Himantigera James in James & McFadden 1982
Creators: name: Fachin, Diego Aguilar
name: Hauser, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Stratiomyidae
Himantigera

description: Himantigera James, 1982
(Figs 1–130)
Himantigera James in James & McFadden, 1982: 19. Type species, Himantigera silvestris McFadden, 1982 in James & McFadden, 1982 (orig. des.).
Diagnosis (modified from James & McFadden 1982; Woodley 2009). Large (8–12 mm) and always metallic. Male and female dichoptic (Figs 13–24), with no significant sexual dimorphism, except male upper frons slightly narrower than female upper frons, and legs often much darker in females than in males. Arista-like terminal flagellomere with few and sparse setae basally (Figs 1–6). Vein M distinct on its entire length; R 2+3 vein always originating after r–m crossvein (Figs 33–38) or virtually at r–m (in some cases distal [Figs 36–37], but never beyond apex of discal cell as in Sargus). Calypter lower lobe well developed (more than three times longer than wide at its widest point), basal half narrow and distal half expanded and rounded (Figs 10–12). Abdomen nearly rectangular, with tergites 2–4 of similar width (Figs 45–55). Phallus with three large nearly symmetrical lobes (e.g., Figs 69–71). Proctiger fused to epandrium anteriorly (e.g., Fig. 59).
Redescription. Male. Length: body, 8.0–12.0 mm; wing, 6.0–12.0 mm. Head (e.g., Figs 7–8, 13, 17). Dichoptic eyes, head clearly wider than long in dorsal view and higher than wide in lateral view. Occiput black, with short pilosity; vertex and ocellar tubercle metallic green, blue or purple, with sparse pilosity. Ocellar tubercle slightly prominent, weakly exceeding margin eye (especially in frontal view). Ocellar triangle as long as wide, distance from anterior ocellus to posterior ones as long as distance between posterior ocelli. Upper frons at least twice as long as wide, narrower than widest margin of frontal callus or face; medial area often expanded; lateral area narrow, often less than half of medial area; short golden to black pilosity on its entire surface. Frontal callus well developed, mostly white yellow, strongly contrasting with metallic color background. Lower frons with whitish yellow to dark pilosity. Face mostly white-yellow, brown ventrally. Antennal scape two times longer than pedicel; basal four flagellomeres nearly as long as wide (Figs 1–6); arista-like terminal flagellomere dark brown, longer than remaining antenna, with few setae basally (commonly 4–7, frequently paired). Proboscis white to yellow-red; palpus bi-segmented, minute. Thorax (Fig. 9). Mostly metallic-green, blue or purple over scutum and scutellum, except postpronotal lobe, notopleural suture and postalar callus which are yellow-brown; pleuron mostly dark brown with metallic green to purple reflections; pilosity often golden, short. Legs mostly yellow; mid coxa basally, hind coxa and basal half of femur frequently brown to dark brown; pilosity mostly short, dense, yellow, conforming to color of surface, except on tarsomeres, which have mostly brown pilosity. Wing (e.g., Fig. 25). Wing clear, with brown to dark brown veins, its surface almost entirely covered by microtrichia except basally in cell cup and anterior margin of CuA. Basal half of wing wider than apical half. C ending near wing tip. R 2+3 originating after r–m (e.g., Fig. 33), at maximum distance equivalent to twice length of r–m, parallel to R 1; R 4 curved at base, arising from R 5 at angle close to 45°, nearly straight apically; R 5 slightly curved posteriorly, ending posterior to wing apex; r–m slightly shorter than R 4. M distinct on its entire length; proximal branch of M 1+2 and mm respectively as long as distal branch of M 1+2 and short branch of M 3 (rarely distal branch of M 1+2 longer than proximal branch); only M 3 not reaching wing margin. Discal cell not elongate, slightly longer than high. Cu naked on its basal two-thirds, basal to true cubital fork (see arrow in Fig. 39). Alula large, width increasing abruptly towards apex, microtrichia at least along anterior half (e.g., Fig. 39). Calypter lower lobe more than three times longer than its widest margin, basal half narrow and distal half expanded and rounded (Figs 10–12). Halter redyellow. Abdomen (e.g., Fig. 48). Abdomen nearly rectangular, with tergites 2–4 of similar width, lateral margins parallels; first abdominal segment much narrower proximally than distally, margins divergent. Terminalia (e.g., Figs 59–61, 69–71, 86–105). Genital capsule subquadrate, its distal margin projected dorsally; longitudinal extension of gonocoxal apodeme half length of genital capsule; medial process of synsternite well developed (e.g., Fig. 90), with thin setae on distal half, attached to ventral side of phallus (Fig. 104); region between gonocoxites flat towards medial process of synsternite ventrally (Figs 87, 94). Anterior end of gonocoxal apodeme and anterior end of phallus at or slightly exceeding anterior margin of genitalia. Phallus with three large nearly symmetrical lobes (Figs 69–71); medial lobe slightly shorter than lateral ones, opening of lateral lobes wider than medial lobe. Parameral sheath well developed, fused to lobe’s base, without distal projections (Figs 69–71). Gonostylus short, digitiform. Epandrium wider than long, U-shaped. Proctiger fused to epandrium (e.g., Figs 56, 59); its distal margin often rounded. Sternite 10 arched towards and beneath proctiger, connected to epandrium anteriorly; cercus rodshaped.
