Simulium (Hearlea) capricorne De Leon. The 1944
Creators: name: Coscarón, S.
name: Esquivel, D. R. Miranda
name: Moulton, J. K.
name: Arias, C. L. Coscarón-
name: Bernal, S. Ibañez
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2004
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Simuliidae
Simulium
Simulium capricorne

description: Simulium (Hearlea) capricorne De León
Figs. 1A–C, 2A–E, 3B, H, 4D, E, 8 A–C, 9A.
Simulium capricornis De León, 1944: 71–72, Figs. 8–9.
Simulium (Hearlea) capricornis Dalmat, 1950: 72, 76, 82, 86, 244–249, Figs. 97–99, 217–219, 252, 309, 349, 387, 424; Coscarón, 1987: 34; Crosskey & Howard, 1997: 36.
Simulium (Simulium) deleoni Vargas, 1945: 72, pl 7 Fig. 3, pl. 8 Fig. 5, pl. 9 Fig. 2, pl. 10 Figs. 5–6.
Simulium (Hearlea) deleoni Vargas & Díaz Nájera, 1957: 294, Figs. 116–124; Vargas, Martínez Palacios & Díaz Nájera, 1946: 182. Nov. Syn.
Female: Wing length, 2.7–2.8 mm. General coloration brownish dark. Head blackish, eyes dark brown, frons and clypeus brown, with silver pruinosity; scape and pedicel light brown, flagellum dark­grayish brown, palpus and proboscis dark brown to blackish; palpus with long blackish hairs. Scutum dark brown to black, with faint grayish pollinosity, uniformly distributed recumbent hairs, and 1+1 anterior submedial, subtrapezoidal black spots not adjoined to 1+1 silvery vittae; prescutellar area and lateral borders of scutellum with abundant, long golden hairs, pleurae brown gray pollinose; metanotum brown, silver tomentose. Wing veins light brown. Legs light brown, with darkened apices on femur, tibiae and tarsomeres, tarsomeres of prothoracic leg black. Abdomen dark brown; tergites II– V with dark brown median spots, tergite II with 1+1 silvery spots. Frons convergent below, (Fig. 1A); fronto­ocular triangle broader than high (Fig. 1B). Basal portion of cibarium slightly wrinkled medially, with 1+1 submedian, subovoid prominences (Fig. 2A). Mandible with 11+27 teeth. Lacinia with 13+17 retrorse teeth. Sensory vesicle of maxillary palpus slightly shorter than length of basal article (Fig. 2B). Basal sector of R without hairs; Sc with about 15 hairs. Hind basitarsus 5.2 times longer than broad (Fig. 1C). Sternite VIII well sclerotized, with ca. 14 hairs per side; gonapophysis with distal margin convex, apices directed medially (Fig. 2C). Cercus flattened distally. Anal lobe subrectangular, with internal margin curved, with small, anterioly directed, digitiform process (Fig. 2D); genital fork (Fig. 2E) with long, distally capitate stem and lateral arms (tines) only moderately expanded apically.
Male: Wing length, 2.6–2.8 mm. General coloration as in female but slightly darker. Scutum velvety black, anterior 1/4 with 1+1 broad silver pruinose spots, continuous with thin lateral silvery stripe that adjoins silver prescutellar area. Legs darkened, especially prothoracic and mesothoracic coxae and most of metathoracic leg. Abdomen dark brown, with 1+1 silvery spots on tergite II. Sc bare. Hind basitarsus wide, 3.0–3.2 times longer than broad (Fig. 3B). Basistylus subquadrate, with posterior prominence. Dististylus elongate, about twice as long as basistylus, with internal row of setae basally, and stout subapical spur; ventral plate with sinuous posterior margin and short longitudinal median carina.
Pupa: (Figs. 4D, E). Cocoon slipper shaped, coarsely woven, reinforced along anterior margin; Length (basal), 3.5–4.3 mm; (dorsal), 3.3–4.1 mm. Frontoclypeus with 2+2 frontal and 1+1 facial simple trichomes, mostly smooth except for lateral and ventral margins having few apically rounded platelets (Fig. 3H). Anterodorsum of thorax with sparse to abundant accuminate granules and 5 stout, simple trichomes per side. Gill with two main branches, dorsal anterior and ventral; branches thickened, subannulated, dorsoventrally flattened, strongly curved apically; dorsal anterior (medial) branch largest, with strongly down­turned apex; ventral branch curved along contour of cocoon dorsal posterior smallest, subannulated. Maximum branch length = 2.2 mm. Abdomen with spine combs on tergites VII and VIII; tergite X lacking terminal spines.
