Neorhinotora aristalis Fischer 1932
Creators: name: Almeida, Júlia C.
name: Ale-Rocha, Rosaly
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Heleomyzidae
Neorhinotora
Neorhinotora aristalis

description: Neorhinotora aristalis (Fischer 1932)
(Figs. 1 b, 3b, 4)
Rhinotora aristalis Fischer 1932: 416, figures 7 and 22 (illustrations of antenna and wing).
Neorhinotora aristalis; Lopes 1934: 517; 1935: 25–26, Figs. 3, 13–16 (illustrations of egg and male genitalia); Guimarães & Papavero 1966: 263 –264 (geographical records); Papavero 1967: 1 (catalog).
It was not possible to locate the holotype of N. aristalis. This type specimen is currently lost. It was not found in the Adolph Hempel Collection (Instituto Biológico, São Paulo), its original depository, according to Fischer (1932). Papavero (1966) probably was the last researcher to examine this holotype. At that time, the holotype of N. aristalis was deposited in the collection of Instituto de Ecologia e Experimentação Agrícola (Papavero 1966). Lopes (1935) described and illustrated the male genitalia of N. aristalis, based on the holotype, allowing for safer identification of males of this species. For this reason, a designation of a neotype was not considered an exceptional need (ICNZ 1999: 84). Despite our efforts to locate this type in several possible depository collections, the specimen could not be located, which does not rule out the possibility it is well preserved in a collection. The redescription of the male presented below is based on the specimens examined for the present study, the original species description (Fischer 1932), and additional observations by Lopes (1935).
Diagnosis. Occiput yellow. Arista bare. Wing with pale spots, dm-cu spot not linked to R4+5 and M spots. Surstylus slender, trifid.
Redescription. MALE
Head. Frons brown, yellowish around the compound eyes; pruinescence silvery to golden. Vertex predominantly brown, intermingled with yellow patches. Ocellar triangle brown. Median occipital sclerite pale yellow, pruinescence fine, silvery. Occiput shiny, yellow, sometimes darker close to the vertex. Gena concave on anterior half; yellow posteriorly near border of compound eye. Postgena yellow on visible surface; setulae pale and thin. Face wide, brown, with two paler lateral protuberances; pruinescence with tints of golden, silver, and copper, forming a central triangle and extending laterally and below the lateral protuberances, as well as on a small spot between the antennae. Antenna dark yellow; flagellomere 1 yellow, somewhat paler than scape and pedicel; arista bare, brown, yellowish in the base. Subcranial margin prominent, brown. Mouthparts dark brown; clypeus prominent, shiny, with a stripe of fine silvery pruinescence laterally on the lower margin; proboscis prolonged.
Thorax. Scutum brown, sometimes tending to reddish or yellowish; spots and longitudinal stripes can be present or absent; pruinescence sparse, fine, colored with variations of silver, golden and copper, denser in the base of postpronotal lobe and dorsally forming a spot. The main differences in coloration occur in scutum, which can vary from reddish to yellowish brown, and where spots and stripes can be present or absent. Scutellum dilated laterally at the apex, longitudinally excavated, obliquely directed up, mostly yellow with brownish apex; pruinescence silver, composing two lateral spots near lateral seta. Pleura mostly shiny, brown, with sparse spots of silver pruinescence. Propleura with dense silver pruinescence. Anepisternum shiny; pruinescence fine, silver mainly on the uppper posterior half, extending in an irregular oblique band that finishes on anteroinferior margin of proepimeron. Katepisternun with fine and silvery pruinescence on inferior margin. Anepimeron with spots of fine silvery pruinescence on its posterior half and its upper portion. Metapleura with shiny regions and irregularly shaped spots of fine silver pruinescence.
Legs. Predominantly brown; covering setulae pale brown. Fore coxa brown, dilated; setulae pale on anterior and anterodorsal surfaces; pruinescence fine and silvery on anterior and posterior surfaces, prolonged to the base of dorsal region, covering anterior surface. Fore trochanter pale brown with a band of fine silvery pruinescence on anterior region. Fore femur brown, dilated; numerous strong setae on anterior surface and also some ventral, longer and sparse setae; setulae pale on posteroventral region. Fore tibia brown. Fore tarsus brown. Mid coxa brown; setulae pale on anterior region. Mid trochanter yellow; setulae pale ventral region; pruinescence fine, silvery. Mid femur brown, sometimes paler distally. Mid tibia brown. Mid tarsomeres 1–3 yellow, mid tarsomeres 4–5 and darker. Hind coxa shiny, brown, setulae pale on ventral and anterior region. Hind trochanter yellow; setulae pale on ventral surface. Hind femur shiny on posterior region, brown, paler distally; setae pale on two distal thirds of anteroventral region, shorter and darker distally; 1 basal pale fine seta; setulae pale on dorsal, ventral and anterior regions. Hind tibia brown. Hind tarsus similar to mid tarsus.
