Sclerocoelus azulensis 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 azulensis

description: Sclerocoelus azulensis sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 2EE86108-F956-4844-9DE5-8F5D906E5BFE
Figs 5E, 20–22
Etymology
This name refers to the type locality of this species, the SierrAzul Reserve in eastern Ecuador.
Material examined
Holotype
ECUADOR • ♂; Napo, SierrAzul Reserve, 14 km W of Cosanga; 0°40′55″ S, 77°56′09″ W; 2200 m a.s.l.; 10–11 May 2002; Marshall and Paiero leg.; treefall, yellow pans; QCAZ.
Paratypes
ECUADOR – Napo • 4 ♀♀; same data as for holotype; DEBU • 5 ♀♀; same data as for holotype; QCAZ • 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀; Napo, 27 km NW of Baeza; 2700 m a.s.l.; 2–6 Mar. 1976; S. Peck leg.; dung trap; DEBU • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; same data as for preceding; QCAZ • 5 ♀♀; 5 km N of El Chaco; 15 Feb. 1983; M.J. Sharkey leg.; Malaise trap and wet net; CNCI • 1 ♀; Baeza; 1500 m a.s.l.; 16–19 May 1987; L.D. Coote and B.V. Brown leg.; wet montane rainforest, Malaise trap; DEBU. – Pichincha • 1 ♀; Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve; 0°01′13″ S, 78°40′30″ W; 2200 m a.s.l.; 1 May 2011; S.A. Marshall leg.; pans near treefall; debu00371007 /MYCRO916-21 sequenced for CO1-5’; DEBU.
Description
BODY (Fig. 20A). Length 3.0– 4.9 mm. Head dark brown; lunule and antennae orange-brown; frontal vitta, interfrontal plate and orbital plate paler and shiny. Frontal width 2.2–2.3 × frontal height. Three pairs of interfrontal bristles, middle pair largest with tips crossing; anterior orbital 0.4–0.5× length of posterior. Palpus pale brown. Eye large, greatest height about 3.5× shortest genal height. Thorax dark brown, scutum with reddish lateral edges. Two pairs of dorsocentral bristles (anterior pair distinct, 0.3× length of posterior pair) separated by 8–9 rows of acrostichal setulae. Membrane around prosternum bare. Legs brown, fore and hind femora darker. Fore femur with four or five large ventral preapical setae. Ventral surface of male mid tibia with two rows of stout setae in apical half. Wing (Fig. 5E) slightly infuscate. CS2 0.7–0.8 × CS3. Halter brown with paler stem.
MALE ABDOMEN (Figs 20B–C, 21). Dark brown, posterior edges of tergites sometimes slightly desclerotized. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly long-setose with large posterolateral setae. S5 H-shaped, 2.1× length and 1.5× width of S4, anteromedially deeply and widely emarginate, posteromedially with two long-setose lobes flanking a central trifid process. Anterior flange of S6+7 0.6× as long as wide, posterior margin of S7 with a distinct, dark finger-like process near cleft dividing S7 and S6. Sclerites A, B, and C fused to form a continuous arc extending from left side across posterior part of genital pouch; sclerites D and E fused, dark, and posteriorly expanded; sclerites F and G fused, extending from right side across genital pouch; ring sclerite narrow and weakly sclerotized. Epandrium large, 0.6× length of S8, height 1.3 × maximum length and 0.5× maximum width, uniformly setose; anal fissure subtriangular, widest at base; perianal pads weakly developed. Pseudocercus large, elongate, bearing three setae and fused with medial part of subcercus; halves of subepandrial sclerite thin, angulate and medially continuous. Subcercus with a long, dark, sinuate inner part and a pale, trilobed, outer-posterior part. Hypandrium relatively short, anteromedial apodeme narrow. Surstylus short, quadrate, ventrally setose with a narrow, setose anteroventral lobe. Postgonite very short, expanded apically with two sharp apical ridges. Phallapodeme very large, thick, with a large dorsal ‘fin’; basiphallus broad and flattened with a medial constriction between main part and tubular section connecting to distiphallus; distiphallus largely membranous, very broad and dorsoventrally flattened with two sinuate lateral sclerites.
FEMALE ABDOMEN (Fig. 22). T7 broad, simple; T8 very broad with a broad pale dorsal area, dark lateral areas appearing quadrate. Epiproct short, medially pale and setulose between short dorsal seta. Cercus elongate, slightly tapered, with long apical, preapical, and dorsal setae. S7 broad, posteriorly rounded with four large posterior setae; S8 reduced to two minute sclerites. Hypoproct with a slight anteromedial notch. Three spermathecae, bulb spherical, smooth with a shallow apical invagination and a deep basal invagination.
Distribution
Neotropical: Ecuador.
Remarks
Sclerocoelus azulensis sp. nov. is an unplaced species probably related to the S. dasysternum group although it superficially resembles species in the mostly Central American S. galapagensis group in having an elaborate, multilobed subcercus. Sclerocoelus azulensis can be readily separated from the members of the galapagensis group by the bare prosternal membrane, deeply posteromedially notched male S5, trident-shaped genital pouch sclerite D+E, and greatly reduced surstylus. It is associated with relatively high cloud forest habitats in Ecuador.
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 28-30, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.979.2803, http://zenodo.org/record/14980852