Triozocera buehrheimi Kogan & Cook 2014, sp. n.
Creators: name: Kogan, Marcos
name: Cook, Jerry L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Strepsiptera
Corioxenidae
Triozocera
Triozocera buehrheimi

description: Triozocera buehrheimi sp. n.
(Figures 1A–B; 2A–G; 3A–C; 4C; 5A, H; 6A)
Holotype (Fig. 1A): Male, collected in light trap at Coari, Rio Urucu, Amazonas, Brazil (4°51’56”S – 65°04’56”W); Paulo Bührheim et al., col.; 25 Jan.-10 Feb. 1995. Specimen preserved whole in glycerin. Paratype (Fig. 1B)—Male, same collection data as holotype. Paratype specimen received with head separated from body; wing, head, one antenna, and thorax+abdomen mounted on 4 slides. Type material deposited in the Strepsiptera Collection, INPA, Manaus, Brazil. Host and female are unknown.
Description. Length from tip of frons to distal end of 9 th sternite 3.47 mm.
Head (Figs. 2A, 4C)— 1.08 mm wide (between edges of eyes); eyes with 14 visible, large, round eyelets occupying ca. 2/3 of the head’s width dorsally; inter-eyelet ridges with dense but very short pubescence (microtrichia) (Figs. 4C). Antefrons in shape of broadly-based isosceles triangle, with rounded angles (Figs. 4C); vertex plates (epicraneal plates of Kogan, 1958 and Brailovsky and Márquez, 1974) widely separated frontally, oblique, sclerotized, sub-rectangular, sharply narrowing posteriorly, following curvature of eye base; integument smooth, not dimpled. Antennae (Figs.2A, 2C) seven-segmented; segments I and II very short, segments III and IV extended with slender lateral flabella; antennal segments III-VII and flabella covered with sensorial pits of variable shapes and areas; length of antennal segments (in µm): I ≈ II = 50 each; III = 60 (body of segment), flabellum = 810; IV- base+flabellum = 870; V = 500; VI = 230; VII = 280. Mandibles absent. Maxilla (Figs. 2B, 5H) club shaped; width at base and tip sub-equal; maxillary palp covered with sensorial trichomes, inserted at proximal end of sub-apical, wide, oval pit, extending by half its length beyond tip of maxilla; length of maxilla 330 µm; palp 200 µm.
Thorax (Figs. 2 D-E, 5A)—Pronotum and mesonotum (Fig. 2D) very short; mesonotum slightly protruded anteriorly in center, expanding laterally to connect to metanotum. Metanotum (Fig. 2E) 1.88 mm long, being 6.75 times longer than pro- and mesonotum combined; praescutum broadly rounded anteriorly, protruding from scutum; scutellum in shape of isosceles triangle, with sinuous base; postlumbium lip-shaped, narrow, sinuous; postnotum nearly as long as the other metanotal components together, narrowly rounded posteriorly. Hind wings (Fig. 6A) with span of 2.64 mm, from base to middle of radial sector, 2.60 mm long from base through edge of sub-costal margin; R 1 almost fused to Sc along middle 1/3 of its length; R 2 very short, proximal end slightly overlapping with distal end of Sc; R 3 branching off distal 1/3 of R4; R4 distal end fading before reaching edge of wing; R 5 about as long as R 3, reaching edge of wing; MA 1 very short, MA 2 extending full length of medial sector; CuA 1 stout at base and most of its length, but fading before edge of wing; CuA 2 well developed, approaching edge of wing; CuP short but evident; illustration (Fig. 6A) based on slide-mounted wing of paratype that shows vein-like lines caused by folds of anal sector. Legs (Figs. 2F–G) with hind coxae very short; trochanters of front and middle legs nearly as long as femora; trochanter of hind legs short and stubby, with small lobe projecting beyond insertion of femora (Fig. 2G); femora and tibiae long and slender; tarsi five-segmented, 1 st tarsomere slender, almost as long as tibiae; tarsomeres 2-4 each about half the length of previous one; tarsomeres 1-3 with round sensorial pits; tarsomere 5 slim and short, claws barely discernible.
Abdomen (Figs. 3A–C) — Abdominal segments uniformly sclerotized. Terminalia (Figs. 3A, B, C) with abdominal segment IX elongated, sub-oval, extending ventrally to twice the depth of segment VIII; aedeagus (Fig. 3C) 0.78 mm long, bi-sinuous, very slender, sharply pointed at tip; segment X (proctiger) reduced to a subrectangular flap slightly curved laterally and truncated (straight edged) distally.
Discussion. T. buehrheimi sp. n. is considerably larger than any of the known congeneric, Neotropical and Nearctic species (Table 2). The most distinctive characters of T. buehrheimi are found in the morphology of the head (Figs. 4A–C) including: a) the length and density of the inter-eyelet pubescence which is very short and dense in T. buehrheimi, very long in T. paulistana, and intermediate in length and less dense in T. mexicana; b) shape and integumental texture of vertex plates; c) shape of the antefrons, which is similar to that of T. paulistana, and apparently also that of T. vernalis, but clearly different from the antefrons of T. mexicana and T. tecpanensis; and d) shape of the maxilla and point of insertion of the maxillary palp. Maxillae and maxillary palps (Figs. 5F–I) of T. mexicana and T. tecpanensis are similar, with the palp attaching nearly apically to the body of the maxilla; in both T. buehrheimi and T. vernalis, palps are sub-apically attached to the body of the maxillae; the maxillary palp of T. buehrheimi is much longer than the palps of all other species (Figs. 2B & 5H) (structure of T. paulistana maxilla has not been described). Additional distinctive characters in T. buehrheimi are the hind trochanter that projects beyond insertion of the femur (Fig. 2G); and the aedeagus long, sinuous, and much more slender than that of T. paulistana or T. mexicana (Figs. 3A, D, E). Presence of a short, but discernible M 1, long CuA 1, and well defined CuP veins in the hind wing further distinguishes T. buehrheim i from the other species.
Size variability as a function of host size has been well documented in Strepsiptera (Kathirithamby and Johnston 1992, Cook 2000). Intra-specific size variability of known hosts of Triozocera (Heteroptera: Cydnidae) is likely to occur and would have an influence on the size of the parasites (see below). If this is the case, it follows that body size still may be of significant diagnostic value in this genus, as pointed out by Kifune and Brailovsky (1987), but it must be considered cautiously. Triozocera buehrheimi, T. paulistana, T. mexicana, T. tecpanensis, and T. vernalis form a complex of species clearly differentiated by key morphological features. With only type specimens available for T. buehrheimi, T. paulistana, and T. tecpanensis neither molecular studies nor scanning electron micrograph images can be obtained at this time. Should additional collections be made in the respective type locations or elsewhere in the zoological region, future studies, including molecular analyses, may be possible and will help clarify the affinities of Triozocera spp. in the Neotropics. Such possibility was demonstrated by the identification of a cohort of T. vernalis collected in South Carolina and Georgia, USA (Reeves and Cook (2005).
Dedication: The species is dedicated to Paulo Bührheim † former Professor of Biology, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, State of Amazonas, Brazil, outstanding entomologist and collector, and a colleague during the time MK was a biologist on the staff of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in early 1960s.
description: Published as part of Kogan, Marcos & Cook, Jerry L., 2014, The genus Triozocera Pierce, 1909 (Insecta: Strepsiptera: Corioxenidae) in South America, pp. 48-60 in Zootaxa 3779 (1) on pages 49-55, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3779.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/4910117