Nephochaetopteryx psittacocercus Carvalho-Filho & Esposito & Mello-Patiu 2021, sp. nov.

Nephochaetopteryx psittacocercus sp. nov.

(Fig. 27)

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♁ (MZUSP): W: Zamora / (Loja) 1200 m / Ecuador XI. 1970 / L.E. Peña col. [printed on rectangular white label]. [Holotype in good condition.]

PARATYPES (2). ♁ (MZUSP): Barreirinhas, PA. / Rio Tapajós. Brasil / X–XI.1970 / Exp. Perm. Amaz. [print- ed on rectangular white label] [paratype in good condition]. ♁ (MZUSP): BRASIL, Acre Cru- / zeiro do Sul, Rio [= River] Moa / 073702S-724615W / 19-28.XI.1996 [printed on rectangular white label] // Arm. Suspensa / lâm. d’agua [= suspended trap above water] [printed on rectangular white label] // J.A. Rafael J. Vidal / & R. L. Menezes [printed on rectangular white label] // 0017639 [printed on rectangular white label] [paratype with terminal portion of thorax cleared and preserved in glycerin in a microvial pinned beneath the specimen].

Description. Male. Length = 4.5 mm (n = 3).

Head. Fronto-orbital and parafacial plates and postocular strip with silvery yellow microtomentum. Frontal vitta black. Five frontal setae. Gena and postgena with silvery yellow microtomentum. Palpus brown.

Thorax. Chaetotaxy: dorsocentrals 2+4 (first two weak); intra-alars 3+2; supra-alars 1+3, notopleurals 1 subprimary; anepisternals 5; merals 5. Mid femur with two median setae and without a differentiated posteroventral seta. Ctenidium consisting of three spines. Wing hyaline with dark spot beginning in the terminal portion of vein R 1, filling the distal third of cell r 1 and the upper half of the distal half of cell r 2+3; vein R 4+5 setulose dorsally to crossvein r-m.

Abdomen. Tergites brown with a band of golden microtomentum on anterior 4/5 of dorsal and lateral surfaces. Sternites 1 to 4 rectangular, yellow with a median brown strip, covered with yellowish setulae and with marginal setae.

Terminalia. Sternite 5 brown; cleft deep, nearly reaching middle of sternite; lobe rounded, with a tuft of short setulae; arms divergent, short and narrow (Fig. 27E). Cercus shorter than epandrium, with dorsal margin bearing three rounded projections and pointed apex curved ventrally in lateral view (Fig. 27B). Cercal prongs with divergent tips and one pointed projection on inner lateral margins in dorsal view (Fig. 27A). Cercal prong with small spines (Figs 27 A–B). Setulae restricted to cercal base (Figs 27 A–B). Surstylus elongate and narrowed, with setulae restricted to anterior margin of basal half and with setae restricted to anterior margin of distal half (Fig. 27A). Pregonite shorter than postgonite, subrectangular, with a row of ondulations along anterior margin and with spines on posterior margin (Fig. 27C). Postgonite almost straight, tapering distally with a long seta on anterior margin, with pointed tip curved anteriorly (Fig. 27D). Basiphallus short, strongly angled in lateral view (Fig. 27F). Distiphallus with distal portion enlarged, with dorsal margin sinuous, with apical margin rounded (Fig. 27F). Ventral margin of distiphallus serrated (Fig. 27F). Vesica elongate and angled in lateral view (Fig. 27F). Inner process of vesica rectangular in lateral view (Fig. 27F). Lateral and median styli inserted medially in distiphallus (Fig. 27F).

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The specific name, which should be treated as a noun in apposition, is derived from the Latin word “psittacus”, meaning parrot, and “cercus”, alluding to the shape of the cercus, which resembles the beak of a parrot in lateral view.

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL—Ecuador (Zamora), Brazil (Acre, Pará).

Remarks. Nephochaetopteryx psittacocercus sp. nov. is similar to N. orbitalis in the shape of the cercus and distiphallus. It differs from this species in having cercus with three lobes in lateral view, tip of cercus sharply pointed, surstylus elongate and pregonite subrectangular. In N. orbitalis the cercus has two lobes and a rounded tip, surstylus triangular and pregonite claw-shaped.