Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomic Paper
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Corresponding author: AJ Fleming (ajfleming604@gmail.com)
Academic editor: Daniel Whitmore
Received: 16 Aug 2018 | Accepted: 27 Mar 2019 | Published: 10 Apr 2019
© 2019 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 (2019) A new species of Trismegistomya Reinhard (Diptera: Tachinidae) from Area de Conservación Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica. Biodiversity Data Journal 7: e29130. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.7.e29130
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The New World genus Trismegistomya Reinhard, 1967b (Diptera: Tachinidae) previously included only the type species Trismegistomya pumilis (Reinhard, 1967a) from Arizona, U.S.A.
We describe a new species of Trismegistomya, Trismegistomya jimoharai Fleming & Wood sp. n., from Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica, reared from wild-caught caterpillars of Melipotis januaris (Guenée, 1852) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae). Our study provides a concise description of the new species using morphology, life history, molecular data and photographic documentation. In addition to the new species description, we provide a redescription of the genus, as well as of its type species Trismegistomya pumilis.
Dexiinae, Voriini, tropical rain forest, tropical dry forest, parasitoid flies, Erebidae, host specificity, Guanacaste, Caterpillar
The monotypic genus Trismegistomya Reinhard, 1967b (Dexiinae: Voriini) was initially erected and described under the name Trismegistus Reinhard, 1967a from a single female specimen collected in Portal, Arizona; however, as this name was preoccupied by Trismegistus Johnson & Snyder, 1904, it was replaced in that same year by Trismegistomya Reinhard, 1967b. In his original description, the author compared the type species, Trismegistus pumilis Reinhard, 1967a, to Myiophasia Brauer & Bergenstamm, 1891 (a parasitoid of Coleoptera and now a synonym of Gnadochaeta Macquart, 1850), but mentioned that they had "decisively different cephalic characters."
Trismegistomya belongs to the tribe Voriini within the subfamily Dexiinae (
To date, there has been no other work on Trismegistomya since its original description. This work aims to build on the knowledge of the genus by adding a new species based on differences in external morphology and by providing COI (coxI or cytochrome c oxidase I) gene sequences. We also add a description of the previously unknown male of Trismegistomya pumilis (Reinhard, 1967b). This paper is part of a broader effort to name and catalog all of the tachinid species collected from the ACG inventory (
All reared specimens were obtained from host caterpillars collected in Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) (
Voucher specimen management follows the methods first outlined in
To date, all DHJPARxxxxxx-coded tachinids have had one leg removed for DNA barcoding at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) in Guelph, ON, Canada. All successful barcodes and collateral data are first deposited in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD, www.boldsystems.org) (
Inventoried Tachinidae were collected under Costa Rican government research permits issued to DHJ and exported from Costa Rica to Philadelphia, en route to their final depository in the Canadian National Insect collection in Ottawa, Canada (CNC). Tachinid identifications for the inventory were conducted by DHJ in coordination with a) morphological inspection by AJF and DMW, b) DNA barcode sequence examination by MAS and DHJ and c) correlation with host caterpillar identifications by DHJ and WH through the inventory itself. Dates of collection cited for each ACG specimen are the dates of eclosion of the fly, not the date of capture of the caterpillar, since the fly eclosion date is much more representative of the time when that fly species is on the wing rather than the time of capture of the host caterpillar. The collector listed on the label is the parataxonomist who found the caterpillar, rather than the person who retrieved the newly eclosed fly from its rearing container. The holotypes of the species newly described herein are all deposited at CNC.
CNC Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Ottawa, Canada
The description of the new species presented here is complemented with a series of color photos, used to illustrate the morphological differences with already known species. Imaging was carried out using the methods outlined in
Examples of measurements and landmark anatomical features.
