Cephalops baldiensis Ramos-Pastrana, Córdoba-Suarez & Wolff, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ramos-Pastrana, Yardany
name: Córdoba-Suarez, Eric
name: Wolff, Marta
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Pipunculidae
Cephalops
Cephalops baldiensis

description: Cephalops baldiensis sp. nov.
Figs 1A–M, 4
Diagnosis. Male. Antenna with scape and pedicel dark brown, postpedicel brown, with rounded apex. Hind femur with proximal two thirds brown and distal third yellow, forming a brown ring medially. Tibiae yellow. Abdomen shiny brown, tergites 2–5 with a triangle-shaped dark brown pruinose spot at base and medially. Surstyli equal epandrium length, thickened, with inner margin straight and outer margins slightly rounded in dorsal view. Apex of phallic guide slightly thickened, with tip acute. Phallus bifid, with ejaculatory ducts distinctly separated, truncated apex and entirely membranous, one ejaculatory duct thinner than the other, the thicker ejaculatory duct with tuft of projections that appear to be setae on third apical ventrally.
Description. MALE (holotype). Body length 2.7 mm. Head (Figs 1A, B). Eyes contiguous for 19 facets. F, EM, V (mm) = 0.4, 0.5, 0.2. Frontal triangle brown pruinose, with conspicuous brown callus. Occiput brown, brown pruinose dorsally and ventrally, gray pruinose laterally. Antenna (Fig. 1C) with scape and pedicel dark brown, scape with one seta dorsally; pedicel with four setae dorsally and two longer setae ventrally; postpedicel brown, with rounded apex. LPP/WPP = 2. Thorax (Figs 1A–B, D). Postpronotal lobe brown. Scutum dark brown, brown pruinose. Notopleuron concolorous with scutum, gray-brown pruinose. Scutellum concolorous with scutum, with few tiny scattered setae. Mesopleuron and mediotergite brown, gray-brown pruinose. Wing (Fig. 1E). Length 6.3 mm. LW/MWW = 3.4; LTC/LFC = 1.6. Membrane slightly brown infuscated; vein r-m located slightly after basal third of cell dm; anal lobe narrow. Halter stem light brown and knob brown. Legs (Figs 1A). Coxae dark brown; trochanters light brown; fore and mid femora proximal half brown and distal half yellow, hind femur with proximal two thirds brown and distal third yellow, forming a brown ring medially; tibiae yellow, hind tibia with posterior erect setae medially; tarsomeres 1–3 yellow, 4–5 brown; pulvilli yellow. Abdomen (Figs 1A–B, F). Ground color dark brown, tergite 1 shiny, brown with proximal margin brown pruinose and six brown and long setae laterally; tergites 2–5 shiny with a triangle-shaped dark brown pruinose at base and medially; tergites and sternites 6 and 7 as in Fig. 1G. Syntergosternite 8 brown, brown pruinose, shorter than length of tergite 5, with membranous area apically (Figs 1F, H). Terminalia (Figs 1G–M). Epandrium brown, surstyli light brown (Fig. 1H). Surstyli (Figs 1H–J) subsymmetrical, equal epandrium length, completely setose, thickened, only slightly thinner at base, with inner margin straight and outer margins slightly rounded in dorsal view; both surstyli with apex slightly rounded in dorsal view (Fig. 1H); both surstyli slightly thickened at the apex and with tips slightly rounded and downward directed when seen in lateral view (Figs 1I–J). Gonopods subsymmetrical, triangle-shaped, with tips acute, inner margins sinuous and outer margins curved (Fig. 1K). Apex of phallic guide slightly thickened, with tip acute and without lobes (Fig. 1L). Phallus bifid, with ejaculatory ducts distinctly separated, truncated apex and entirely membranous, one ejaculatory duct thinner than the other, the thicker ejaculatory duct with tuft of projections that appear to be setae on third apical ventrally (Fig. 1L). Ejaculatory apodeme narrow, with margins sinuous (Fig. 1M).
FEMALE. Unknown.
