Neodiogmites modestus Carrera 1949
Creators: name: Alvim, Edgar
name: Ale-Rocha, Rosaly
name: Bravo, Freddy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Neodiogmites
Neodiogmites modestus

description: Neodiogmites modestus (Carrera, 1949) revalidated
(Figs. 6, 9, 38, 39)
Lastauroides modestus Carrera, 1949:103, Fig. 56; Carrera & Vulcano, 1961:69 (citation, prey); Hull, 1962 (1): 241 (citation); Artigas & Papavero, 1988 (as synonym of Lastauroides mixtus).
Diagnosis. face red, yellow pruinose; frons black; palpus black, yellow setose on first segment; pronotum black; scutum black, yellow pruinose laterally; coxae black, yellow pruinose, femora reddish, basal third black, yellow setose; tibiae reddish, apical third black; wing slightly brownish; abdomen black, tergites 1–4 laterally with yellow pruinose patch, short and thin yellow setae on all tergites, tergites 1–4 with long setae laterally.
Redescription. Holotype female. Measurements: body 17 mm; wing 13 mm. Head: face red, yellow pruinose laterally, slightly protruding on lower facial margin (Fig. 10); mystacal setae yellow; black frons, bisected in middle by longitudinal depression, tuft of black setae above insertion of each antenna; orbital setae black; ocellar tubercle black, black setose; postocular setae black; occiput black, with sparse yellow pruinescence, denser on occipital margin; upper occipital setae black and lower occipital setae yellow; palpus black yellow setose on first segment, black on second; proboscis black, yellow setose ventrally; antenna black, scape and pedicel black setose, postpedicel with sparse yellowish pruinescence and black setae on basal half. Thorax: second cervical sclerite black with thin white setae; pronotum black, antepronotum with thick and thin setae, postpronotum with thick black setae and thin yellow setae laterally; proepisternum with white thin and long setae; postpronotal lobe black setose; three notopleural, three supra-alar and four postalar setae; scutum black, yellow pruinose laterally; dorsocentral setae just before transverse suture; scutellum black, pair of long black marginal setae and sparse thin black setae; pleura black, yellow pruinescence, except anepisternum anteriorly; anepisternum with yellow and black setae. Legs: coxae black with sparse yellow pruinescence and yellow setae; femora largely reddish, basal 1/3 black, short black setae anteriorly, thin and long yellow setae ventrally; tibiae largely reddish, apical 1/3 black, with thin, short yellow and long black setae; tarsomeres black, black setose; pulvillus yellowish; claws black. Wing: slightly brownish; alula hyaline; red halter (Fig. 6). Wing: slightly brownish; alula hyaline; red halter (Fig. 6). Abdomen: black, lateral of tergites 1–4 with patch of yellow pruinescence, short yellow setae on all tergites; lateral of tergites 1–4 with thin and long yellow setae, tergite 1 with some black setae on posterior and lateral margins; sternites black with long and thin yellow setae. Terminalia: glossy black with black setae and some yellow setae on cerci; acanthophorite with black spines (Figs, 38, 39); cerci wider than long, with rounded apex (Figs. 38, 39), sternite VIII with membranous mediolateral and central areas subtly connected anteriorly; posterior margin with medial invagination that meet membranous central area, forming two valves with obtuse apex and convex outer side, laterally a small invagination connects with membranous mediolateral area (Fig. 38).
Male: Unknown.
Variations. antepronotum with some white setae, pleura with sparse yellow pruinescence; femora entirely reddish.
Comments. When Carrera (1949) described Lastauroides modestus, he noted that it was similar to Lastauroides mixtus, but that both species can be distinguished by the facial swelling, which is convex in N. mixtus and is only slightly protruding in the subcranial margin of N. modestus. When Artigas & Papavero (1988) synonymized Lastauroides with Neodiogmites, and they also synonymized L. modestus with N. mixtus. Further they judged the difference in the coloration of the femora to be intraspecific variation, and failed to take into account the shape of the face. We have found new difference between those species that permits separation of the two species: while the abdomen of N. mixtus is covered with short and fine black setae, whereas the abdomen of N. modestus is covered with yellow setae; in N. mixtus the sternite VIII of the female does not have a central membranous area (Fig. 36), which is present in N. modestus (Fig. 38).
Geographic record. Brazil: São Paulo.
Type material examined. Holotype ♀: BRAZIL. São Paulo: Campos do Jordão, 28.xii.1944, F. Lane leg. (MZUSP).
Material examined. BRAZIL. São Paulo: Campos do Jordão, i.1948, F. Lane leg. (1♀ MZUSP)
description: Published as part of Alvim, Edgar, Ale-Rocha, Rosaly & Bravo, Freddy, 2014, Taxonomic revision of Neodiogmites Carrera, 1949 (Diptera, Asilidae) and description of two new species, pp. 101-126 in Zootaxa 3861 (2) on pages 117-119, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3861.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/226795