Scutops spinophallus 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 spinophallus

description: Scutops spinophallus sp. nov.
(Figs 17–18, 19J, 21)
Diagnosis. Frons yellow with golden pruinescence; face yellow, dorsal portion as high as wide; scutum dark brown with golden pruinescence, with a narrow dorsocentral yellow stripe on each side; wing with hyaline transversal preapical band complete, a big hyaline oval apical spot, and costal cell distinctly widened; phallus robust and bearing strong spines.
Holotype male. Description. Body: 3.5 mm; wing: 2.7 mm. Head (Figs 17A–C). Frons yellow with golden pruinescence; fronto-orbital setulae sparse, short, thin, and yellow. Face yellow; dorsal portion as high as wide, flattened, with distal margin rounded in frontal view; lateral margin with series of brown, thin setae. Gena and postgena yellow; postgena with long brown thin setae; gena with short, brown thin setae. Occiput with a series of long thin brown setae; silver pruinescent band adjacent to posterior margin of eye extended to gena. Antenna yellow; scape with dorsoapical setae short and brown; pedicel with five dorsal dark brown and robust setae; arista with seven dorsal branches (ventral branches lost). Buccal pieces dark brown. Thorax (Fig. 17A, C). Scutum brown with golden pruinescence, with a narrow dorsocentral yellow stripe; postpronotal lobe whitish yellow with dense silvery pruinescence; notopleuron and supra-alar area yellow, with dense silvery pruinescence; scutellum yellow with pruinescence yellow; subscutellum brown; pleura brown with golden pruinescence. Setae: anterior dorsocentral postsutural half-length of posterior seta; posterior katepisternal seta ¾ the length of anterior seta; distal scutellar seta 1/3 the length of the basal seta. Legs (Fig. 17A). Coxae and trochanters yellow; femora and tibiae brown; tarsi yellow. Forefemur with posteroventral setae robust; midtibia with apicoventral spine black robust. Wing (Fig. 19J). Wing brown with basal half of the costal and br cell yellow; transversal preapical hyaline band complete, a big oval hyaline spot occupying the apex of cells r 1, r 2+3 and r 4+5; vein R 1 brown. Cell costal distinctly widened. Halter brown. Abdomen. Tergites and sternites dark brown. Terminalia (Figs 18A–C): epandrium as high as wide in posterodorsal view; cercus small, ellipsoid in posterodorsal view; postgonite narrow, falciform in lateral view, dorsoapical region with setae; hypandrium + phallapodeme large, globose in lateral view; phallus long and robust, more than twice the length of hypandrium + phallapodeme, membranous and bearing several conspicuous thorns of different lengths along its length; ejaculatory apodeme elongate, slender, with apex rounded.
Female: Unknown.
Locality records: Panama (Panama) (Fig. 21).
Type material examined: Holotype male (NMNH). PANAMÁ, Panamá, Cerro Campana, 08º42′N 79º55′W, 900 m, 24 June 1973, (Erwin & Hevel), Central American Expedition, 1973. Holotype condition: abdomen dissected; left wing mounted between slides, right wing damaged; arista broken; right anterior dorsocentral seta lost; fore legs and abdomen packed in a microtube with glycerin. The specimen was attacked by fungus after the study and after the photographs was taken. Unfortunately, the substance used to remove the fungus has darkened the specimen.
Comments: Scutops spinophallus sp. nov. is the only congener with a yellow face and the brown scutum lacking a wide dorsal yellow stripe. The wing is similar to that of S. chapmani and S. fascipennis, in having the hyaline transverse, preapical band complete. Scutops spinophallus sp. nov., however, can be differentiated from these two species by the presence of a large apical hyaline spot, which is absent in the other two species.
Etymology: From Latin spina = spine, refers to the spiny phallus.
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 page 421, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5244.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7663678