Type material. HOLOTYPE. Male: COLOMBIA, Antioquia, Bello, Páramo Baldías, Jama, 6.3422222ºN, 74,64777778ºW, 2900–3000 m [eters], 10.jul[VII].2013, J. [A.] Rafael, J.T. Câmara & [F.F.] Xavier leg (1 ♂, CEUA-101626) (photographed). Holotype with right wing mounted on microslide in Canada balsam, left antenna and terminalia placed in a microvial with glycerin.
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type locality, Páramo Baldías, Private Reserve Protection, Colombia.
Geographical distribution. Colombia (Antioquia, Bello) (Fig. 4).
Habitat. The specimen was collected in the Páramo Baldías, with areas of very humid premontane forest of the Central cordillera of the Northwest region of Colombia, where the vegetation is composed of Andean clouded forests (Andean Forests 2024).
Taxonomic notes. Cephalops baldiensis sp. nov. runs to C. klinsmanni Ramos-Pastrana, Marques & Rafael, 2022 in the couplet 17 of the key presented by Ramos-Pastrana et al. (2022). It differs from C. klinsmanni by having postpedicel brown, with rounded apex (Fig. 1C) [versus postpedicel dark brown, with acuminate apex, figure 51 in Ramos-Pastrana et al. (2022)]; legs mainly yellow (Fig. 1C) [versus legs mainly brown to dark brown, figure 49, 50 in Ramos-Pastrana et al. (2022)]; abdomen shiny (Figs 1A–B, F) [versus abdomen velvety, figures 49–50, 54 in Ramos-Pastrana et al. (2022)]; other differential characters of the male genitalia are well specified in the key below. Based on males and due to the shape bifid of phallus, C. baldiensis sp. nov. is also related to C. brasiliensis Hardy, 1950 [figure 11 in Rafael (1990)]; C. farallonensis sp. nov. (Fig. 2K) and C. nitidus Hardy, 1950a [figure 37 in Rafael (1990)]. It differs from C. brasiliensis by having postpedicel with rounded apex (Fig. 1C) [versus postpedicel with acute apex in C. brasiliensis, figure 8A in Hardy (1950)]; both surstyli only slightly thinning at base and apex (Fig. 1H) [versus both surstyli thickened at base, only slightly thinning at apex, figure 9 in Rafael (1990)]; both surstyli with inner margin straight (Fig. 1H) [versus right surstylus with inner margin sinuous, figure 9 in Rafael (1990)]; apex of phallic without lobes at apex (Fig. 1L) [versus apex of phallic with three lobes thin and acute apex dorsally, figure 11 in Rafael (1990)]; ejaculatory ducts of phallus with truncated apex (Fig. 1L) [versus ejaculatory ducts of phallus with acute apex, figure 11 in Rafael (1990)]. It differs from C. farallonensis sp. nov. by having trochanters light brown; fore and mid femora proximal half brown and distal half yellow, fore femur with proximal two thirds brown and distal third yellow (Fig. 1A) [versus trochanters and femora entirely yellow in C. farallonensis sp. nov. (Fig. 2A)]; left surstylus with rounded apex (Fig. 1A) [versus left surstylus with acute apex (Fig. 2A)]; gonopods with acute apex (Fig. 1K) [versus gonopods with rounded apex (Fig. 2J)]; ejaculatory ducts of phallus with truncated and membranous apex (Fig. 1L) [versus ejaculatory ducts of phallus with rounded and sclerosed apex (Fig. 2K)]. It differs from C. nitidus by having both surstyli only slightly thinning at base and apex (Fig. 1H) [versus both surstyli thickened at base, only slightly thinning at apex in C. nitidus, figure 36 in Rafael (1990)]; apex of phallic guide without lateral setae on apex (Fig. 1L); [versus apex of phallic guide with lateral setae and two lobes laterally on apex, figure 37 in Rafael (1990)]; ejaculatory ducts of phallus with truncated apex (Fig. 1L); [versus ejaculatory ducts of phallus with acute apex, figure 37 in Rafael (1990)].
description: Published as part of Ramos-Pastrana, Yardany, Córdoba-Suarez, Eric & Wolff, Marta, 2025, Two new species of Cephalops Fallén (Diptera: Pipunculidae) from Colombia, and an updated key to males of the Neotropical species, pp. 383-394 in Zootaxa 5621 (3) on page 385, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5621.3.6, http://zenodo.org/record/15262872