Larva: Length, 7.3–7.7 mm. Coloration yellowish (in alcohol). Head light brown; cephalic apotome brownish and slightly darkened basally, without special ornamentation. Labral fan with 42–47 rays. Hypostoma with straight anterior margin, median tooth longer than corner teeth (Fig. 8B), 8–10 lateral setae per side, and 1+1 to absent discal setae. Hypostomial bridge longer than hypostoma, ratio length of hypostoma/length of hypostomal bridge = 0.8–1. Postgenal cleft mild curved, without apical incision (Fig. 8A). Antenna longer than stalk of labral fan; median article pseudosegmented. Ratio of articles = 1:1.1–1.5:1.0–1.4 (proximal: medial: distal). Mandible with two rows of 4–5 internal teeth, 2 marginal teeth, and one curved lateral mandibular process (Fig. 8C). Lateral sclerite of prothoracic proleg with about 38 teeth arranged in 12–14 groups. Anal sclerite with scarce hairs, ventral struts relatively elongated (Fig. 9A). Posterior circlet with 115–135 rows of 20–24 hooks. Rectal papillae trilobed, and 4–6 lobules per lobe.
Material examined: México: México, Río Frío 3000 m, 3 males, 22 larvae, (2 on slide), 4 pupae, 6 September 1969, P. & B. Wygodzinsky (AMNH). Guatemala: (Dalmat collection, USNM) Chimaltenango, Acatenango, río Laguneta, Fca. Tehuya, 1 pupa, 12 March 1948; 1 pupa 21 March 1948; 1 pupa, 2 April 1948; 3 females, 4 males, 26 November 1948; 1 female, 1 male, 2 pupae, 25 March 1949; 19 female, 5 males, 26 May 1949; río Costita, Fca. Providencia, 10 female, 2 males, pupae, 2 April 1949; río Chajillá, Nejapa, pupae, 30 September 1948; río Positos, Quisaché, 6 pupae, 8 November 1948; 2 females, 1 male, 18 November 1948; 1 female, 1 male, 7 December 1948; río Monjon, Fca. Sta. Margarita, 1 female, pupae, 21 December 1948; río San Diego, Fca. San Diego, 1 female, 4 males, pupae, 6 November 1948; río San Rafael, Fca. San Rafael, 1 female, pupae, 12 March 1949; río Cocoya, Fca. El Carmen, 1 male, 26 February 1949; río Chajillá, Fca. San Antonio, Nejapa, 1 female, 20 September 1948; Sololá, río Patanatic, Fca. Panajachel, 1 male.
Distribution: México: Chiapas, D.F., Durango, México, Morelos, Oaxaca, Veracruz. Guatemala: Alta Verapaz, Chimaltenango, El Quiché, Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Sacatepequez, Sololá, Totonicapan.
Discussion: Based upon the original description of Simulium deleoni Vargas, 1945 and information in Vargas & Díaz Nájera (1957), we synonymize this name with S. capricorne De León. The peculiar pupa gill is the basis for this action. Material identified as S. capricorne by Vargas and Díaz Nájera (1957) probably correspond to S. ethelae Dalmat based upon illustrations of the pupal gill. The closest species to S. capricorne are S. estevezi, which can be differentiated by the absence of an anterior collar in the cocoon, presence of a process on the dorsal gill branch, and cibarium with thickened anterior margin, and S. burchi, which has a wide, anteriorly directed, apically blunt dorsal branch as opposed to the strongly downturned one in S. capricorne.
description: Published as part of Coscarón, S., Esquivel, D. R. Miranda, Moulton, J. K., Arias, C. L. Coscarón- & Bernal, S. Ibañez, 2004, Simulium (Hearlea) Vargas, Martínez Palacios, & Díaz Nájera (Diptera: Simuliidae): Taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis, pp. 1-52 in Zootaxa 396 on pages 14-16, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.396.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5227428