Sclerocoelus longibarbus Kuwahara, Marshall & Paiero, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kuwahara, Gregory K.
name: Marshall, Stephen A.
name: Paiero, Steven M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sphaeroceridae
Sclerocoelus
Sclerocoelus longibarbus

description: Sclerocoelus longibarbus sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C39098D9-8ED4-482B-B895-10AD8C1B2F11
Figs 7F, 78–80
Etymology
This name refers to the elongate posteromedial patch of setulae on the male S5, especially in relation to that of the externally similar S. latibarbus (from the Latin words ‘ longus ’, meaning ‘long’, and ‘ barba ’, meaning ‘beard’).
Material examined
Holotype
GUATEMALA • ♂; Jutiapa, El Progresso, Cerro Pinalón; 15°05′01″ N, 89°56′42″ W; 2575 m a.s.l.; 29 Apr.–5 May 2009; treefall gap edge in cloud forest, Malaise trap; DEBU.
Paratypes
COSTA RICA – Cartago • 1 ♀; Tapantí National Park, La Esperanza del Guarco; 9°42′00″ N, 83°51′49″ W; 2700 m a.s.l.; 17–18 Aug. 2001; S.A. Marshall leg.; oak forest, treefall pans; DEBU. – Heredia • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; Braulio Carrillo National Park, Barva Biological Station; 16 Feb. 2003; S.A. Marshall leg.; downed bromeliads sweep; DEBU.
GUATEMALA – Jutiapa • 6 ♂♂, 16 ♀♀; same data as for holotype; debu00347832 / MYYRO779-20 sequenced for CO1-5’; DEBU • 6 ♂♂, 20 ♀♀; same data as for holotype; UVGC • 1 ♀; El Progresso, Cerro Pinalón; 15°05′06″ N, 89°56′42″ W; 30 May–5 May 2009; cloud forest, Malaise trap; DEBU. – Quetzaltenango • 6 ♀♀; 8 km SE of Quetzaltenango, Zunil; 2450 m a.s.l.; 17–19 Jun. 1993, J.S. Ashe and R.W. Brooks leg.; flight-intercept trap; SEMC • 4 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 19–21 Jun. 1993; SEMC • 5 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 2480 m a.s.l.; 17–19 Jun. 1993; SEMC • 5 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 2500 m a.s.l.; DEBU • 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 19–21 Jun. 1993; SEMC • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same data as for preceding; 2620 m a.s.l.; 17–19 Jun. 1993; SEMC • 5 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 2630 m a.s.l.; SEMC • 21 ♂♂, 31 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 2650 m a.s.l.; SEMC • 3 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 19–21 Jun. 1993; DEBU • 2 ♀♀; 12 km SE of Quetzaltenango, Zunil, Fuentes Georginas; 2460 m a.s.l.; 21 Jun. 1993; R. Anderson leg.; cloud forest, litter; UVGC. – Sacatepéquez • 2 ♀♀; 5 km SE of Antigua; 14°32′14″ N, 90°41′40″ W; 2125 m a.s.l.; 10–13 Jun. 2009; hardwood forest, Malaise trap; DEBU. – San Marcos • 1 ♀; 6.4 km N of San Lorenzo; 18 Jul. 1986; J.M. Campbell leg.; sifted mushroom piles; CNCI • 4 ♀♀; 8 km NE of San Lorenzo; 10 Jul. 1986; J.M. Campbell leg.; flight-intercept trap; CNCI • 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; 12 Jul. 1986; CNCI • 1 ♀; same data as for preceding; 13 Jul. 1986; CNCI • 4 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; San Antonio Sacatepéquez; 2440 m a.s.l.; 29 Sep. 1987; M.J. Sharkey leg.; CNCI • 5 ♀♀; San Lorenzo; 19 Jul. 1986; J.M. Campbell leg.; flight-intercept trap; CNCI. – Zacapa • 1 ♂; 3.5 km SE of La Union; 1500 m a.s.l.; 23–25 Jun. 1993; J.S. Ashe and R.W. Brooks leg.; flight-intercept trap; SEMC • 1 ♂; 25 km N of Santa Cruz; 18 Nov. 1986; M. Sharkey leg.; moist banks of Rio Pasabien, sweep; CNCI • 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀; above San Lorenzo; 1800–2000 m a.s.l.; 8 Nov. 1986; M.J. Sharkey leg.; sweep; CNCI • 1 ♀; San Lorenzo; 1800 m a.s.l.; 11–13 Jul. 1986; L. LeSage leg.; pan traps in field; CNCI • 1 ♀; San Lorenzo; Dec. 1986; M.J. Sharkey leg.; Malaise trap; CNCI.
