Neoscutops Malloch
Creators: name: Ale-Rocha, Rosaly
name: Freitas, Geovânia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Periscelididae
Neoscutops

description: Neoscutops Malloch
Neoscutops Malloch, 1926: 25; Prado, 1975: 1 [catalog]; Amorim & Vasconcelos, 1990: 37 -39 [fauna, Brazil]. Type species: N. rotundipennis Malloch, by original designation.
Diagnosis. This genus can be distinguished from other members of Periscelididae by the following combination of characters: face convex, shiny and setose; arista bipectinate; ocellar triangle setulose, ocellar pair weakly developed; postocellar setae divergent and short; medial and lateral vertical setae well developed; 1 fronto-orbital and 1 dorsocentral prescutellar setae; mid tibia with 1 apicoventral spine; wing slightly to strongly infuscate, lacking pale areas; R1 with setae on dorsal surface; R2+3 long, curved anteriorly toward costal margin, extending very close to Costa just beyond R1; M1 arched; bm-cu incomplete; base of CuA2 incomplete or indistinct; A1+CuA2 not reaching wing margin.
Redescription. Body length: 1.3 – 3.6 mm. Head. Frons with margins parallel to slightly divergent dorsally; face slightly convex, wide, shiny, haired on distal 2/3, lower facial margin convex or concave; parafacial and fronto-orbital plate setulose. Mouth opening large; palpus flat, short and clavate or long and quite rectangular; clypeus shiny, U-shaped or a roundish convex sclerite. Antenna: scape vey short; pedicel cap-like with dorsal cleft; first flagellomere oval; arista bipectinate with dorsal and ventral rays decreasing progressively in length toward apex. Medial and lateral vertical setae well developed; one pair of orbital seta; postocellar setae divergent; ocellar triangle setulose, ocellar seta short and slightly robust, sometimes inconspicuous. Thorax robust, approximately as wide as long; subscutellum conspicuously protuberant; scutum covered by short setae, scutellum with sparse microtomentum; 1 postpronotal, 2 notopleural, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 1 postalar, 1 dorsocentral prescutellar, 1 or 2 katepisternal and 1 or 2 pairs of scutellar setae. Wing infuscate, lacking pale areas; subcosta incomplete; R1 with setulae on dorsal surface; R2+3 long, curved anteriorly toward costal margin, extending very close to Costa just beyond R1 and reaching margin at approximately distal 1/5 of the wing; M1 arched, evanescent toward margin of wing; M1 and CuA1 reaching wing margin or evanescent close to margin; CuA2 incomplete or indistinct; A1+CuA2 not reaching wing margin; the longitudinal fold crosses the dm cell longitudinally. Legs robust; mid tibia with one black apicoventral spine; mid tarsus with small black apical spines on ventral surface. Abdomen rather broad, short and dorsoventrally flattened, covered by short setae and sparse microtomentum. Tergite 1+2 long, approximately 1/ 3 length of abdomen, with a longitudinal median unsclerotized line from base to middle of sclerite. Male terminalia: symmetrical; tergite and sternite 6 well developed, free; pregenital sclerite (syntergosternite 7+8) reduced to a dorsolateral narrow stripe, free from tergite 6 or fused with lateral margin of tergite 6, and including 7th spiracle; epandrium convex; surstylus distinct or undifferentiated; postgonites articulated at anterior margin of hypandrium, partly encircling base of phallus; cercus developed, usually large and setose, sometimes membranous and reduced; phallus ribbon-like; genital pouch (hypandrium + adeagal apodeme) large, inflated, slightly sclerotized, forming a bursa-like chamber containing the phallus. Female terminalia: tergite and sternite 7 fused, forming a ring; tergite and sternite 8 free; sternite 8 broad; tergite 8 narrow; cercus usually small, ovate.
Remarks. Neoscutops is composed of two monophyletic species groups (see phylogenetic analysis).
The Periscelidinae are believed to be a well-established monophyletic assemblage (Griffiths 1972). The putative synapomorphies of Periscelidinae in the external morphology, which include a large mouth opening, 1 frontoorbital seta, costal vein extending to R4+5, and occiput with a silvery-white microtomentose area adjacent to the posterior margin of the compound eye (Griffiths 1972; Mathis & Rung 2004), are shared by Neoscutops. Our study has revealed that the species of Neoscutops also share the synapomorphies in the male and female terminalia pointed out by Griffiths (1972) as synapomorphic for the Periscelidinae: 7th abdominal tergite and sternite fused in the female, forming a ring which includes the 7th spiracle; syntergosternite 7+8 of the male extending ventrally on either side, including both the 7th spiracle, and a slender and ribbon-like phallus, supported by a broad strip of flexible sclerotization..
Geographical distribution. Neotropical Region (Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru).
description: Published as part of Ale-Rocha, Rosaly & Freitas, Geovânia, 2011, Revision of the Neotropical genus Neoscutops Malloch (Diptera: Periscelididae), pp. 1-28 in Zootaxa 3016 on pages 2-3, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.200588