Scutops melinus Freitas & Ale-Rocha 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Freitas, Geovânia
name: Ale-Rocha, Rosaly
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Periscelididae
Scutops
Scutops melinus

description: Scutops melinus sp. nov.
(Figs 12, 19G, 21)
Diagnosis. Body yellow, except face whitish yellow with lateral brown, palpus brown in the most part, scutum with short dorsocentral brown stripe, scutellum with lateral margin pale brown and tergites 3–7 with mediodorsal brown spot; silver pruinescent band adjacent to posterior margin of eye extended to gena; scutellum with transversal grooves.
Holotype female. Body: 4.5 mm; wing: 4.0 mm. Head (Figs 12A–C). Frons yellow; fronto-orbital setulae minute and brown. Face whitish yellow with brown lateroventral region; dorsal portion higher than wide, slightly convex dorsally with apical margin rounded in frontal view, lateroventral region with brown setae. Gena and postgena yellow with long brown setae. Occiput yellow with a series of long, thin, brown setae; silver pruinescent band adjacent to posterior margin of eye extended to gena. Antenna yellow; pedicel with four dorsal dark brown setae; postpedicel with dorsal margin pale brown; arista with ten dorsal and five ventral branches. Buccal pieces yellow, except palpus brown with basal part yellow. Thorax (Figs 12A, C). Scutum yellow with dorsocentral postsutural brown stripe; postpronotal lobe pale yellow with dense silvery pruinescence; notopleuron and supra-alar region with dense silvery pruinescence; scutellum yellow with lateral margin brown, with the apex elevated at an angle of about 30º; subscutellum yellow; pleura yellow. Setae: posterior dorsocentral post-sutural long (anterior seta lost); basal scutellar seta short (apical pair lost). Legs (Fig. 12A). Yellow. Forefemur with posteroventral robust brown setae. Wing (Fig. 19G). Mostly yellow, with distal half of the anterior portion brown; transversal hyaline preapical band incomplete, not reaching anterior margin; vein R 1 yellow with apical 1/3 brown. Halter yellow with brown setae on middle. Abdomen (Fig. 12A). Tergites 1+2 yellow; tergites 3–7 yellow with median portion brown; sternites yellow. Terminalia (Fig. 12D): tergite and sternite 7 forming a sublosangular ring; sternite 8 half-moon shaped, with anterior margin deeply concave; cercus losangular in posterior view.
Male. Unknown.
Locality records: Brazil (Amazonas) (Fig. 21).
Type material examined: Holotype female (INPA). BRAZIL, Amazonas, Manaus, Res [erva] km 41 P[rojeto] D[inâmica] B[iológica] de F[ragmentos] F[lorestais], 13–14.x.2004,Borda-Dossel (R. Querino). Holotype condition: anterior dorsocentral and left posterior dorsocentral seta lost; apical scutellar setae and left basal scutellar seta lost; left wing mounted between two pieces of coverslip which are glued to the end on a small piece of sturdy paper and attached to the specimen pin; abdomen dissected and stored in a microtube with glycerin.
Comments: Scutops melinus sp. nov., is easily distinguished from others congeners by its generally yellow color, short dorsocentrals, slender brown stripe on the scutum, scutellum with transversal grooves, and abdomen that is yellow with the central region of the tergites brown.
Etymology: The specific name refers to the yellow coloration of the species.
description: Published as part of Freitas, Geovânia & Ale-Rocha, Rosaly, 2023, Taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Scutops Coquillett, 1904 (Diptera: Periscelididae), pp. 401-427 in Zootaxa 5244 (5) on pages 415-416, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5244.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7663678