Argentinomyia rex
Creators: name: Montoya, Augusto L.
name: Wolff, Marta
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Syrphidae
Argentinomyia
Argentinomyia rex

description: Argentinomyia rex (Fluke, 1945)
(Figs 6K, 67, 68 and 90C)
Melanostoma rex Fluke, 1945: 21. Type locality: Ecuador. Hacienda Talahua, Bolívar. HOLOTYPE Male AMNH (Examined). Refs.: Fluke, 1945: 21 (Fig. 32, Head, lateral view, Male) 29 (Fig. 50, male abdomen); 1957: 277 (Figs 93–94, male genitalia)
Melanostoma rex. Fluke, 1957: 266
Rhysops rex. Thompson et al. 1976: 44
Argentinomyia rex. Montoya 2016: 461
Argentinomyia rex. Montoya et al. 2017: 396
Argentinomyia rex. Marín-Armijos et al. 2017: 168
Type material. HOLOTYPE. Adult Male, ECUADOR. Bolívar, Hacienda Talahua, 3100 m, 28.iv.1939, F.M. and H. Brown (AMNH). ALLOTYPE. ECUADOR. Label with the same data as Holotype (1♀, AMNH). PARATYPE. ECUADOR. Label with the same data as Holotype (14♁, 8♀, AMNH; 2♁, 1♀, USNM ENT 00058846).
Length (n= 4): Body, 10.2–11.5 mm; Wings, 8.8–9.4 mm.
Diagnosis. Face protruded and carinated above the tubercle; antennae black; frontal triangle narrow; thorax black pilose on notopleuron and in the area dorsal postalar callus; abdomen with lineate yellow sides macular, a pair of narrow yellow vitta on 2 nd to 4 th terga, on 2 nd tergum entirely isolated from base and apex, on 3 rd reaching the base and extending to apical 1/5, on 4 th similar and extending to apical 1/3. Pro- and mesotibiae yellow with a dark median ring. Surstyle is three to four times longer than broad; aedeagal lobe circular with apex rounded.
Redescription. MALE. Head (Fig. 67A) Face black, sides of face broadly and frontal triangle except for shining arc dorsal antennae, yellow to golden pollinose. Face with a very broad vitta free of pollen and with a median sulcus just ventral antennae; pile black except for yellow hairs on lower slopes of face and lower occiput. Frontal triangle narrows. Gena thinly, black pilose. Ocellar triangle with golden pollen and long black hairs, cilia black; oral tips protruding well forward and downward, tubercle broad and long; a very prominent triangular rugose area on slopes of face opposite tubercle. Antennae black, short, ratio 1.0:1.3:2.0, scape longer than pedicel, shorter than basoflagellomere; basoflagellomere apically rounded, arista black, with short pile, length less than the basal diameter of the arista. Thorax (Figs 5K, 67B–C): Black, mesonotum semishning, with golden pollen, with black and yellow hairs, intermixed, nearly all-black along sides, with two median gray-pollinose vittae on anterior half. Pleura yellowish-white pollinose, yellow pilose, black pilose on notopleuron and dorsal area of postalar callus. Scutellum shining but with a thin coating of golden pollen, with long black hairs, with a few shorter yellow hairs intermixed, fringe long and yellow. Wing (Fig. 67C): Hyaline, stigma yellow, microtrichose, costal cell microtrichose; calypter yellow-brownish; plumula yellow, halter yellow, capitulum darkened. Legs (Figs 8H, 67C): Black; pro- and metafemora yellow, except basal 1/4 to 1/3 brownish; pro- and metatibiae yellow except for a preapical dark ring; mesofemur black pilose on posterior edge; metafemur yellowish on underside near apex; pro- and metatarsi reddish yellow on apical segments; pile black, with a few yellow hairs toward the femur base. Abdomen (Fig. 67B): Elongate, slender, black; 2 nd to 4 th terga each with a pair of narrow yellow side maculae, maculae on 2 nd entirely isolated from base and apex, maculae on 3 rd reach base and extend to apical 1/5, maculae on 4 th similar and extend to apical 1/3; sterna yellowish, with a broad, median, black vitta; male genitalia: surstylus in lateral view (Fig. 68A) with dorsal and ventral margins approximately of the same width in the whole length, elongated, three to four times longer than broad; hypandrium in ventral view (Fig. 68C) narrowed laterally towards the apex; aedeagal lobe in ventral view (Fig. 68C) circular, apex rounded.
FEMALE (Figs 67D–E). Similar to male except for usual sexual dimorphism, but differing in legs paler; pro- and mesofemora and tibiae yellow; metafemur yellow except for a dark streak on margin near apex, in some specimens most of the metafemur dark. Pile on mesonotum not so long, fewer black hairs.
