Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomic Paper
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Corresponding author: AJ Fleming (ajfleming604@gmail.com)
Academic editor: Daniel Whitmore
Received: 28 Oct 2016 | Accepted: 08 Jul 2017 | Published: 18 Jul 2017
© 2017 AJ Fleming, D. Monty Wood, M. Alex Smith, Tanya Dapkey, Winnie Hallwachs, Daniel Janzen
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Fleming A, Wood D, Smith M, Dapkey T, Hallwachs W, Janzen D (2017) Five new species of Vibrissina Rondani (Diptera: Tachinidae) from Area de Conservación Guanacaste in Northwestern Costa Rica. Biodiversity Data Journal 5: e10967. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.5.e10967
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We describe five new species in the genus Vibrissina Rondani from Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG). All species were reared from wild-caught sawfly larvae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Argidae and Tenthredinidae). We provide a morphological description of each species together with information on life history, molecular data, and photographic documentation.
Five new species of Vibrissina Rondani: Vibrissina randycurtisi sp. n., V. randyjonesi sp. n., V. robertwellsi sp. n., V. danmartini sp. n., V. hallwachsorum sp. n.
Diptera, Tachinidae, tropical rain forest, tropical dry forest, parasitoid fly, host-specificity, sawfly larvae, Blondeliini
With more than 8,500 described species classified into more than 1,500 genera (
The present study is part of an effort to document the tachinid species living within the terrestrial 120,000 km2 Area de Conservación Guanacaste (http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr), and provide names for any new species. A comparison of tachinids collected during the ACG inventory with those present in the national collection in the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (formerly INBio) shows minimal overlap of species, suggesting that the tachinid fauna in other parts of the country is quite different from that of ACG and requires much additional study (
The genus Vibrissina Rondani, 1861 (Exoristinae: Blondeliini) originally included
Vibrissina possesses the following characters, common to the tribe Blondeliini: prosternum setose; first postsutural supraalar bristle shorter than first postsutural dorsocentral bristle; bend of vein M rounded, forming an obtuse angle; subapical scutellar bristles long, stout, and divergent; and veins R4+5 and M ending at or near wing tip (
In this paper we describe five new species of Vibrissina using morphology and CO1 (cytochrome c oxidase I) gene sequences or “DNA barcodes”, and provide additional information on host preference.
All flies and rearing information described here were collected as part of the 37+ year-old and ongoing inventory of caterpillars, their food plants and their parasitoids across the three major ecosystems of the terrestrial portion of Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica (
This inventory has reared more than 750,000 wild-caught caterpillars and sawfly larvae since 1978. All frequencies of parasitization reported here need to be considered against this background inventory (
It should be noted that this inventory searches some vegetation types and vertical strata much more thoroughly than others. This bias is due to the methods employed for collecting of specimens, which rely solely on those animals within reach of the collectors, up to 3m above the ground. Recent comparisons of reared species of parasitoids with those collected in the same place with hand nets or Malaise traps demonstrate that, to date, the estimated 1,100 species of tachinid flies reared by the inventory represent less than half the species of caterpillar (and caterpillar-like larvae) parasitizing Tachinidae present in ACG. The largest unsampled habitat is the foliage of the canopy that is higher than approximately 3–4 m above the ground.
This paper on Vibrissina is part of a larger effort to describe the new species reared during the ACG inventory (
Species accounts presented in this paper are deliberately brief and only include basic descriptions of body morphology and coloration commonly used in the identification of Tachinidae. The descriptions are complemented with a series of color photos of every species, used to illustrate the morphological differences among them. The morphological terminology used follows
Features and landmarks of the terminalia of Vibrissina spp.; Abbreviations: acroph = acrophallus; ae = anterior edge; ap = anterior plate; cerc = cercus; distph = distiphallus; epand = epandrium; hypd = hypandrium; l = length; mc = median cleft; pe = posterior edge; pl = posterior lobes; pregt = pregonite; pgt = postgonite; sur = surstylus; w = width.
CNC Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Ottawa, Canada
MACN Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, Buenos Aires, Argentina
MNCR Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (formerly Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad - INBio), Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica
MRSN Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali di Torino (collection formerly housed at Museo di Zoologia, Istituto di Zoologia e Anatomia Comparata, Università di Torino - MZUT), Turin, Italy
MZSP Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
NHMUK Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom (formerly British Museum of Natural History)
NHMW Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria
USNM National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. (formerly United States National Museum)
The procedures surrounding the management of voucher specimens has been detailed in previous papers in this series (
All DHJPARxxxxxxx-coded tachinids have had one leg removed and sent for DNA barcoding to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) and its Center for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) in Guelph, Canada. All collateral data and successful barcodes are permanently and publicly deposited in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD, www.boldsystems.org) (
All inventoried specimens discussed herein were collected under Costa Rican government research permits issued to DHJ, and Tachinidae samples were exported under permit by DHJ from Costa Rica to their final depository in the CNC in Ottawa, Canada. Tachinid identifications for the inventory were done by DHJ in coordination with a) visual inspection by AJF and DMW, b) DNA barcoding by MAS and c) databasing/correlation with host caterpillars by DHJ and WH via the inventory itself.
