Sclerocoelus plumiseta
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 plumiseta

description: Sclerocoelus plumiseta (Duda, 1925)
Figs 8G, 111–113
Leptocera (Scotophilella) plumiseta Duda, 1925: 185.
Leptocera (Scotophilella) caudata Duda, 1929: 35.
Leptocera (Limosina) plumiseta – Richards 1967: 15.
Leptocera (Scotophilella) caudata – Richards 1967: 15.
Sclerocoelus plumiseta – Marshall 1995: 284. — Roháček et al. 2001: 249.
Type material
Holotype (not examined)
Holotype ♀ labeled “ Paraguay Babarczy 906, II–III” according to Duda (1925), in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest.
Material examined
BOLIVIA – La Paz • 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; Chulumani, Apa-Apa Reserve; 16°21′15″ S, 67°30′21″ W; 2000 m a.s.l.; 1–3 Apr. 2001; S.A. Marshall leg.; pans in compost; DEBU. – Santa Cruz • 1 ♂; Siringalito, near Pampa Grande; 2 Oct. 1996; Bettella and Rossi leg.; DEBU.
BRAZIL – Minas Gerais • 1 ♂; Prado; 21 Feb. 1990; S.A. Marshall leg.; sweep along river; MZSP • 2 ♂♂; Riberian Riacho, near Prados; 24 Feb. 1990; S.A. Marshall leg.; floodplain, sweep; DEBU. – Paraná • 1 ♀; Curitiba campus; 10 Feb. 1990; S.A. Marshall leg.; sweep in forest with Araucaria; DEBU • 1 ♀; Morretes, 5 km S of Sapidontuva; 9 Feb. 1990; S.A. Marshall leg.; MZSP • 1 ♀; Palmas, Linha Alegria, Fazenda Cerro Chato; 26°30′09″ S, 51°40′13″ W; 1224 m a.s.l.; 3–4 Mar. 2015; Savaris and Norrbom leg.; on hill in campo, Malaise trap; USNM. – Rio de Janeiro • 1 ♂; Nova Friburgo, 10 km S of Sitio Edelweiss; 27 Jan. 1990; S.A. Marshall leg.; MZSP • 1 ♂; Nova Friburgo, Sitio Edelweiss; 26 Jan. 1990; S.A. Marshall leg.; Malaise trap; MZSP • 1 ♂; same data as for preceding; 26–27 Jan. 1990; DEBU. – Santa Catarina • 1 ♀; Nova Teutônia; 27°11′ S, 52°23′ W; 16 Oct. 1936; F. Plaumann leg.; BMNH • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same data as for preceding; 26 Oct. 1936; BMNH • 1 ♂; same data as for preceding; Jul. 1937; BMNH • 1 ♀; same data as for preceding; 8 Jul. 1937; BMNH • 1 ♂; same data as for preceding; 17 Jul. 1937; BMNH • 1 ♀; same data as for preceding; 10 May 1938; BMNH • 1 ♂; same data as for preceding; 11 May 1938; BMNH • 2 ♂♂; same data as for preceding; 1 Jun. 1938; BMNH • 1 ♂; same data as for preceding; 11 Nov. 1938; BMNH • 1 ♀; same data as for preceding; 14 Nov. 1938; BMNH. – São Paulo • 1 ♂; Estación Biologica Boracea; 2 Dec. 2008; G.F.G. Miranda leg.; dung trap; MZSP • 5 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; São José do Barreiro; 1650 m a.s.l.; Jan. 1969; M. Alvarenga leg.; Malaise trap; DEBU.
PERU – Junín • 1 ♂; Pampa Hermosa Lodge, 22 km N of San Ramon; 10°59′18″ S, 75°25′30″ W; 1220 m a.s.l.; 24–27 Nov. 2007; D. Brzoska leg.; flight-intercept trap; DEBU.
