without row of pv; IIt1–4 with one av, one ventral and one pv small black seta at apex. Leg III. Femur III without anteroventral row of setae; tibia III without comb of setae; IIIt1 without ventral excavation. Relative podomere ratios: I: 9.3/ 10.4/ 6.9/ 3.3/ 2.2/ 1.3/ 1; II: 7.5/ 7.9/ 4.4/ 2.5/ 1.7/ 1.2/ 1; III: 9/ 11.1/ 2.9/ 3.2/ 1.7/ 1.3/ 1. Abdomen. Tergites 1–5 covered by short setae. Oviscapt as in M. bodoquena sp. nov.

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, “ BRAZIL, GO [Goiás], Mineiros | Parque Nacional [ National Park ] das Emas | Malaise – Parcela [ Point ] 2 Mata [ Semideciduous Seasonal Forest ] | -17.9022253779 -52.9964093068 [17°54′08.0″S 52°59′47.1″W] | 12.vii.2017 - 16.viii.2017 | Cols. Oliveira. S.S. & Lopes, W. R.”; “ HOLOTYPE | Mberu takwajasu | Silva, Capellari & Oliveira [red label]” ( MZUSP) GoogleMaps . Holotype in good condition, genitalia dissected and stored in microvial with glycerin, pinned beneath the specimen. PARATYPES. Brazil. Goiás. Same data as holotype (3 ♀, MZUSP) GoogleMaps .

Etymology. From the Tupi-Guarani, one of the native Brazilian linguistic families, “ takwãj ” (penis) + “ asu” (intensive), referring to the large size of the male genital capsule in relation to the other species of the genus.

Remarks. Mberu takwajasu sp. nov. is easily distinguished from other Mberu by having an elongate postpedicel, about 2.3 times longer than its basal width ( Fig. 20B, C View FIGURE 20 ) (usually equal to 1.3 times longer in other species), and by the large size of the male hypopygium, reaching forward to abdominal segment 2 ( Fig. 21A View FIGURE 21 ) (usually reaching abdominal segment 4 in other species).

Distribution ( Fig. 24 View FIGURE 24 ). Brazil: state of Goiás (Cerrado biome).