The date of capture cited for each specimen is the date of eclosion of the fly and not the date of capture of the caterpillar. Eclosion date is much more representative of the time when that fly species is on the wing than is the time of capture of the parasitized caterpillar. The “collector” is the parataxonomist who found the caterpillar, rather than the person who later retrieved the newly eclosed fly and processed it by freezing, pinning, labelling and oven-drying. The holotypes and paratypes of the newly-described species are housed in the Diptera collection of the Canadian National Collection (CNC).
Names of undescribed host species follow a standardized, interim naming system used for taxonomic units considered as distinct species and identified by DNA barcodes. The interim names are given in the format "Eois Janzen52", where the species epithet is composed of the name of the taxonomist who identified the species and a number. This prevents confusion with already described species while maintaining traceability of each undescribed species within the ACG project.
We analyzed DNA barcodes (the 5’ region of the cytochrome c oxidase I (CO1) gene (
Vibrissina Rondani, 1861: 35. Type species: Frontina demissa Meigen, 1838 [misidentified, =Tachina turrita Meigen, 1824], by original designation.
Microvibrissina Villeneuve, 1911: 82. Type species: Tachina muscaria Fallén sensu Meigen [misidentified, = Latreillia debilitata Pandellé, 1896: 110]. Synonymy by Herting (1984: 186). As explained by
Spathimeigenia Townsend, 1915: 19. Type species: Spathimeigenia spinigera Townsend, 1915, by original designation. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 86).
Hylotomomyia Townsend, 1916: 31. Type species: Admontia hylotomae Coquillett, 1898, by original designation. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 86).
Schizocerophaga Townsend, 1916: 77. Type species: Schizocerophaga leibyi Townsend, 1916, by original designation. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 86).
Jicaltepecia Townsend, 1917: 49. Type species: Jicaltepecia rafaela Townsend, 1917, by original designation. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 86).
Acemeigenia Townsend, 1927: 241. Type species: Acemeigenia inca Townsend, 1927, by original designation. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 87).
Hypophylax Townsend, 1935: 232. Type species: Hypophylax prospheryx Townsend, 1935, by original designation. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 87).
Neoswaldia Mesnil, 1960: 655. Type species: Hylotomomyia buckelli Curran, 1926, by monotypy. Synonymy proposed by Wood (1985: 87).
Previously described Neotropical species included in Vibrissina:
aberrans Wulp, 1890: 198 (Anisia). Lectotype male (NHMUK), by designation of
albopicta Bigot, 1889: 258 (Chaetolyga). Lectotype female (NHMUK), by designation of
bilineata Wulp, 1890: 112 (Masicera). Holotype female (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, North Yucatan, Temax.
candicans Wulp, 1890: 194 (Anisia). Holotype male (NHMUK), published as female [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, Morelos, Cuernavaca.
carinata Wulp, 1890: 184 (Telothyria). Lectotype female (NHMUK), by designation of
curva Wulp, 1890: 177 (Telothyria). Holotype male (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, Guerrero, Savana Grande.
dieloceri Townsend, 1942: 438 (Hylotomomyia). Lectotype female (MZSP), [examined by DMW] by fixation of Toma & Nihei (2006: 247) (examination of “Holótipo f.” from Minas Gerais in MZSP is regarded as a lectotype fixation). Type locality: Brazil, Minas Gerais, Para de Minas, Florestal (reared January 25 from cocoon mass of Dielocerus formosus (Wood, personal note)).
fasciata Wulp, 1890: 179 (Telothyria). Lectotype male (NHMUK), by designation of
flavocalyptrata Brèthes, 1909: 94 (Vibrissina). Holotype female (MACN, or lost). Type locality: Argentina, Mendoza, Valle del Río Tupungato.
forticula Wulp, 1890: 174 (Telothyria). Lectotype male (NHMUK), by designation of
sublineata Wulp, 1890: 181 (Telothyria). Holotype female (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, Guerrero, Amula.
inca Townsend, 1927: 282 (Acemeigenia). Holotype male (USNM) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Peru, Cuzco.