Female. As for males, except as follows. Length: body, 7.0–11.0 mm, wing, 6.5–12.0 mm. Head (e.g., Figs 14, 18). Upper frons slightly broader than in male; lateral area of upper frons at least half of medial area width.
Thorax. Legs darker than in males, mainly on femur. Terminalia (e.g., Figs 62–65). Tergite 8 rectangular. Tergite 9 strongly sclerotized and rectangular; medially weakly developed. Genital fork (sternite 9) widest medially; anterior arm gradually narrowing towards its anterior end; posterior bridge bilobed; posterolateral process slightly converging, narrower basally, distally rounded; genital opening very large, more or less circular. Tergite 10 well developed, triangular. First segment of cercus longer than second segment.
Geographic distribution. Mexico (Chiapas, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit 1, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, Veracruz, Zacatecas), Guatemala (Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango, Izabal, Sacatepéquez, Sololá, Suchitépequepez 1, El Salvador (San Salvador, Cuscatlán), Nicaragua (Matagalpa), Costa Rica (Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon, Puntarenas, San José), Panama (Chiriquí, Guna Yala, Panama), Colombia (Amazonas, Chocó, Magdalena), Trinidad and Tobago (Tunapuna-Piarco), Venezuela (Amazonas, Carabobo), Guyana, French Guiana (Maripasoula), Ecuador (Los Ríos, Pastaza, Sucumbíos), Peru (Madre de Dios), Brazil (Rondônia, Santa Catarina), Bolivia (La Paz) (Fig. 130). 1 records from James & McFadden (1982).
The genus is only known from the Neotropical region, ranging from the states of southern Mexico along its east and west coasts to southern Brazil and Bolivia; records are provided for the first time for Nicaragua, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia (Fig. 130).
Comments. Himantigera is here redescribed because James & McFadden (1982) did not provide a complete description of the genus in their study. The examination of all name-bearing type specimens assigned to Himantigera over the years has allowed for the better delimitation of the genus, resulting in three new combinations herein proposed and reinforcing the necessity for a new concept and limits of the genus.
Himantigera is not commonly collected and not many additional specimens have been deposited in collections. As a result, virtually all that we know about its species is derived from the original description and from the type specimens. The only two exceptions are H. nigrifemorata and H. silvestris that have been collected and deposited in collections, and also for these two more data are available in the literature (see James & McFadden 1982).
Amongst the Sarginae genera with a strap-like lower squama in the Neotropics (i.e., Himantigera, Lobisquama James 1982, and Sargus), Himantigera differs from Lobisquama (with L. barbata James, 1982 in James & McFadden, 1982 being the only species in this genus) by having M vein distinct throughout, M 3 ending before the wing margin and the alula larger. The morphological characters previously used to separate Himantigera from Sargus include vein R 2+3 originating proximally to r–m in Himantigera and distally to r–m in Sargus, and an ocellar triangle that is equilateral in Himantigera and often longer than wide in the Neotropical Sargus. In addition, Himantigera has dichoptic eyes with the width of the upper frons similar in size in both sexes, while in dichoptic Sargus, the male upper frons is much narrowed compared to that of the females. Male genitalic morphology are also useful for diagnosing Himantigera. A likely unique character for the genus, as suggested by Fachin & Amorim (2015), is a proctiger that is fused basally to the epandrium (e.g., Figs 56, 59). An additional unique character for the genus appears to be a phallus with three almost symmetrical lobes (Figs 69–71), which is clearly distinct from the state found in any Sargus species (Rozkošný 1982; Mason & Rozkošný 2008) or any other known Neotropical Sarginae (James & McFadden 1971, 1982; Fachin & Amorim 2015). Also, genital capsule is nearly square with a very short and digitiform gonostylus (e.g., Figs 60–61), and the gonocoxal apodeme is nearly at the same level as the anterior margin of genitalia (e.g., Figs 57, 67).
description: Published as part of Fachin, Diego Aguilar & Hauser, Martin, 2018, Taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Himantigera James, 1982 (Diptera: Stratiomyidae: Sarginae), including the description of two new species and a key to the known species, pp. 451-498 in Zootaxa 4531 (4) on pages 455-457, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4531.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2614794