Sclerocoelus puyensis Kuwahara, Marshall & Paiero, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kuwahara, Gregory K.
name: Marshall, Stephen A.
name: Paiero, Steven M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sphaeroceridae
Sclerocoelus
Sclerocoelus puyensis

description: Sclerocoelus puyensis sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 536667FF-3D30-488A-884D-69EF326942CA
Figs 8I, 116–118
Etymology
This name reflects the collection data for the holotype and one paratype, which were aspirated under dead Puya stems.
Material examined
Holotype
ECUADOR • ♂; Carchi, Páramo El Angel, 18.2 km NW of El Angel; 3400 m a.s.l.; 3 Nov. 1999; S.A. Marshall leg.; aspirated under dead Puya stems; QCAZ debu00139744.
Paratypes
ECUADOR – Carchi • 1 ♀; same data as for holotype; DEBU • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Páramo El Angel, 14.1 km NW of El Angel; 3450 m a.s.l.; 1 Nov. 1999; S.A. Marshall leg.; under Polylepis litter; QCAZ • 2 ♀♀; Páramo El Angel, 17.3 km NW of El Angel; 3400 m a.s.l.; 31 Oct. 1999; S.A. Marshall leg.; QCAZ • 2 ♂♂; same data as for preceding; 1–3 Nov. 1999; pan traps among Espeletia; QCAZ. – Pichincha • 1 ♀; Campamento Pichan, near Nono; 3200 m a.s.l.; 24 Oct. 1999; S.A. Marshall leg.; dung; DEBU • 2 ♂♂; same data as for preceding; green leaf litter; DEBU • 4 ♂♂; Cotopaxi National Park, Quebrada Mishahuaycu; 3600 m a.s.l.; 26 Oct.–8 Nov. 1999; S.A. Marshall leg.; pans along stream; DEBU • 4 ♂♂; same data as for preceding; QCAZ • 4 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀; Valley near Hosteria San Jorge, 10 km NW of Quito; 3000 m a.s.l.; 23 Oct. 1999; S.A. Marshall leg.; pans in grass pile; DEBU • 5 ♂♂, 11 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; QCAZ.
Description
BODY (Fig. 116A). Length 2.2–3.3 mm. Head dark brown, lower fifth of frons orange; face, gena, and antenna orange-brown. Frontal width 2.2× frontal height. Two pairs of strong interfrontal bristles surmounting a fine third pair; anterior orbital 0.5× length of posterior. Palpus yellow. Eye very large, greatest height about 4.5× shortest genal height. Thorax brown, scutum with paler lateral edges. Two pairs of dorsocentral bristles (anterior pair distinct, 0.5 × length of posterior pair) separated by 6–7 rows of acrostichal setulae. Membrane around prosternum bare. Legs brown, femora darker. Fore femur with three large ventral preapical setae. Ventral surface of male mid tibia with two rows of stout setae in apical fifth. Wing (Fig. 8I) slightly infuscate. CS2 0.9× CS3. Halter brown.
MALE ABDOMEN (Figs 116B–C, 117). Dark brown, posterior edges of tergites sometimes slightly desclerotized. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly long-setose with large posterolateral setae. S5 rectangular, 1.1× length of S4, anteromedial half pale, posterior half long-setose with a dark, triangular posteromedial area. Anterior flange of S6+7 large, 1.0× as long as wide. Sclerite A forming a large, pale, densely setulose, elongate rectangular piece; sclerites B and C absent; sclerite D small, dark, ovoid, originating at apex of posteromedial dark area of S5; sclerite E dark, elongate with a narrow, curled, mesial end; sclerite F dark with an elongate, rectangular mesial end; sclerite G very large, bulbous, ring sclerite large and integrated into posterior surface of sclerite G. Epandrium small, 0.4× length of S8, height 1.2 × maximum length and 0.8× maximum width, long-setose; perianal pads weakly developed. Pseudocercus absent; halves of subepandrial sclerite flat and medially fused. Subcercus large, triangular in posterior view with a large, dorsoventrally flattened apical process. Hypandrium with sinuate, dorsoventrally flattened anteromedial apodeme. Surstylus subquadrate with two small anterior lobes and a larger, curved, long-setose, posteroventral lobe. Postgonite short, basal half broad with a slight anterior emargination, apical half constricted and curved anteriorly, apex with a thin, sinuate process. Phallapodeme large, apex dorsoventrally flattened; basiphallus large, basal part stout and connected to distiphallus by a neck-like distal part, posteriorly with a large (almost as long as postgonite), sinuate epiphallus; distiphallus unusual, basal half sclerotized and gently sinuate, apical half bent posteriorly, extending parallel to basal half, ventrally flattened with large membranous ventral folds.
FEMALE ABDOMEN (Fig. 118). T7 broad, simple; T8 divided into a broad, membranous, dorsal sclerite and two large, dark, lateral sclerites, posterolateral corners slightly expanded and rounded. Epiproct large, subtriangular, medially split, anteromedially and posteriorly desclerotized, and setulose in posterior two-thirds. Cercus elongate, apically pointed with long apical, dorsal, lateral, and apicoventral setae. S7 very large, broadly desclerotized posteriorly with 4–5 large posterior setae; S8 divided into two small, dark, lateral sclerites. Hypoproct entirely setulose with short but thick ventromedial setae. Three spermathecae, bulb elongate, cylindrical but crumpled, finely striate with shallow invaginations at both ends (ducts connecting near middle), both with a stout, finger-like, central process.
Distribution
Neotropical: Ecuador.
Remarks
Sclerocoelus puyensis sp. nov. is superficially similar to S. punensis sp. nov. but can be distinguished by the medially flattened or even slightly convex male S5, apically tapered surstylus, apically flattened and posterodorsally projecting subcercus, and evenly curved postgonite. Sclerocoelus puyensis, like other ‘basal’ Sclerocoelus lineages, is a high Andean species. All known specimens are from over 3000 m a.s.l., mostly in relatively small pockets of moist decaying plant material such as fallen Puya (Bromeliaceae) stems, debris along high alpine streams, or prostrate Polylepis (Rosaceae) branches.
description: Published as part of Kuwahara, Gregory K., Marshall, Stephen A. & Paiero, Steven M., 2025, A revision of the genus Sclerocoelus Marshall (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae), pp. 1-277 in European Journal of Taxonomy 979 on pages 94-96, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.979.2803, http://zenodo.org/record/14980852