Taxonomic notes. Argentinomyia rex is a large species, similar in appearance to A. occidentalis sp. nov., having black antennae, pro- and mesotibiae orange with a dark median ring, but differs from it by the following combination of characters: the abdomen with lineate yellow maculae, a pair of narrow yellow vitta on 2 nd to 4 th terga, on 2 nd tergum entirely isolated from base and apex, on 3 rd reaching the base and extending to apical 1/5, on 4 th similar and extending to apical 1/3 (Figs 67B, E). In A. occidentalis sp. nov. the abdomen with a pair of thin maculae (diamond-shape) covered by gray pollen on 3 rd to 4 th terga of male, the same type of macula on 2 nd to 5 th terga of female, maculae on all segments isolated from base and apex (Figs 57B, E). Based on males, A. rex differs from A. occidentalis sp. nov. in having the surstylus in lateral view (Fig. 68A) with dorsal and ventral margins approximately of the same width in the whole length, elongated, three to four times longer than broad [versus surstylus bent back as a Z in shape, no more than two times longer than wide in A. occidentalis sp. nov. (Fig. 58A)]; aedeagal lobe in ventral view (Fig. 68C) circular, apex rounded [versus aedeagal lobe with acute apex in A. occidentalis sp. nov. (Fig. 58C)] (see “diagnosis” under each species or key).
Comments. The Holotype specimen of M. rex is currently in the AMNH. Photos are available on their website AMNH: https://sci-web-001.amnh.org/imulive/iz.html?#details=ecatalogue. 10021690.
Biology. Label data and field observations suggest that A. rex visits flowers of Ageratina tinifolia (Asteraceae) and Gaiadendron punctatum (Loranthaceae). Specimens collected using canopy Malaise trap suggest that A. rex flies in the higher tree canopy (height> 4 m).
Geographical range. Argentinomyia rex (n= 67) is distributed throughout the Eastern slope of the Western Cordillera in Colombia * (Antioquia), both slopes of Central Cordillera in Colombia (Caldas) and Ecuador (Bolivar) as well as the Eastern slope of Eastern Cordillera in Colombia (Cundinamarca) (Fig. 90C). The species is endemic to the Northern Andes domain at middle and high altitudes (1530–3400 m) in the provinces: Cauca (3090–3100 m) and Magdalena (1530–3400 m).
Non-type material examined. COLOMBIA. Antioquia, Belmira, Páramo Santa Inés, Cabaña Cabildo Verde, El Morro, Alto de La Gallina, 6,632 639, -75,645267, 3200 m, Páramo, Malaise canopy, 4-14.xii.2016, A. L. Montoya; J. Torres; J. P. Carmona (3♁, CEUA 95206); …, ex Ageratina tinifolia, Net, 4-14.ii.2017, A. L. Montoya; C. Rodríguez; J. D. Carmona (1♁, CEUA 95376); Same data, except: Malaise, 4-14.ii.2017, A. L. Montoya; C. Rodríguez; J. D. Carmona (2♁, CEUA 95449); Malaise canopy, 4-14.ii.2017, A. L. Montoya; C. Rodríguez; J. D. Carmona (2♁, CEUA 95459); 25.iii-5.iv.2017 (2♁, CEUA 95582, 95534); 21- 30.vi-5.iv.2017, C. Rodríguez; J. P. Carmona (5♁, CEUA 98000, 98011, 98033, 98116); 16-27.ix.2017, C. Rodríguez; A. Rúa (2♁, CEUA 98182, 98348); 2-13.xii.2017, C. Rodríguez; A. Echeverry (7♁, CEUA98403, 103294, 103344); Malaise canopy, 2-13.xii.2017, C. Rodríguez; A. Echeverry (1♁, CEUA 103292); 6,634 233, -75,658654, 3020 m, Forest, Net, 16-27.ix.2017, C. Rodríguez; A. Rúa (1♀, CEUA 98183); Vereda Río Arriba, Sector Laguna de Sabanas, 6,645 901, -75,670441, 3200 m, Páramo, Net, 16-27.ix.2017, A. L. Montoya; Y. Cardona (2♁, 2♀, CEUA 98230, 98231); 6,637 851, -75,662949, 2879 m, Grassland, Malaise, 16-27.ix.2017, A. L. Montoya; Y. Cardona (2♁, CEUA 98316); Vereda Río Arriba, Sector Laguna de Sabanas, 6,645 901, -75,670441, 3200 m, Páramo, ex Gaiadendron punctatum, Net, 25.iii-5.iv.2017, A.L. Montoya; J. P. Carmona (1♁, CEUA 103304); Betulia, Vereda El Indio La Mina Alto de San José, 6,253 434, -76,045072, 3090 m, Net, 14.xii.2013, C. Henao; J. Cogollo (1♁, CEUA 87097). Caldas, Pensilvania, Vereda La Brigada, Valle Alto, 5,346 97, -75,28673, 3400 m, Forest, Malaise, 28-30.v.2014, A. Cardona; D. Álvarez (1♁, CEUA 93134); Cundinamarca, La Palma, Murca, 5.329289, - 74.385364, 1530 m, ix.2010, J. Calderón, Net (1♁, UNAB). ECUADOR. Bolívar, Hacienda Talahua.
description: Published as part of Montoya, Augusto L. & Wolff, Marta, 2023, Taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Argentinomyia Lynch-Arribálzaga, 1891 (Diptera: Syrphidae), with description of 16 new species, pp. 1-157 in Zootaxa 5234 (1) on pages 112-115, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5234.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7609993