MEXICO – Chiapas • 1 ♀; 4 km SE of Custepec; 15°42′30″ N, 92°55′51″ W; 2100 m a.s.l.; 20 May 2008; cloud forest, Malaise trap; UVGC • 2 ♂♂; 5 km NNW of Coapilla; 17°10′56″ N, 93°09′06″ W; 1910 m a.s.l.; 25 May 2008; 2° mesophyll forest, Malaise trap; DEBU.
Description
BODY (Fig. 78A). Length 2.9–4.5 mm. Head dark brown, lower fifth of frons orange; face, gena, and antennae brown. Frontal width 2.2–2.3 × frontal height. Three pairs of strong interfrontal bristles surmounting a fine fourth pair; anterior orbital 0.6–0.7 × length of posterior. Palpus pale brown. Eye large, greatest height 3.0–3.5× shortest genal height. Thorax dark brown, scutum with paler lateral edges. Two pairs of dorsocentral bristles (anterior pair distinct, 0.5× length of posterior pair) separated by 7–8 rows of acrostichal setulae. Membrane around prosternum bare. Legs brown, foreleg paler. Fore femur with 3–4 large ventral preapical setae. Ventral surface of male mid tibia with two rows of stout setae in apical third. Wing (Fig. 7F) slightly infuscate. CS2 subequal to CS3. Halter brown with pale apex.
MALE ABDOMEN (Figs 78B–C, 79). Dark brown, posterior edges of tergites sometimes slightly desclerotized. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly long-setose with large posterolateral setae. S5 large, heart-shaped, 2.2× length of S4, deeply emarginate anteromedially, posterolaterally long-setose with a dark, elongate, posteromedial patch of dense setulae and a dark medial strip extending to anterior margin. Anterior flange of S6+7 very large, 2.7× as long as wide. Sclerite A indistinct from S6+7; sclerite B long, dark, and arched into genital pouch; sclerite C apparently absent; sclerite D large, dark, elongate and thick with a narrow basolateral process, originating underneath posteromedial patch of S5; sclerite E small, dark, subtriangular; sclerites F and G fused, very elongate, strongly sinuate and extending from far right side of S5 to below sclerite D, sclerite G part with a patch of lateral setae; ring sclerite large, well developed. Epandrium moderate, 0.6 × length of S8, height 1.1× maximum length and 0.7× maximum width, long-setose, posteroventral corner slightly reduced; anal fissure large and dorsally acute; perianal pads bulging and densely setulose but membranous. Pseudocercus large, separate from epandrium, and bearing three setae; halves of subepandrial sclerite thin, strongly arched, and medially fused. Subcercus with short inner part articulating with subepandrial sclerite dorsally, forming a small, posteriorly bent process ventrally, and a larger, triangular outer part with a curved, tapered, apicoventral process. Hypandrium with very thin and slightly sinuate anteromedial apodeme. Surstylus relatively short, broadly rounded posteriorly with a small triangular anterior lobe and a slight dorsal notch, lateral surface covered in thickened, papillae-like setulae, inner surface with dense setae. Postgonite large, flattened, apical third bent anteriorly, slightly expanded, pale, and striate. Phallapodeme very large, apex dorsoventrally flattened; basiphallus strongly dorsoventrally flattened basally and posteriorly separated into a triangular medial lobe and a pair of rounded lateral lobes; distiphallus short, largely membranous with a pair of dark, sinuate, dorsolateral sclerites and a broad, pale, ventral sclerite.
FEMALE ABDOMEN (Fig. 80). T7 broad, simple; T8 divided into a large, pale, dorsal sclerite and two large, dark, lateral sclerites, posterolateral corners slightly expanded and truncate. Epiproct large, ovoid, medially split, posteromedially desclerotized, and entirely setulose. Cercus elongate, apically rounded with long apical, dorsal, lateral, and apicoventral setae. S7 broad, posteromedially expanded into a rounded, desclerotized tab, with four large posterior setae; S8 divided into two very small, dark, lateral sclerites, each with a minute setula. Hypoproct with thickened ventromedial setulae. Three spermathecae, bulb stout, cylindrical, deeply striate with a very large apical invagination (this may be due to bulb collapsing into itself).
Distribution
Neotropical: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico.
Remarks
Sclerocoelus longibarbus sp. nov. is most easily distinguished from the similar S. latibarbus sp. nov. by the long (more than twice as long as wide) posteromedial tuft on the male S5. Sclerocoelus longibarbus is one of several members of the S. dasysternum species group found in cloud forest habitats in Mexico and Central America.
description: Published as part of Kuwahara, Gregory K., Marshall, Stephen A. & Paiero, Steven M., 2025, A revision of the genus Sclerocoelus Marshall (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae), pp. 1-277 in European Journal of Taxonomy 979 on pages 72-74, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.979.2803, http://zenodo.org/record/14980852