Cerozodus Bigot 1857
Creators: name: Camargo, Alexssandro
name: Vieira, Rodrigo
name: Rafael, José Albertino
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Cerozodus

description: Cerozodus Bigot, 1857
Cerozodus Bigot, 1857: 532, 543. Type-species, Asilus nodicornis Wiedemann, 1828 (original designation); Kertész, 1909: 244 (catalogue); Bromley, 1946: 115 (catalogue); Carrera, 1946: 250 (neotype designation and redescription); Hull, 1962 (2): 484 (synopsis of world fauna); Martin & Papavero, 1970: 72 (catalogue); Schumann, 1973: 138 (type catalogue); Artigas & Papavero, 1995: 36 (Lecania -group catalogue); Papavero, 2009: 30 (catalogue); Papavero, Artigas & Lamas, 2009: 9 (key); Vieira, Rafael & Limeira-de-Oliveira, 2013: 181 (revision, new species); Lamas & Camargo, 2021 (CTFB catalogue).
Diagnosis. Face flat, slowly becoming gibbous at ventral margin; mystacal macrosetae whitish or yellowish with a few brown to dark brown macrosetae dorsally and laterally; palpus with one segment; scape approximately two times length of pedicel; postpedicel discoidal, rounded at distal margin or conical, tapering distally and laterally compressed; first article of stylus short; second article of stylus with a distinct basal, ventral, laterally compressed, rounded, lobular projection in males (Figs 2A–B, 6A–B, 8A–B, 14A–B, 18A–B); in females there is only a slight dilation at base, ventrally on second article (Figs 12A, 22A); thorax integument colour ranging from yellow, dark brown, reddish brown to black; pruinosity whitish, yellowish or brownish; setae whitish, yellowish, brownish or black; wings yellowish translucent; legs yellow to brown; abdomen yellow to reddish yellow and brown; male terminalia (Figs 3– 4, 6E–G, 8E–G, 9– 10, 14E–G, 15– 16, 18E–G, 19–20) yellow to dark brown; T8 concave posteriorly; S8 rectangular; epandrium narrowing anterolaterally, articulating with hypandrium; epandrial arms slender, inward curved apically; cercus and subepandrial sclerite conical; hypandrium rectangular with a tonguelike projection at mid-posterior margin; gonocoxite boomerang-shaped in lateral view, inwardly curved apically in dorsal and ventral views; gonostylus situated proximally on gonocoxite with two rows of setae internally meeting sub-apically at ventral margin; phallus with two prongs; ejaculatory apodeme fan-shaped; female terminalia (Figs 12B–H, 22B–H) laterally compressed; T8 slightly longer than length of T6 and T7 combined.
Taxonomic discussion. The main morphological character that distinguishes Cerozodus from other Asilinae genera is the second article of stylus with a distinct basal, ventral, rounded lobular projection, laterally compressed, in males (Figs 2A–B, 6A–B, 8A–B, 14A–B, 18A–B). Cerozodus shares with Lecania the absence of marginal scutellar macrosetae (Figs 2D, 6D, 8D, 14D, 18D). The previously described species of Cerozodus (C. brachylobus and C. nodicornis) have a discoidal postpedicel, rounded or truncate at distal margin (Figs 2A–B, 6A–B, 8A–B).
In the present work the generic diagnosis is being broadened to include two new species (Cerozodus ayalai sp. nov., and Cerozodus platylobus sp. nov.) both of which have a conical postpedicel, tapering distally (Figs 14A–B, 18A–B). Additionally, the two new species have the rounded lobular projection ventrally on the second article of stylus (Figs 14A–B, 18A–B).
Distribution (Fig. 23). Brazil (Maranhão, Piauí, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and São Paulo). Cerozodus is currently endemic in Brazil, occurring in Cerrado and Caatinga biomes.
The Cerrado (Neotropical Savanah) has a strong dry season during the southern winter. Its vegetation ranges from dense grasslands with sparse shrubs and small trees to almost closed woodland with a canopy of 15 m. Some of the trees are evergreen and others are semi-deciduous and deciduous (Ratter et al. 1997; Bueno et al. 2018).
The Caatinga is a unique semiarid region of Brazil hit by long droughts periodically. It is part of the world’s seasonally dry tropical forests (STDF) and comprises a very heterogeneous environment ranging from open scrubland to tall, dry forest where most of the vegetation is deciduous (Queiroz et al. 2017; Silva et al. 2017).
Specimens of Cerozodus platylobus sp. nov., were collected mostly in riparian forests and semideciduous seasonal forests (according to label data) which occur in the mosaic of heterogeneous vegetation within Cerrado (Fig. 23). Most of the specimens of this species were collected in the Biological Reserve of the Universidade Estadual do Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS) which is located in a transitional area between the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes (Fina & Monteiro 2013). Based on label data, specimens of Cerozodus nodicornis and Cerozodus ayalai sp. nov., were also collected in riparian and semideciduous forest areas. This possibly indicates that Cerozodus species may inhabit the transitional areas between the grasslands with shrubs and trees with the riparian and semideciduous forest within the Cerrado biome and riparian forests within the Caatinga biome.
description: Published as part of Camargo, Alexssandro, Vieira, Rodrigo & Rafael, José Albertino, 2022, Taxonomic review of Cerozodus Bigot, 1857 (Diptera: Asilidae: Asilinae) with the description of two new species, pp. 151-186 in Zootaxa 5209 (2) on page 153, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5209.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7325889