insecta Giglio-Tos, 1893: 7 (Degeeria). Holotype male (MRSN), published as female [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico.
itaquaquecetubae Townsend, 1929: 372 (Jicaltepecia). Seven syntypes: 6 males, 1 female (USNM) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Brazil, São Paulo, Itaquaquecetuba.
lepida Wulp, 1890: 135 (Myobia). Lectotype male (NHMUK), by designation of
mexicana Aldrich, 1931: 5 (Spathimeigenia). Holotype male (USNM) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, Michoacan, Erongaricaro.
mucorea Wulp, 1890: 199 (Anisia). Lectotype male (NHMUK), by designation of
obscura Aldrich, 1931: 6 (Spathimeigenia). Holotype male (USNM) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico.
prospheryx Townsend, 1935: 232 (Hypophylax). Holotype female (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Guyana, Pacaraima Mts., Upper Ireng River.
rafaela Townsend, 1917: 49 (Jicaltepecia). Holotype female (USNM) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, Veracruz, Jicaltepec, San Rafael.
remota Wulp, 1890: 181 (Telothyria). Lectotype female (NHMUK), by designation of
scita Walker, 1853:302 (Tachina). Holotype female (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Brazil.
vaciva Wulp, 1890: 176 (Telothyria). Holotype male (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico, Guerrero, Chilpancingo.
vicina Wulp, 1890: 184 (Telothyria). Lectotype female (NHMUK), by designation of
zonata Bigot, 1889: 261 (Ceromasia). Holotype female (NHMUK) [examined by DMW]. Type locality: Mexico.
Male. Head: vertex 1/4–1/3 of head width; 1–3 reclinate orbital bristles; anteriormost reclinate orbital bristle distinctly longer than uppermost frontal bristle; ocellar bristles well developed, long, and divergent; eye bare or at most with minute, inconspicuous hairs all but invisible except under certain angles of light; parafacial on most New World species haired on lower half or more, bare in few New World species (
Our observations of New World species of Vibrissina confirm those made by
Widespread throughout the Palearctic, and from Mexico to Brazil in the Neotropical Region (
Almost all members of Vibrissina are parasitic on the caterpillar-like larvae of sawflies in the families Argidae, Diprionidae, and Tenthredinidae (
Chaetolyga albopicta Bigot, 1889: 258. Lectotype female (NHMUK), by designation of
Male (Fig.
Female (not pictured, due to lack of photographic quality specimens). Length: 5–6mm. As male, with the exception of the following characters: thorax: dorsum and scutellum entirely silver tomentose; thoracic vittae distinct both pre- and postsuturally. Abdomen: entirely black in ground color, ventrolaterally flattened; all tergites lacking discal bristles; median marginal bristles present on ST1+2 and T3; T4 and T5 each with a row of marginal bristles; mid-ventral portion of T3–T5 tergites with a row of strong, stout spines.
Vibrissina albopicta can be differentiated from its congeners by the following combination of traits: parafacial and parafrontal silver; thoracic tomentum silver-gray on both dorsal and lateral surfaces; abdominal ground color almost entirely black with only traces of dark brown; silver tomentum extending to over 30% of T3 and T4, but absent on T5; ST1+2 and T3 with only one pair of median marginals, T4 and T5 with a complete row of marginals; discals on T3 and T4 underdeveloped in male, absent in female.
Mexico: ranging from San Luis Potosí, Southeast to Morelos; Costa Rica: ACG, Guanacaste Province, 295 m.
Hosts: in ACG, V. albopicta has been reared once from the larvae of the sawfly Durgoa mattogrossensis Malaise (Argidae), feeding on the leaves of Bauhinia ungulata L. (Fabaceae).
Male (Fig.
Female (Fig.
Vibrissina danmartini sp. n. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following traits: parafacial and parafrontal gold with parafacial haired; outer thoracic vittae reduced presuturally, not extending to suture, postsuturally also weak; ST1+2, T3, and 50% of T4 bearing orange ground color lateroventrally; abdominal tomentum extending over 60% of tergites T3, T4, and T5, with tomentum broken up by a dorsocentral dark stripe; in females, abdominal tomentum brassy-gold; marginal bristles reduced on ST1+2 and T3, rows of marginal bristles on T4 and T5.
Vibrissina danmartini sp. n. is dedicated to Mr. Dan Martin, now of Washington, D.C., formerly of Chicago, Illinois, in recognition of his administrative and philanthropic support of the biodiversity development concept that gave birth in 1989 to the INBio national biodiversity inventory collections, now part of Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, and his decades of steadfast support for the protection of tropical biodiversity in general, and specifically that of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, dry forest, between 280–295m.
