Cheiromyia pennaticornis Parent

Cheiromyia pennaticornis (Parent)

(Figs 9, 13, 14, 23, 24, 26)

Cheirocerus pennaticornis Parent, 1931: 11.

Cheiromyia pennaticornis (Parent): Dyte 1980: 223.

Cheiromyia pennaticornis (Parent): Brooks et al. 2010: 54 (redescription).

New material examined. BRAZIL: Amazonas: Manaus, Res. Ducke, Igarapé Barro Branco, 2°55′52″S, 59°58′30″W, 17.vi.2015, J.M. Cumming, J.A. Rafael, D.A.W. Marques & S. Cumming, sweep (1♂, INPA; 1♂, CNC). Minas Gerais: Uberaba, IFTM [Instituto Federal do Triângulo Mineiro], 19°39′55″S, 47°57′29″W, yellow pan trap on moist soil, 1̄ 8.xi.2017, R.S. Capellari (1♂, IFTM). FRENCH GUIANA: Mitaraka Mountains: MIT- A-RBF1, 2°14′11.4″N, 54°27′07.0″W, 306 m, on vegetation along muddy trail and in swamp, 6.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/074, M. Pollet (1♀, MAPC); MIT-A-RBF2, 2°14′12.5″N, 54°27′8.1″W, 287 m, on bamboo and banana-like leaves, 27.ii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/020, M. Pollet (1♀, MAPC); same data except, 2.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/044 (3♀, MAPC); MIT-C-RBF1, 2°14′10.8″N, 54°26′49.5″W, 258 m, on vegetation along and in creek, 2.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/045, M. Pollet (5♂, 3♀, MAPC); same data except, 27.ii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/017 (7♀, MAPC); same data except, 28.ii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/025 (3♂, 3♀, CNC; 1♂, 4♀, MNHN); same data except, 3.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/057 (5♀, MAPC); same data except, 4.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/061 (3♂, 2♀, MAPC); same data except, 4.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/062, (3♂, 2♀, MAPC); same data except, 6.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/077 (2♂, MAPC); same data except, 8.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/087 (1♂, MAPC); same data except, tropical wet forest (bas fond), 24̄ 27.ii.2015, YPT, MITARAKA/122 (1♂, MAPC); same data except, 24̄ 27.ii.2015, YPT, MITARAKA/122 (1♀, MAPC); MIT-C-RBF2, 2°14′3.4″N, 54°26′53.0″W, 299 m, on vegetation along muddy trail and in swamp, 3.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/056 (1♂, MAPC); same data except, 4.iii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/064 (2♂, MAPC); same data except, 6.iii.2015, SW,

MITARAKA/072 (1♂, MAPC); same data except, 27.ii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/018 (2♀, MAPC); same data except, tropical wet forest (bas fond), 27.ii. ̄ 6.iii.2015, YPT, MITARAKA/125 (1♂, 1♀, MAPC); same data except, 6̄ 10.iii.2015, YPT, MITARAKA/136 (2♂, 2♀, MAPC); MIT-DZ-RBF2, 2°13′59.3″N, 54°27′0.3″W, 283 m, on vegetation along stream and in swamp, 28.ii.2015, SW, MITARAKA/026, M. Pollet (1♂, 1♀, MAPC).

Description (female). Similar to male (see Brooks et al. 2010 for description of male), except as follows: Body length: 5.8–6.5 mm, wing length: 5.5–6.0 mm. Head as broad as high. Face slightly broader. Face and clypeus with silvery white pruinosity covering yellowish-brown ground color. Palpus with sparser short, inclined setulae, and one strong black apical seta. Proboscis lacking close-set row of long curly hairs on anterior surface of each labellar lobe. Antenna (Fig. 9) unmodified, postpedicel small, lacking projections, subtriangular with acute apex, 1.4X as long as wide, pale reddish yellow with dark margin; arista-like stylus with basal article about 1/8 as long as apical article. Fore leg with coxa pale on anterior surface; tibia pale; femur pale yellow, with setulae of anteroventral edge not distinctly denser; tarsus without velvety pile ventrally; claws unmodified. Mid leg with tibia pale. Hind leg with tibia pale. Terminalia with tergite 10 brown, divided medially into hemitergites each bearing 5 dark brown spines, spines blunt and somewhat flattened apically.

Distribution. Cheiromyia pennaticornis was previously known from Bolivia (La Paz), Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Pará) and is here newly recorded from southern Brazil (Uberaba, Minas Gerais) and from swampy forest habitats in the Mitaraka Mountains of French Guiana (Fig. 26).

Remarks. In addition to the characters mentioned in the description of C. pennaticornis provided by Brooks et al. 2010, males also have the fore femur somewhat laterally compressed with the anterior surface bright yelloworange (Figs 13, 14), in contrast to the pale yellow femoral base color seen in most other species (Fig. 12), and the cercus extensively infuscate on the ventral (inner) surface (Fig. 23). The fore femur (Fig. 11) and cercus (Fig. 15) of C. carolina Limeira-de-Oliveira & Brooks sp. nov. are similarly modified, suggesting a possible sister-group relationship between these species. Males of both species also possess dense setulae on the anteroventral margin of the fore femur (Figs 11, 13, 14), which in C. carolina are longer, more erect and restricted to the middle portion (Fig. 11). In C. pennaticornis these setulae are shorter, more appressed and run along most of the anteroventral edge of the fore femur but vary considerably in density among specimens (Figs 13, 14). Males of C. pennaticornis also exhibit variation in the coloration of the tibiae, which range from entirely pale yellow to almost entirely infuscate. Further variation in C. pennaticornis is observed in the basiventral lobe of the hypopygium, which may be well-developed as in the holotype (Brooks et al. 2010, fig. 7), or reduced with a medial dentiform process immediately distal to the basiventral seta (Fig. 24), as in males from Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre, Brazil (see “Additional material examined” in Brooks et al. 2010, page 55).

The recent “La Planète Revisitée” expedition to the Mitaraka Mountains of French Guiana in 2015 (Pascal et al. 2015; Pollet et al. 2015, 2018) yielded a large series of C. pennaticornis (65 specimens), including the firstknown associated female specimens (see description above). Specimens of C. pennaticornis were collected in both non-flooded and flooded palm swamps, with darker flooded sites preferred (Fig. 26). Most specimens were collected through visual searches and by sweep netting with only 8 additional specimens captured in yellow pan traps (Pollet et al. 2018).