Eucelatoria ritavargasae Burington 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Burington, Zelia L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Tachinidae
Eucelatoria
Eucelatoria ritavargasae

description: Eucelatoria ritavargasae sp. nov.
(Figs 1C, 24, 45, 69, 90, 138, 154, 171, 176)
Type material. Holotype ♂, labeled “DHJPAR0021970”, “Voucher: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs / DB: http://janzen.sas.upen.edu/ Area de Conservacion Guanacaste,/ COSTA RICA./ 07 -SRNP- 3758”, “ HOLOTYPE / Eucelatoria / ritavargasae/ ZL Burington [red label]”, “LEGS AWAY/ FOR DNA [yellow label]”, “Janzen01”, “ Eucelatoria / Janzen11/ Vide/ Det ZL Burington 2015”, “ ♂ black/ scutellum [handwritten]”, “ZLB_E.Ferox 00004” (CNC).
Paratypes, 1 ♀ and 2 ♂♂. Brazil — Santa Catarina: 1 ♂, labeled “Nova Teutonia/ S.C.- BRAZIL / Dec. 1961 / F. Plaumann ”, “ PARATYPE / Eucelatoria / ritavargasae/ ZL Burington [yellow label]”, “ PARATYPE / Eucelatoria / ritavargasae/ ZL Burington [yellow label]”, “ZLB_E.Ferox 00267” (DMW). Eucuador — Napo: 1 ♂, labeled “ ECUADOR: Prov. Napo / Narupa, 1186m / S 00°43′52.5″ W 077°46′25.3″/ REARED:/ ABR 2012 66666 [voucher YY66666]”, “Ecuador reared/ Eucelatoria sp. 8 / ZLBurington 2014”, “ Eucelatoria sp. 8 ”, “ZLB_E.Ferox 00215” [genitalia in vial under specimen] (JOSC). 1 ♀, “ ECUADOR: Napo Prov. / Yanayacu Biological Station, S 00°35.9′ W 77°53.4, 2163m / REARED [in red]/ June 2005 / 4003”, “ Eucelatoria sp. 8 ”, “ZLB_E.Ferox 00214” [puparium and genitalia respectively on card and in vial under specimen] (JOSC; to be deposited in MECN).
Recognition. This species is closest to E. hafelei sp. nov.; in both species the palpi are dark, the presutural thoracic vittae are fused into two, and the scutellum bears visible tomentum only at the extreme apex. Males of E. ritavargasae sp. nov. are distinguished from E. hafelei sp. nov. by the narrower, more diffuse dorsal abdominal bands, the more strongly dilated cercus apex in lateral view, the more widely separated basal lobes of the cercus, and the strongly angled, deeply emarginated postgonite.
Etymology. By recommendation of Dr. Daniel Janzen, this species “is named in recognition of Dr. Rita Vargas Castillo for her full support of the new collaborations between Costa Rica’s Area de Conservación Guanacaste and the Universidad de Costa Rica, and quite specifically, supporting ACG crustacean taxonomy and the ACG marine parataxonomists”.
Description. [Described from 1 ♀ and 3 ♂♂.] Length 6.0–7.0 mm (mean = 6.5 mm).
Head. Parafacial, fronto-orbital plate, vertex, dorsal half of post-ocular plate, and vibrissal angle tomentum dense yellow, appearing gold. Genal dilation, postgena, ventral half of post-ocular plate, and occiput tomentum ash-gray. Pale occipital setae ash-gray, in female merging to yellow on upper half. Ocellar setae strong, two-thirds to subequal to length of posterior reclinate orbital seta, stronger in female. Gena with 3–4 setae, subvibrissal ridge with 1 seta. Facial ridge with setulae on lower one-third to one-half. Postocellar setae one-half to two-thirds length of ocellar setae. Paravertical seta one-half to three-fourths length of postocellar setae. Outer vertical seta undifferentiated in male, one-half length of inner vertical seta in female. Reclinate orbital setae 3. Frontal setae 4–7, less in female, last frontal seta level with postpedicel base to arista base. Eye with short setulae, each setula no more than three facets in length. Eye height to head height ratio 0.85–0.87 (mean = 0.85). Postpedicel length 0.38–0.45 (mean = 0.42) height of head. Facial ridge length 0.49–0.59 (mean = 0.54) height of head. Parafacial width 0.06–0.10 (mean = 0.08) lateral length of head. Pedicel 0.26–0.33 (mean = 0.32) length of postpedicel. Postpedicel 2.0–3.7 (mean = 2.6) width of parafacial in lateral view. Vertex 0.24–0.26 (mean = 0.25) width of head in dorsal view. Palpus dark brown to black, cylindrical in male, greatly dilated and flattened at apex in female; with small, short setae dorsoapically, less in female; several stout setae apicoventrally; 3–4 long, thin setae mediolaterally.