Hosts: reared 37 times from larvae of the sawfly Durgoa mattogrossensis Malaise (Argidae), which feed on the leaves of Bauhinia ungulata L. (Fabaceae).
Male. Unknown. Female (Fig.
Vibrissina hallwachsorum sp. n. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following traits: parafacial and parafrontal gold; tergite 5 bearing all black ground color with silver tomentum over its entirety; and only 1 pair of discal bristles on T3.
Vibrissina hallwachsorum sp. n. is dedicated to Robert and Marianne Hallwachs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in recognition of their seminal support in acquiring the buildings in which the INBio national biodiversity inventory collections have grown and thrived since 1989, and which are now donated to the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, cloud forest, at 1090m.
Hosts: reared once from a larva of the sawfly Waldheimia interstitialis (Cameron) (Tenthredinidae) feeding on the leaves of Hamelia patens Jacq. (Rubiaceae).
Male (Fig.
Female (Fig.
Vibrissina randycurtisi sp. n. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following traits: parafacial and parafrontal all gold; ground color of T5 black in both sexes; abdominal tomentum covering over 30% of ST1+2, T3, and T4; females bearing only 1 pair of marginal bristles on segments ST1+2 and T3, and a single row of marginal bristles on T4.
Vibrissina randycurtisi sp. n. is dedicated to Mr. Randy Curtis of Arlington, Virginia in recognition of his seminal support in acquiring the land on which the INBio national biodiversity inventory collections grew and thrived since their founding in 1989, and still do, now as part of Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste. Rain forest, in a dry-rain lowland intergrade at 280m.
Hosts: reared seven times from the larvae of the sawfly Sericoceros gibbus (Klug) (Argidae), feeding on the leaves of Coccoloba tuerckheimii Donn. Sm. (Polygonaceae).
Male. (Fig.
Female (Fig.
Vibrissina randyjonesi sp. n. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following traits: parafacial and parafrontal all gold; tergite 5 of strong orange ground color at apex, this trait present in both males and females.
Vibrissina randyjonesi sp. n. is dedicated to Mr. Randy Jones of Poland, Ohio, in recognition of his seminal support in acquiring the buildings in which the INBio national biodiversity inventory collections grew and thrived since their founding in 1989, and still do, now as part of Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, dry forest, between 280–300m.
Hosts: reared 100+ times from larvae of Durgoa mattogrossensis (Argidae) feeding on the leaves of Bauhinia ungulata (Fabaceae).
Male (Fig.
Female (Fig.
Vibrissina robertwellsi sp. n. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following traits: parafacial silver and parafrontal gold; tergite 5 of strong orange ground color over more than 50% of tergite, a trait most prominent in females.
Vibrissina robertwellsi sp. n. is dedicated to Mr. Robert Wells of San José, Costa Rica in recognition of his legal manoeuvering and contract management for INBio’s purchase of the lands on which the national biodiversity inventory collections have grown and thrived since 1989, and which have now been donated to the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, dry forest, in a dry-rain lowland intergrade at 5–295m.
Hosts: reared on six occasions from larvae of the sawfly Sericoceros vumirus Smith (Argidae), feeding on the leaves of Ipomoea nil (L.) (Convolvulaceae), Coccoloba uvifera L. (Polygonaceae), Lonchocarpus guatemalensis Benth. and Lonchocarpus minimiflorus Donn. Sm. (Fabaceae).
A neighbor-joining (NJ) (
Neighbor-Joining displaying the inter- and intra-specific variation within the DNA barcode region for the 6 species of Vibrissina Rondani reared from ACG. Tip labels include the species name|specimen accession number|host species; the holotype of each species is indicated with an asterisk. Habitus photographs in lateral view are presented for the holotypes of the new species. An ACG-reared voucher specimen is presented for V. albopicta.
We gratefully acknowledge the unflagging support of the team of ACG parataxonomists (Janzen et al. 2009, Janzen & Hallwachs 2011) who found and reared the specimens used in this study, and the team of biodiversity managers who protect and manage the ACG forests that host these tachinids and their hosts. The study has been supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants BSR 9024770 and DEB 9306296, 9400829, 9705072, 0072730, 0515699, and grants from the Wege Foundation, International Conservation Fund of Canada, Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust, Blue Moon Fund, Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Permian Global and University of Pennsylvania (DHJ & WH). This study has been supported by the Government of Canada through its ongoing support of the Canadian National Collection, Genome Canada, the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, and the Ontario Genomics Institute (2008–0GI–ICI–03) (MAS), and by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (MAS).