Malacophagomyia filamenta Dodge 1963
Creators: name: Mulieri, Pablo Ricardo
name: Mello-Patiu, Cátia Antunes
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sarcophagidae
Malacophagomyia
Malacophagomyia filamenta

description: Malacophagomyia filamenta (Dodge, 1963)
(Figs 1, 4, 7, 10–16)
Sarcophaga filamenta Dodge, 1963: 240. Holotype male (AMNH; not examined). Type locality: Surinam (as “ Dutch Guiana ”), Paramaribo.
Malacophagomyia filamenta: Lopes, 1966: 316 (male, female, larvae I–III, figs 1–18); Kano & Lopes, 1968: 305 (distribution, fig. 5); Lopes, 1969: 44 (catalog); Lopes 1973: 281 (notes on biology); Lopes, 1983: 318 (larva I, fig. 88); Pape, 1996: 249 (catalog); Lopes, 2000: 172 (list); Mello-Patiu et al., 2009: 179 (distribution).
Male (Fig. 7). Body length = 6.2–7.0 mm (n = 82).
Head. Head length at antennal base 1.13 head length at vibrissal level. Parafacial and fronto-orbital plate with silvery microtomentum (Fig. 1); parafacial plate with setae (somewhat larger on lower part) and row of setulae on upper half; fronto-orbital plate with sparse setulae; postcranium with silvery-gray microtomentum, with row of black occipital setae parallel to postorbitals and whitish setulae; eye bare; frontal vitta blackish; front at its narrowest point 0.21 head width; 6–10 frontal setae, the row of frontals not diverging strongly anteriorly at the level of pedicel; reclinate orbital setae present; inner vertical setae strong and reclinate, outer vertical setae 0.25– 0.3X the inner verticals and divergent; ocellar triangle black with silvery microtomentum, with one pair of divergent and proclinate ocellar setae and supplementary setulae; postocellar and paravertical setae present; postocular area with silvery microtomentum; genal groove and genal dilation with silvery microtomentum; postgena with silvery-gray microtomentum and pale setae, gena with a few black setae anteriorly and pale setae on posterior part; face with silvery microtomentum; facial ridge with silvery microtomentum, with setae and stronger setulae close to vibrissa and fine setulae reaching the lower half; 9–11 subvibrissal setae; antenna brown, postpedicel with grayish microtomentum, length 0.29 head height, arista largely plumose; palpus brown with black setae on apical half.
Thorax. Black, with silvery-gray microtomentum; prescutum and scutum with dorsal and lateral stripes with silvery-gray microtomentum and three black bands; scutellum with intermediate stripes with silvery-gray; postpronotal lobe, notopleuron and anepisternum, katepisternum and anepimeron with spots of silvery-gray microtomentum; proepisternum silvery, bare; one strong proepisternal seta plus one weaker and shorter supplementary inferior seta, three katepisternal setae, postalar wall with setulae. Chaetotaxy: acrostichals 0+0, dorsocentrals 4 (not well differentiated, usually the presutural more developed in length) + 4 (spaced to four, the two anterior setae smaller than the posteriors and usually not differentiated), intra-alars 2+2, supra-alars 1–2+3 (the middle pair stronger), anterior postpronotal 1, basal postpronotal 2, postalars 2, notopleurals 4 (two larger and two smaller). Scutellum with two pairs of lateral scutellar setae, apical scutellar setae absent, and a pair of discal setae. Wing hyaline, tegula dark brown, whitish basicosta and brown veins, vein R1 basally setulose on 1/2 of its length, R4+5 setulose in proximal 0.6 of distance to crossvein r-m, costal spine not differentiated, third costal sector with ventral setae, cell r4+5 open at wing apex, lower calypter whitish. Legs with coxae, trochanters and femora with silvery microtomentum; middle femur without posteroventral ctenidium on its apical portion, 2–4 anterior and 2–4 anteroventral setae; middle tibia with 1 anterodorsal seta; hind femur with rows of anterodorsal and anteroventral setae; hind tibia with 2 anterodorsal setae well differentiated, 1 anteroventral, and 2 posterodorsal setae; hind femur somewhat villous basally; tarsi blackish.
