Stipomorpha mackiei Curran 1940
Creators: name: Reemer, Menno
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Syrphidae
Stipomorpha
Stipomorpha mackiei

description: Stipomorpha mackiei (Curran, 1940)
Figs 171, 240.
Microdon mackiei Curran, 1940: 5.
Studied specimens. HOLOTYPE. GUYANA. Male. Label 1: "Rockstone Br Guiana, June 2 1929 (A. Mackie)"; label 2 (red label): " Microdon mackiei Curran Holotype ". Coll. AMNH.
Additionally studied specimens. PERU: 1 male, Madre de Dios, Rio Manu, B iolat biol. sta., Pakitza, 356 m., 11°56'47"S- 071°17'W, 9.VII.1992, leg. T.E. Erwin, E. & F. Pfuno, coll. USNM.
SURINAM: 1 female, Blakawatra, 11.VI.1963, leg. J. v.d. Vecht, coll. RMNH; 1 male, Paramaribo, Charlesburg, 21.I.1964, leg. D.C. Geijskes, coll. RMNH; 1 female, Oost-West verbinding, 70 km E of Paramaribo, 21.X.1995, leg. B. De Dijn, coll. RMNH; 2 females, Marowijne, near Perica, malaise trap, 6–20.VIII.1997, leg. B. De Dijn, coll. RMNH; 1 female, Marowijne, near Perica, malaise trap, 21.I.–4.II.1998, leg. B. De Dijn, coll.
RMNH; 1 female, Brownsberg, malaise trap, 21.VI–5.VII.2001, leg. A. Gangadin, coll. RMNH; 1 female, Commewijne, Peperpot, 05°46'08"N- 55°07'33"W, malaise trap, 24.II-7.III.2006, leg. M. Reemer, coll. RMNH; 1 female, Zanderij, 05°26'19"N – 55°12'20"W, leg. M. Reemer, coll. RMNH; 1 female, Commewijne, Peperpot, 05°46'08"N – 55°07'33"W, 29.III–6.IV.2006, leg. M. Reemer, coll. RMNH; 1 female, Commewijne, Peperpot, 05°46'08"N – 55°07'33"W, 6–14.IV.2006, leg. M. Reemer, coll. RMNH.
Redescription (based on additional material from Surinam)
Adult male. Body size: 9 mm.
Head. Face occupying about 1/3 of head width in frontal view; yellow, with vague, narrow, brownish median vitta on dorsal 2/3; yellow pilose; with narrow strip of white pubescence along eye margin. Gena; yellow; yellow pilose. Lateral oral margins produced; anterior margin notched. Frons about as long as width of lunula; black, except yellow along lunula; yellow pilose. Vertex shining black; golden yellow pilose, except black pilose posteriad of ocelli. Occiput black; yellow pilose. Eye very sparsely and short pilose, with pili about as long as ommati diameter, appearing bare under low magnification. Antennal fossa about as wide as high. Antenna yellowish brown. Antennal ratio approximately as 4:1:6; basoflagellomere parallel-sided with rounded apex. Arista slender, about 2/3 of length of basoflagellomere.
Thorax. Scutum brownish dorsally, with margins widely yellow, transitions between yellow and brown parts vague; yellow and golden pilose, except for two patches of black pile posterior to transverse suture. Postpronotum, postalar callus and scutellum yellow and yellow pilose. Scutellum without calcars. Pleurae yellow. Anepisternum weakly convex, without distinction between anterior and posterior part; yellow; yellow pilose anterodorsally and along posterodorsal margin. Anepimeron yellow pilose dorsally, bare ventrally. Katatergum and anatergum long and short microtrichose, respectively. Katepimeron bare. Katepisternum bare. Calypter and halter yellow.
Wing: hyaline, tinged with yellow anterobasally; microtrichose, except bare on cell r1 basally along vein RS, on basal 1/2 of cell br except microtrichose along vena spuria, on basal 1/6 of cell bm, on basal 1/10 of cell cup and on basomedian 1/2 of alula.
Legs: Yellow (but see notes on variation below); yellow pilose, except brown pilose on apicodorsal 1/2 of hind tibia and dorsally on basal tarsomeres of hind leg. Coxae and trochanters yellow and yellow pilose.
Abdomen. Yellow; yellow pilose. Second tergite about as wide as thorax, widest at 1/2 of its length; third and fourth tergites much narrower. Sternites yellow; sparsely yellow pilose; sternite 1 bare. Genitalia as in fig. 240.
Diagnosis. Distinguishable from the very similar S. tenuicauda reliably only by the male genitalia. The character of the distribution of microtrichia on the alula, as mentioned in the key, could be verified in a few males only. Whether it works for all specimens (including females) is uncertain.
Notes. Stipomorpha mackiei (Curran, 1940) is described from the male (contrary to Thompson et al. (1976) who incorrectly state that the type is a female), which has a dark medial stripe on the face. The only known male from Surinam has a yellow face. In most females from Surinam the face is yellow, but some specimens have a faint dark medial stripe. In other characters the specimens from Surinam agree perfectly with the type of Ubristes mackiei (Curran). The studied male from Peru has a dark facial stripe, and also differs from the Surinam specimens in the almost entirely dark hind legs and metanotum (yellow in the Surinam specimens). However, in morphological characters, like the genitalia, the specimen is very similar and therefore is considered to belong to the same species. Apparently, colouration of hind legs and metanotum is not a reliable character.
Distribution. Known from Guyana, Peru and Surinam.
description: Published as part of Reemer, Menno, 2013, Taxonomic exploration of Neotropical Microdontinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) mimicking stingless bees, pp. 1-88 in Zootaxa 3697 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3697.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/284383