Anticheta patzcuaroensis Pote & O'Grady 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Pote, Spencer L.
name: O'Grady, Patrick
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sciomyzidae
Anticheta
Anticheta patzcuaroensis

description: Anticheta patzcuaroensis Pote, sp. n.
(Figs. 2–11)
DIAGNOSIS
Similar in coloration and size to A. testacea but with distal 4/5 of male forefemur more darkly pigmented, coloration on lower 2/3 of first flagellomere blue-gray. Aristal plumosity longer than that of A. testacea and A. borealis (0.15 mm on average). Sternite 5 elongated medially as in A. borealis; left epandrial lobe narrow, hook shaped with rounded tip in sinistral view; right epandrial lobe greatly elongated in lateral view.
DESCRIPTION
Male body length (head to abdomen, each segment measured separately then summed) 4.93–5.08 mm, wing 4.45– 5.03 mm (n=5). The only known female, CUIC#000055260, is excluded from the measurements reported below (see Female).
MALE
Head. Frons with midfrontal vitta pruinose blue-gray; medial frontal stripe, anterolateral to fronto-orbital setae, pruinose blue-gray. Frons otherwise dull, testaceous with black setulae. Facial carina and gena both entirely pruinose blue-gray. Occiput testaceous with blue-gray pruinosity below post-ocellar setae, between medial vertical setae. Three stronger setae on posterior margin of gena near occiput. Head posterior to eyes setulose from vertical setae to gena. Two frontal-orbital setae of equal length. Chaetotaxy: 2 fronto-orbital, 1 ocellar, 1 post-ocellar, 1 medial vertical, and 1 lateral vertical setae. Palpi testaceous, with black setulae and one large seta on ventral surface. Labella dark testaceous to brown, largely setulose. Pedicel and first flagellomere testaceous. Basal 2/3 of first flagellomere infuscated blue-gray, base slightly darker. Arista testaceous basally, black on remainder of distal 2/3. Aristal plumosity somewhat sparse but long; longest hairs average 0.15 mm (Fig. 5).
Thorax. Scutum testaceous, with two laterodorsal blue-gray vittae and one thinner medial blue-gray vitta down the center; scutum and dorsal surface of scutellum with dark brown setae. All thoracic sclerites with testaceous ground color and blue-gray pruinosity except proepisternum largely bare and shining, with some small, fine setulae on ventral corner; anepisternum bare, shining; katepisternum setulose, shining but with blue-gray pruinosity centered from posterodorsal corner covering about 1/2 of the area of the sclerite. Chaetotaxy: 1 postpronotal, 2 notopleural, 1 presutural supra-alar, 1 postsutural supra-alar, 2 dorsocentral, 2 postalar, and 2 scutellar setae.
Wing. Uniformly infuscated smoky brown (Fig. 6), posterior 1/3 somewhat lighter, crossveins slightly darkened. Halteres testaceous.
Leg. Forecoxa light beige, about 2/3 the length of forefemur; mid and hind coxae shorter, concolorous with thoracic pleura. Femora testaceous, but forefemur distinctly darkened in distal 4/5. Foretibia infuscated in distal 2/3; mid and hind tibiae testaceous. Foretarsomeres dark, tarsomeres on mid and hind legs darker.
Abdomen. Abdomen testaceous with mottled black pattern on first four or five tergites (Fig. 7).
Sternite 5 elongated medially as in A. borealis, with indentation on right side deeper than on left side (Fig. 8). Cerci tightly associated, similar to those of A. testacea (Fig. 9). Medial section of epandrium with ventral edge rounded above cerci. Epandrium asymmetrical: in posterior view left lobe with indentation similar to that of A. borealis. In sinistral view left lobe narrowed hook shaped with rounded tip (Fig. 10). In lateral views right lobe of epandrium elongated (Fig. 11).
FEMALE
One female specimen is known, but the damaged abdomen precludes adequate description of the female terminalia (Fig. 3). This specimen is slightly larger and darker in color than any of the five known males (body length 5.27 mm, wing length 5.3 mm). Additionally, the foretibia of the female is nearly all dark, with only a small amount of testaceous coloring at the base.
SPECIMENS EXAMINED
Holotype: ♁, “ México: Michoacan, Patzcuaro Lk on rd to Erongaricuaro, elevation ~1200 M; Karl R. Valley, 15.VIII.1969, taken sweeping.; Anticheta Berg, Knutson, Valley; L. Knutson det. 98” [CUIC #000055255]
Paratypes:4♁, CUIC #000055256– CUIC #0055259. Same label data as holotype;abdomens of CUIC #000055256 and CUIC #000055257 dissected and macerated, in attached microvials. Abdomen of CUIC #000055258 missing. Right wing of CUIC #000055257 mounted on slide.
1 ♀, CUIC #000055260. Same label data as holotype.
All type specimens are deposited in the CUIC.
BIOLOGY. Although information about the larval food of A. patzcuaroensis is absent from the label data, Dr. Valley recently located a note on the biology of this species that he had written at the time of collection. He had observed that the oviposition site of A. patzcuaroensis was on the egg mass of Oxyloma tlalpamense cuitseana, a common Succineidae species in the Lake Pátzcuaro area. Valley’s observation was corroborated by a field-collected female of A. patzcuaroensis that was recorded as feeding and ovipositing on egg masses of Oxyloma sp. in the laboratory; this record has not been published previously. The snails were identified by Dr. Joseph Rosewater of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA (pers. comm. Karl Valley, 2022).
ETYMOLOGY. This new species is named after the type locality from which all known specimens have been collected, Lake Pátzcuaro. This location is within the homelands of the indigenous Purépecha/P’urhepecha people, known sometimes as Iréchikwa Ts’intsúntsani. Lake Pátzcuaro remains an important cultural and economic center for the indigenous people living in the area (Villamar & Gonzalez 2018).
description: Published as part of Pote, Spencer L. & O'Grady, Patrick, 2023, A New Species of Anticheta (Diptera: Sciomyzidae) from Mexico, pp. 277-293 in Zootaxa 5293 (2) on pages 279-284, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5293.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7960132