Oxysarcodexia aurata
Creators: name: Souza, Carina Mara De
name: Pape, Thomas
name: Thyssen, Patricia Jacqueline
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sarcophagidae
Oxysarcodexia
Oxysarcodexia aurata

description: Oxysarcodexia aurata (Macquart, 1851)
(Figs 39–41)
Sarcophaga aurata Macquart, 1851: 207; probably Society Islands, Tahiti [“Océanie”]. Holotype male in MNHN (not examined). [Pape (2008: 44) argued from other sources than the original description that the single male is a holotype.]
Sarcophaga taitensis Schiner, 1868: 314 (as taïtensis); French Polynesia, Society Island, Tahiti. One male and two female syntypes in NMW (not examined) [“Ein Männchen und zwei Weibchen aus Taïti” (Schiner 1868: 315)]. [Tibana & Mello (1983a: 244) indicated a “ holotype ” male to be in NMW, but this is erroneous and cannot be considered a lectotype designation according to Article 74.5 of the Code (ICZN 1999).]
Sarcophaga obtusifrons Thomson, 1869: 536; Galápagos Islands. Two female syntypes in NRM (not examined). [Thomson (1869) described the species from an unspecified number of syntypes; Aldrich (1930: 28) examined “two females, Galapagos Islands ”, which are still deposited at the NRM (Y. Brodin, pers. comm.).]
Sarcophaga vesica Hall, 1933: 283; Panama, Canal Zone, Ancon. Holotype male and three male paratypes in USNM (not examined).
Dasyproctia auricauda Enderlein, 1928: 23; Western Samoa, Otheide. Lectotype male (designated by Townsend 1931: 77) and female paralectotype, not located (not examined). [According to Pape (1995: 14), the lectotype designation made by Townsend (1931) is valid; the material appears to have been sent from MNHU to Dr. H. R. Dodge as a loan but was never returned.]
Oxysarcodexia lapitana Lehrer & Barbet, 2008: 1. [Unavailable name, proposed after 1999 without indication of current or intended type depository.]
Diagnosis. Male. Length 9.0–10.0 mm. Postocular plate with golden pollinosity. Ocellar bristles well developed. Thorax and abdomen with silvery pollinosity; T5 partly with golden pollinosity. Two well-differentiated posterior and 1–3 smaller anterior post-sutural dorsocentrals. Apical scutellar bristles absent. Legs blackish. T3 with 3 pairs of lateral marginal bristles, T4 with 1 pair of median marginal and 3 pairs of lateral marginal bristles. ST5 with deep median cleft with margins almost parallel and with bristles at apex of arms. Cercus sinuous in lateral view, with normal apex (i.e., as broad as median area) and concave margin. Cercus with bristles ventrally only in distal third. Cerci with distal third as broad as middle part in posterior view; diverging. Pregonite of equal width from base to apex, apex darker than base. Postgonite with expanded base, gradually narrowing to apex; unicolorous. Distiphallus with smooth ventroapical margin, rounded apex, lateral lobes, large dorsoapical membranous swelling and straight dorsal outline. Vesica symmetrical, with angular median projection of main branch; distal lobes well developed, with filaments, tapering, partially membranous, with spines only on ventral surface.
Remarks. Pape (2008) proposed O. aurata as a senior synonym of O. taitensis, and although the second name had been used as valid in several papers, it did not qualify as a nomen protectum [Article 23.1 of the Code (ICZN 1999)]. Oxysarcodexia aurata presents a large membranous dorsoapical swelling of the distiphallus (Fig. 40), as also observed in O. eberti Lopes & Tibana, 1987 (Fig. 106), O. galeata (Aldrich, 1916) (Fig. 133), O. intona (Fig. 155), O. peltata (Fig. 220) and O. varia (Fig. 268). The shape of the cercus in lateral view and the large size of the membranous dorsoapical swelling of the distiphallus are character states grouping O. aurata and O. peltata together (Figs 40, 220). These species were included by Lopes (1975c) together with O. culminata, O. culmiforceps, O. fringidea and O. intona in the peltata group, which includes females that present a reduced and membranous T7, ST6+7 and 8 narrow, and T5 with lateral margins meeting ventrally (in dry material) (Tibana & Mello 1983a, 1985).
Distribution. NEOTROPICAL. Chile (Cauquenes), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands (Albemarle,Charles,Chatham,Duncan,Indefatigable,Narborough,San Salvador), Panama, Peru.AUSTRALASIAN/ OCEANIAN. Fiji, French Polynesia (Austral Islands, Marquesas Islands, Society Islands, Tubuai Islands), New Caledonia, Tahiti, Tonga, Western Samoa.
Biology. This species has been collected from chicken viscera and fish in urban, rural and forest areas (Ramírez-Mora et al. 2012; Yepes-Gaurisas et al. 2013). In Antioquia, Colombia, Yepes-Gaurisas et al. (2013) observed an increase in frequency of O. aurata in association with rain, and found it to be highly synanthropic. In Guajira, Colombia, this species was collected in urban, forested and rural areas, in decreasing order of abundance, using Van Someren-Rydon traps baited with fermented fruit, decomposing fish and human feces (Valverde-Castro et al. 2017). A male labelled “Ex—cow dung” (see next paragraph) may refer to either an adult visiting or a breeding record.
Material examined. [♂] NEW CALEDONIA: Province Nord. Poindimié, near the coast, 24–28.xi.2001, Johanson, Pape & Viklund / NRM-DIPT 0014339 [NRM] // [♂] Society Is., Tahiti Punaaina, 4.1.1978, N. H. L. Krauss leg. [NHMD] // [♂] COLOMBIA Palmira, Valle 2. June. 1971 1006 M 247 G.P. Waldbauer / Oxysarcodexia vesica [no italics] (Hall) ♂ Det. H. S. Lopes [MNRJ] // [♂] Viti Levu FIJI, 17.Aug.1966. G. Bornemissza. Ex—cow dung. / Oxysarcodexia taitensis ♂ (Sch.) Det. H. S. Lopes [MNRJ].
description: Published as part of Souza, Carina Mara De, Pape, Thomas & Thyssen, Patricia Jacqueline, 2020, Oxysarcodexia Townsend, 1917 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) - a centennial conspectus, pp. 1-126 in Zootaxa 4841 (1) on pages 28-29, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4841.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4405603