Thorax. Dorsomedial length 1.3–1.4 times width of thorax. Lateral tomentum gray, merging to yellow on anepisternum. Dorsal tomentum yellow to gray, usually at least yellow-tinged gray. Presutural inner and outer vitta fused into subquadrate vitta, thus with only two vittae on presutural area, at most with a small triangular area of tomentum dividing inner and outer vitta them near notopleural suture; the two vittae at least partially fused near anterior margin, rarely completely fused, leaving at most a small medial triangle of tomentum near notopleural suture. Postsutural vittae fused into large, black vittae covering nearly the entirety of the postsutural area, with at most a small area of tomentum near supra-alar setae and along posterior margin. Inner thoracic vittae. Scutellar dorsal tomentum diffuse, in dorsal view apparently confined to apical area between subapical scutellar setae. Postpronotum with 3 setae. Presutural area with 2 supra-alar setae. Postsutural area with 3–4 dorsocentral setae. Fore tibia with 1–3 posterodorsal setae. Wing hyaline, at most lightly infuscated around costa and radial sector. Calypters tan to cream colored.
Abdomen. Cuticle and setulae entirely black. Dorsal tomentum bands gray to yellow-gray; one-fourth to onehalf length of T3–5, narrower in males. Ventral tomentum bands ash-gray; in males one-fourth to one-half length of T3–5; in female covering three-fourths to entire length of T3–5. T4 with 1 pair of median marginal setae and 3 or more pairs of widely spaced lateral marginal setae.
Male terminalia (Figs 138, 154, 171). Sternite 5 basal plate with median teeth separated 0.7 width of basal notch; apical lobes 1.5 times length of basal plate. Postgonite right-angled on posterior margin, slightly dilated at base, then tapered to long digitiform apex; anterior emargination depth two times width of postgonite at mid length. Surstylus paddle-shaped, length more than two and one-half times width; gradually curved on posterior and anterior margins; apex blunt; basal lobe subquadrate with distinct marginal notch. Cercus in lateral view dilated at base, narrowed to mid length, then dilated and slightly upturned as subquadrate apex; in caudal view curved from basal lobe, only slightly tapered to apex, subparallel along nearly entire length, apex blunt. Upper lobe subquadrate, nearly digitiform, with margins broadly rounded; 0.25 length of cercus. Median section 0.5 length of cercus. Apical cleft narrow, 0.25 length of cercus. Syncercus apex width in caudal view 0.4 width of syncercus base.
Female terminalia. Piercer generally nearly to base of T4, in lateral view ribbon-like, sharply bent near base, then straight to slightly bent apex; in posterior view wide, parallel sided on basal third, then gradually tapered to apex. Aculeate lobe at least 2 times height of segment seven base. End tergite not visible. Cercus with 3–4 setae; ventral elongation length subequal to width of cercus main body. Postgenital plate with 10 setae.
Hosts. Two individuals (“Janzen11”) have been reared from an Olethreutes sp. (Tortricidae) feeding on Inga oerstediana Benth. (Fabaceae) in Costa Rica (Janzen & Hallwachs 2008). One individual has been reared from an unknown Tortricidae feeding on an unknown species of Euphorbiaceae, and another has been reared from an unknown “ Pyralidae ” on Croton L. sp. (Euphorbiaecae), both in Ecuador (Stireman et al. 2017).
Geographic extent and seasonal occurrence. Individuals of E. ritavargasae sp. nov. have been collected in tropical and subtropical moist forest at 500–1200 m elevation (Fig. 176).
Discussion. This species includes “ Eucelatoria Janzen 11” in the ACG caterpillar database (Janzen & Hallwachs 2008). The characteristic confinement of dorsal scutellar tomentum to the extreme apex and two presutural thoracic vittae will separate both males and females from all known E. ferox group species except E. hafelei sp. nov. Generally, the widths of the abdominal bands are adequate to separate the two species in males; it is unknown if females are similar in this regard. The single male from Nova Teutonia is included here despite the wide geographic distance, pending more material. Genetic data suggest some population structure between Ecuadorian and Costa Rican individuals, but this is only from a few sequences (Fig. 1). The phylogenetic analysis strongly supports a close relationship between E. kopis sp. nov. and E. ritavargasae sp. nov. (Fig. 1).
description: Published as part of Burington, Zelia L., 2022, A taxonomic revision of the Eucelatoria ferox species group (Diptera: Tachinidae), pp. 1-104 in Zootaxa 5143 (1) on pages 54-56, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5143.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6601404