Abdomen. Reddish-brown; sternites exposed with silvery microtomentum; T1+2–T5 with latero-ventral and dorsal spots with silvery microtomentum; T1+2–T4 each with one pair of lateral marginal setae, T4 with one pair of median marginal setae; T5 with a complete row of marginal setae; ST2–ST3 (and adjacent areas of tergites) with lateral villous setae; ST4 with tufts of black spine-like setae on posterior corners, bare medially; median margin of ST5 V-shaped, reddish-brown; arm of ST5 with several fine setae on its inner surface, and a darkened short posterior lobe (Fig. 4).
Genitalia. Syntergosternite 7+8 blackish, with a median spot of gray microtomentum, having a marginal row of weak setae and some smaller black hair-like setae basally; epandrium reddish-orange with thin gray microtomentum, with black hair-like setae; cerci short, covered with setae, without cercal prong (Fig. 12); cerci slightly curved in profile (Fig. 13); surstylus long with apical setae (Fig. 13); pregonite curved backward, bent at a right angle and pointed (Fig. 10); postgonite with one strong seta (Fig. 11); phallus without vesica; juxta well developed and sclerotized, curved upward at the anterior margin (lateral view), juxta bifid in ventral (or apical) view; lateral stylus well developed and complex with a pair of arms or processes, a lateral (outer) membranous arm, and a well-sclerotized curved inner arm (Fig. 14); median stylus very elongated, strongly curved at the base and in apical third (lateral view); each harpes as a flat and membranous lobe (Fig. 14).
Female. Body length = 5.5–7.2 mm (n = 57).
Head. Differs from male in being wider, front at its narrowest point 0.35 head width; two well differentiated proclinate orbital setae; postpedicel larger, length 0.34 head height.
Thorax. Similar to male. Hind femur with 2–3 posteroventral setae.
Abdomen. Similar to male, somewhat broader.
Genitalia. Tergite 6 (VI + VII of Lopes) reduced to a narrow sclerotized band with anterior margin adjacent to spiracle 7 (located in a large membranous area); epiproct (or anal tergite) membranous and represented by a few setae, cerci with setae (Fig. 16). ST5 long and narrow; ST6 and ST7 united but with a distinct streak between them, with rows of marginal setae especially laterally, and with a concave longitudinal median area; ST8 composed of two lateral plates, rounded on posterior margin, covered with microtrichiae and a membranous median area with setae on posterior part; vaginal plate conspicuous and well sclerotized, broad and exposed on posterior margin; hypoproct membranous, broad with longer setulae on posterior margin (Fig. 15).
Material examined. Bolivia: 69 males, 47 females, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, XII 56 M. Alvarenga leg. (MNRJ). Brazil: 5 males, Belem, Pará, 25.VIII.65 H.S. Lopes leg. (MNRJ); 1 male, Rio de Janeiro, 04-IV-93 A. Khouri leg. (MNRJ); 7 males, 10 females, Rio de Janeiro, Mendanha, Campo Grande, I-52 H.S. Lopes leg. (MNRJ).
Distribution. Bolivia, Brazil (Pará, Rio de Janeiro), Surinam.
Remarks. Lopes (1966: 319) described for the first time the female of M. filamenta and defined the genital tergites as “Tergito 6 + 7 inteiramente ausente, representado pelos dois estigmas que se implantam na membrana, havendo um único tergito genital constituído por estreita faixa quitinosa que corresponde ao 9° esternito [sic]…”. Lopes (1966: 318, figs 9–10) illustrated this species, although without specifying any structures. We observed that the unique and narrow sclerotization is located in a posterior position but adjacent to spiracle 7, and hence we assume that this structure constitutes the posterior remains of tergite 6 (VI + VII according to Lopes’s usual nomenclature). Following the description of the female, Lopes (1966) provided interpretations of the functional morphology of male and female structures of the genitalia based on a fixed mating couple.
description: Published as part of Mulieri, Pablo Ricardo & Mello-Patiu, Cátia Antunes, 2013, Revision of the Neotropical genus Malacophagomyia (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) with description of a new species, pp. 368-378 in Zootaxa 3736 (4) on pages 372-373, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3736.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/217356