Redescription
BODY (Fig. 111A). Length 2.4–3.4 mm. Head Dark brown, lower third of frons, gena, and face orange; antenna orange-brown. Frontal width 2.2–2.3 × frontal height. Three pairs of strong interfrontal bristles surmounting a fine fourth pair; anterior orbital 0.4–0.5× length of posterior. Palpus yellow. Eye slightly reduced, greatest height about 2.5 × shortest genal height. Thorax dark brown, scutum with paler lateral edges. Two pairs of dorsocentral bristles (anterior pair distinct, 0.4× length of posterior pair) separated by 7–8 rows of acrostichal setulae. Membrane around prosternum bare. Legs brown, foreleg yellow. Fore femur with three large ventral preapical setae. Ventral surface of male mid tibia with two rows of stout setae in apical quarter. Wing (Fig. 8G) slightly infuscate. CS2 0.8–0.9× CS3. Halter brown.
MALE ABDOMEN (Figs 111B–C, 112). Dark brown, posterior edges of tergites sometimes slightly desclerotized. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly long-setose with large posterolateral setae. S5 rectangular, 1.2× length of S4, laterally long-setose with a deep, setulose, posteromedial emargination flanked by a patch of 3 setae, and a dark, anvil-shaped, posteromedial sclerite. Anterior flange of S6+7 strong, triangular, 2.0 × as long as wide. Sclerite A circular, desclerotized and separate from S6+7; sclerite B dark, elongate, and arched; sclerite C absent; sclerite D dark, crescent-shaped and articulating with left corner of posteromedial sclerite of S5; sclerite E dark, elongate, sinuate, and articulating with right side of posteromedial sclerite of S5; sclerite F large, laterally concave, left side with an elongate apicoventral process; sclerite G small, dark, narrowly separated from sclerite F; ring sclerite small, dark. Epandrium small, 0.5 × length of S8, height 1.5× maximum length and 0.9× maximum width, uniformly setose, posteroventral margin slightly emarginate; perianal pads weakly developed. Pseudocercus not distinctly differentiated from cercus; halves of subepandrial sclerite stout, slightly arched, and fused medially. Subcercus large, triangular, slightly sinuate, and setulose in apical half, fused dorsally to form subanal plate. Hypandrium with long, thin anteromedial apodeme. Surstylus very large, slightly taller than height of epandrium, curved inwards and posteriorly, apical half flattened with long setae, basal half with a setose posteroventral lobe and a short anterior lobe. Postgonite short, basal third curved with a triangular anterior lobe, middle third constricted, apical third truncate and expanded. Phallapodeme long but thin; basiphallus dorsoventrally flattened with a laterally compressed medial part and a pair of curved lateral arms; distiphallus with a sclerotized dorsal tube, apical part membranous with a flattened dorsal sclerite and a pair of sinuate lateral sclerites.
FEMALE ABDOMEN (Fig. 113). T7 broad, simple; T8 divided into a small, pale, dorsal sclerite and two large, dark, lateral sclerites, posterolateral corners slightly expanded posteriorly. Epiproct broad, ovoid, posteromedially desclerotized, and entirely setulose. Cercus elongate, pointed with long apical and dorsal setae. S7 large, posteromedially pointed with six large preapical setae; S8 reduced to a pair of small, dark, lateral sclerites. Three spermathecae, bulb large, bean-shaped, very finely striate with a wide, deep invagination on thicker end, invagination with a small, finger-like, central process.
Distribution
Neotropical: Bolivia *, Brazil *, Paraguay, Peru *.
Remarks
While the holotype of Sclerocoelus plumiseta (Duda, 1925) was not examined, this species is easily recognizable by the distinctive male genitalia (as illustrated in Duda 1929: fig. 1) of Scotophilella caudata Duda, 1929 [= Leptocera (Scotophilella) plumiseta]. This species is similar to species of the S. regularis species group, but can be easily separated by the basally constricted and apically curved surstylus, small posteromedial patch of setulae, and apically smooth postgonite. Sclerocoelus plumiseta is a southern South American species known from a variety of habitats below 2000 m a.s.l. It has a complex genital pouch as in the more derived clades, but the pseudocerci are not differentiated from the epandrium, the subcerci are simple and the surstylus is large and elongate.
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 91-93, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.979.2803, http://zenodo.org/record/14980852