Wing. Membrane slightly smoky (Fig. 1 b), with dark spots around cross-veins r-m and dm-cu, between R2+3–R4+5 fork and R1 fork, and paler spots on the distal extremity of R4+5 and M; dm-cu spot not linked to distal extremity of R4+5 and M spots; C darker before Sc break and with a small yellow spot just after this break; r-m broken in the middle; supernumerary veins absent.
Abdomen. Tergites brown, sometimes with yellowish regions. Male genitalia as illustrated in Fig. 4: Epandrium edge around anus not so round as in N. amapaensis. Surstylus trifid; dorsal and ventral prolongations with a slightly dilated apex, with strong setulae; lateral prolongation more slender and with fine setae.
Cerci forming together a triangle in dorsal view, not so narrow like in N. amapaensis. Phallapodeme wide and laterally flattened, more slender than in N. amapaensis and N. mutica. Phallus longer than in N. amapaensis. Ejaculatory appodeme with base not dilated, without projections, similar to that in N. amapaensis.
FEMALE. Almost identical to male, except for less robust legs, femur less dilated and femur and tibia ventral setae weaker. As observed by Guimarães and Papavero (1996), it was not possible to distinguish between N. amapaensis and N. aristalis females. The egg was illustrated by Lopes (1935: Fig. 3, p. 21): external surface of chorion with inconspicuous veins, restricted to anterior region (near micropyle).
Variation. Body length ranging from 5.05 mm to 5.29 mm; wing length ranging from 4.29 mm to 5.38 mm, generally shorter than body. Specimens collected in the Amazonian region generally darker than those from regions farther south. A single specimen with a rudiment of supernumerary vein at r1 cell; another specimen with an extra acrostical seta posterior to dorsocentral postsutural setae.
Comments. N. aristalis is very similar to N. amapaensis. They can be distinguished by the male genitalia, basically by the shape of the surstylus. N. aristalis differs from N. mutica by the shorter body, the bare arista, the yellow occiput (sometimes darker close to the vertex, but never as dark as in N. mutica). The wing of N. aristalis has paler spots, with dm-cu spot not linked to R4+5 and M spots; protuberances of the face are more prominent, and setae are weaker. The general pattern of pruinescence is very similar to that of N. amapaensis and N. mutica, although it is denser in N. mutica. The egg of N. aristalis is very similar to that of N. mutica, according to Lopes’s (1935: 21) illustrations, and very different from the egg of N. fonsecai.
Examined material. BRAZIL, Amazonas: Manaus, Rodovia AM-010, km26, Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, modified McPhail trap, 06.xi.2002, E. F. Soares, A. L. Pinheiro, ɗ [INPA]; (15 m height suspended), 16.ix.2003, A. P. Tregue-Costa, ɗ [INPA]; (15 m height suspended), 29.ix.2003, ɗ [INPA]; 16.x.2003, ɗ [INPA]; (5 m height suspended), 24.vi.2003, ɗ [INPA]; (open area, plateau), 16.v.2003, ɗ [INPA]; Minas Gerais: Cambuquira, 29.iii.1975, ɗ [MNRJ]; Paraopeba, E. Hebert, ɗ [MNRJ].
Geographical distribution. BRAZIL: Amazonas (Manaus), Mato Grosso do Sul (Fazenda Murtinho, Três Lagoas), Minas Gerais (Cambuquira, Paraopeba), Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro), São Paulo (Batatais, Bebedouro, Nova Europa).
description: Published as part of Almeida, Júlia C. & Ale-Rocha, Rosaly, 2008, Taxonomic review of Neorhinotora Lopes 1934 (Diptera, Heleomyzidae), pp. 40-58 in Zootaxa 1936 on pages 47-50, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.184942