Mythicomyia pisqa Sánchez & Evenhuis, 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Sánchez, Pável
name: Evenhuis, Neal
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Mythicomyiidae
Mythicomyia
Mythicomyia pisqa

description: Mythicomyia pisqa sp. nov.
(Figs 72–88)
Diagnosis. Male. Proboscis shorter than height of eye; legs predominantly dark brown, with middle tibia somewhat arcuate and dilated on distal ⅘, corresponding first tarsomere bearing two ventral spines and third tarsomere laterally flattened and wide (Figs 76–77); scutellum black; pseudo-surstylus curved inwards and pointed, claw-like. Female. Scutellum black; sperm pump rod-shaped, relatively small, about half the length of genital fork and a fourth the length of spermathecal reservoir, which is falcata-shaped, without glandular trichome.
Description of the male holotype. Length: body, 2.7 mm; wing, 2.1 mm.
Head (Fig. 73). Predominantly black, cinereous pruinose; eyes contiguous for 10 facets, separated at vertex by about the ⅔ the width of ocellar triangle; ocelli yellowish, similar in size; frons whitish, except at middle, with dark brown suffusion; face whitish, except along lower margin, dark brown; antenna dark brown; scape minute; pedicel as long as wide; first flagellomere linear-lanceolate, almost four times the length of pedicel; second flagellomere lanceolate, about ¾ the length of first one, with subbasal stylus; proboscis brownish yellow, length beyond oral margin shorter than height of eye; occiput and ocellar triangle white setose. Thorax (Figs 72, 74). Predominantly shining black, except yellowish on postpronotal lobe, postalar callus, and along margins of anepisternum, anepimeron, katepisternum and meron; mesonotum humped, as high as half its length, cinereous pruinose and white setose; pleura white setose on anterior margin of anepisternum; scutellum black, white setose, some mixed black setae. Legs (Fig. 72, 76–77). Dark brown, except narrow base and distal apex of femora, yellowish; middle tibia somewhat arcuate and dilated on distal ⅘ (Figs 76–77), bearing a dorsal row of white macrosetae; first tarsomere bearing two pairs of short and stout black macrosetae, the posteroventral ones spine-like; third tarsomere of mid-leg laterally flattened and wide; pulvilli as long as claws. Wing (Fig. 75). Hyaline, microtrichose; veins brownish; costal vein ending in R 4+5; vein Sc incomplete, ending later than of Rs origin; Rs evanescent at connection with R 1; R 2+3 arising at a point between half and ⅔ distance from origin of Rs to r-m crossvein, this latter placed at about basal ⅕ of dm cell (first portion of M 1+2, before r-m, shorter than first portion of M 4); vein separating cells br and bm barely evident; cell dm six-sided, about three times as long as wide; m-m cross vein slightly longer than r-m and about a third the length of dm-m; R 4+5 slightly curved downward, ending after M 1; vein M 1 curved downward; CuP evanescent; anal lobe developed; haltere and knob white. Abdomen (Fig. 72). Elongate, predominantly black, except on posterior margins of abdominal segments, yellow; white setose. Terminalia (Figs 78–83). Dark brown; epandrium elongate, somewhat triangular-shaped with rounded apex in lateral view (Figs 78–79), somewhat circular with scattered setae dorsally in posterior view (Figs 80–81); pseudo-surstylus curved inwards and pointed, claw-like (Figs 78–81); cercus elongate, somewhat triangular, with scattered setae on upper ⅔ in posterior view (Figs 80–81); ejaculatory apodeme thickened, wide and somewhat rounded in lateral view (Figs 78–79), long and thin in posterior view (Figs 80–81); lateral ejaculatory process translucent on basal ⅔, upward-directed in lateral view, sideways-directed and about ¾ the length of ejaculatory apodeme in dorsal view; phallus drop-shaped, distiphallus simple with single apical opening, about a third the length of basiphallus; parameral sheath large, a little wider than long, with two tips sideways directed and one tip united posteromedially; anterior arms of parameral sheath elongate, thickened, narrow in lateral view, somewhat pincer-shaped in dorsal view, extending to second third of ejaculatory apodeme (Figs 82–83); gonocoxa subdivided, with an anterior lobe subtriangular and a posterior lobe subconical; gonostylus elongate, upward-directed, as long as ejaculatory apodeme.
Female (Figs 84–88). Differs from the male description by the following: Head (Fig. 85). Eyes dichoptic, separated at vertex by about 1.5 times the width of ocellar triangle; frons whitish, except on upper fourth, black along eye margin. Thorax (Fig. 86). Mesonotum little humped, notopleural and postalar regions broad yellowish, black emarginate above notopleural suture. Legs (Fig. 84). Middle tibia straight, without ventral macrosetae on first tarsomere of mid leg and third tarsomere similar to remainder ones. Abdomen. Comparatively shorten. Terminalia (Figs 87–88). Genital fork U-shaped, anterior margin arched with lower margin acute, posterior margin bifurcate, inner arms about half as long as outer ones; sperm pump rod-shaped, relatively small, about half the length of genital fork and a fourth the length of spermathecal reservoir; proximal spermathecal duct thinner than distal; distal spermathecal duct 4–5 times as long as proximal duct, translucent; three falcata-shaped spermathecal reservoirs, notched ventroapically, translucent on basal fourth and extending to abdominal segment III, without glandular trichomes.
Type material. HOLOTYPE. Male: PERU: TA [Department of Tacna]. [Province of] Jorge Basadre, [District of] Ilabaya, 17°24’52.63”S, 70°27’10.34”W, 2270 m, 15.x.2022, E. Gamboa, Leg. Holotype in MUSM. PARATYPE. Same data as holotype (1 ♀); PERU: AR. Caravelí, Cháparra, UM Esperanza, 3150 m, 15°37’23”S, 73°55’15”W, 23–24.ii.2024, Yellow pan trap, N. Zenteno leg (1 ♂, 1 ♀). Paratypes in MUSM.
Etymology. The specific epithet is a masculine noun in apposition, pisqa is the Quechua word for “five”.
Distribution (Fig. 91). Southern Peru; Arequipa (Caravelí) and Tacna (Jorge Basadre).
Remarks. Males in this species are easily identified due to the middle tibia dilated on distal ⅘ and somewhat arcuate basally, its corresponding first tarsomere with two ventral spines and third tarsomere laterally flattened and wide (Figs. 76–77). These leg modifications resemble species in the subgenus Mythicomyia, but in males of this latter subgenus the corresponding modifications are on the hind leg, besides, they present an epandrial notch (see discussion below), a feature absent in M. pisqa sp. nov. On the other hand, in females, the most similar species is M. hyalinipennis, but this species has the frons predominantly black and the first abdominal tergite is yellow (vs. frons predominantly yellow and first abdominal tergite black with posterior margin yellow in M. pisqa sp. nov.).
description: Published as part of Sánchez, Pável & Evenhuis, Neal, 2024, New Mythicomyia Coquillett, 1893 (Diptera: Mythicomyiidae: Mythicomyiinae) from Peru, pp. 513-538 in Zootaxa 5541 (4) on pages 530-533, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5541.4.5, http://zenodo.org/record/14241264