Three new species of the subgenus Metaforcipomyia of Forcipomyia from Patagonia (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

MARINO PI; SPINELLI GR

Buenos Aires

Congreso; V Congreso Argentino de Entomología; 2002

Sociedad Entomológica Argentina

Forcipomyia Meigen is a large and extremely diverse genus of Ceratopogonidae, worldwide in distribution and diverse in morphology and habitat preference, including many species which are important pollinators of cocoa in tropical and subtropical areas. The subgenus Metaforcipomyia Saunders includes 15 species. Fourteen of them are distributed in gondwanian areas and the remaining one, Forcipomyia (M.) pluvialis Malloch, is recorded from eastern North America. Only three species are known to occur in the Neotropical region: F. (M.) cerifera Saunders from Argentina and Brazil, and F. (M.) galliarii Marino and Spinelli and F. (M.) williamsi M. and S., both from northeastern Argentina. Based on the examination of the type (deposited in the Natural History Museum in London) the patagonian spotted-wing species F. maculosa Ingram & Macfie, is herein recognized as a member of the subgenus Metaforcipomyia, and notes on its type are provided. Three unnamed species of the subgenus from Patagonia are also described and illustrated, based on material deposited in the collection of the Museo de la Plata, Argentina (MLPA). One of the species is represented by four males and four females collected with Malaise traps in the chilean Deceit island, located south of the Cape Horn in the province Antártica Chilena, and is distinguished from F. maculosa by the vasiform flagellomeres, wing spotted, with apical the pale areas in cells R5, M1, M2 and anal cell, and cell Cu dark; the male shows a deep caudomedin excavation in the ninth sternite, and the aedeagus is largely broader than long, with bifid tip. The second species is represented by one male from Hua-Hum, in the Neuquen province, and is distinguished from related congeners by the fourth and fifth palpal segment incompletely fused with shallow sensorial pit, scutum yellowish brown, wing without spots, ninth male sternite with shallow caudomedian excavation, aedeagus triangulat and abruptly tapering to blunt tip, and parameres U-shaped. The remaining third species is represented by one male from Huechulafquen, Neuquen, Argentina, and three males from the chilean provinces Osorno and Llanquihue, and is recognized by the fourth and fifth palpal segments completely fused, wing without spots, and aedeagus triangular, progresively tapering to blunt tip.