The DNA barcode region (5’ cytochrome c oxidase I (CO1) gene,
Trismegistomya Reinhard, 1967 -
Trismegistus Reinhard, 1967 -
Male. Head: strongly conical in shape, 1.3× wider than tall in frontal view, in profile 1.35× wider at level of pedicel than at level of vibrissa; fronto-orbital plate and parafacial dull grey-silver tomentose; frontal vitta of reddish-brown color, 1.2× width of fronto-orbital plate; eye bare, occupying 0.75× height of head; postpedicel 1.18× pedicel; pedicel brilliant orange; arista slightly longer than postpedicel, abruptly tapered apically; antennal insertion level with middle of eye; gena almost 0.25× height of eye, strong genal groove of deep dull red color, contrasting with silver gena; two pairs of vertical setae, inner vertical setae convergent, almost 2x as long as outer vertical setae, which are strongly divergent; ocellar setae weak but present and strongly divergent; fronto-orbital plate with single row of frontal setae, at most one frontal seta below upper margin of pedicel and two rows of short setulae outside of frontal setae; parafacial bearing one row of weak proclinate parafacial setae directly adjacent to facial ridge (so close that the facial ridge appears as setulose), appearing as a continuation of frontal setae; one row of scattered setulae on remainder of parafacial, extending to lower proclinate orbital seta; two pairs of proclinate orbital setae, one pair of lateraloclinate or reclinate upper orbital setae; palpus yellow-orange, only slightly haired. Thorax: entirely black; dorsally with a very slight grey tomentum presuturally, only visible under certain angles of light, otherwise appearing as glabrous black; chaetotaxy: three postpronotal setae arranged in a straight line; two notopleural setae; three postsutural acrostichal setae; 3–4 postsutural dorsocentral setae; 2–3 postsutural intra-alar setae; three postsutural supra-alar setae; 2–3 katepisternal setae; anepimeron bare, with 2–4 short and stout hair-like setae, lacking any strong elongate anepimeral setae; scutellum with 1–2 pairs oflateral setae; one pair of apical setae; discal scutellar setae ranging from one pair to absent. Wings: hyaline with a slight yellow tinge; bend of vein M obtuse, ending at wing margin; crossvein dm-cu slightly oblique; wing vein R4+5 bearing 4–6 setulae dorsally, extending 0.75× distance from node to crossvein r-m. Legs: short and stout; entirely glabrous black, densely covered in appressed short setulae. Abdomen: ground color appearing glabrous reddish-black; very slight silver tomentum visible on anterior margins of tergites when viewed under different angles of light; mid-dorsal depression of ST1+2 extending only halfway across syntergite, not reaching tergal margin; marginals present only as a complete row of setae on both T4 and T5; one row of discal setae on T5. Females differ from males only in their terminalia.
Trismegistomya is distinguished from other voriines by the following combination of characters: small, 3–3.5 mm long; habitus glabrous black, with only light tomentum presuturally only evident under certain angles of light; conical head profile with axis of pedicel subequal to head height; deeply excavated clypeus; vibrissa inserted above lower margin of face; yellowish wing reaching beyond tip of abdomen; abdomen ovate with mid-dorsal depression of ST1+2 not reaching tergal margin, possessing median marginal setae on T4 and T5 and median discal setae on T5 only.
New World genus ranging from Arizona in the USA south to Costa Rica.
Male (Fig.
Female: unknown at this time, assumed to be similar to male as is the case with the type species.
Trismegistomya jimoharai sp. n. is easily differentiated from its only congener, the type species T. pumilis Reinhard, by the following combination of traits: basal portion of postpedicel distinctly orange; arista orange apically; and four postsutural dorsocentral setae.
Trismegistomya jimoharai sp. n. is named in honor of Dr. James O’Hara of Ottawa, Canada in recognition of his many years of support to the curation, taxonomy and administrative logistics of the on-going effort to inventory the caterpillar-attacking species of Tachinidae of ACG and secure the residence of their voucher specimens in the Canadian National Collection.
Costa Rica, ACG, Prov. Guanacaste, coastal margin dry forest, 10 m elevation.
T. jimoharai has been reared two times, from only four larvae of Melipotis januaris (Guenée, 1852) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) reared by the inventory to date and collected while feeding on Pithecellobium oblongum Benth. (Fabaceae) in ACG dry forest. It should be noted that Trismegistomya has not been noted out of the other 808 rearings of Melipotis spp. reared by the inventory.
Trismegistus pumilis Reinhard, 1967: 101. Type data: Holotype ♀ (CNC). U.S.A., Arizona, Portal. Type label: Holotype ♀: “Porta, Arz. VIII–17–65/ H J Reinhard Collector/ HOLOTYPE Trismegistomya pumilis/ Trismegistomya pumulis [sic] R (RNH).”
Female (Fig.
Male: as female, except for terminalia.
Trismegistomyia pumilis can be differentiated from its only congener, T. jimoharai sp. n., by the following distinctive combination of traits: basal portion of postpedicel not distinctly orange; arista concolorous with postpedicel; and three postsutural dorsocentral setae instead of four.
USA, Arizona, Portal.
Unknown; specimens of T. pumilis were collected via Malaise traps and sweeping.
Key to the species of Trismegistomya Reinhard |
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1 | Postpedicel dark brown throughout; arista concolorous with postpedicel; three postsutural dorsocentral setae. | Trismegistomya pumilis Reinhard |
– | Basal portion of postpedicel distinctly orange; arista orange apically; four postsutural dorsocentral setae. | Trismegistomya jimoharai sp. n. |
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 caterpillar 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 Center for Biodiversity Genomics and the Ontario Genomics Institute (2008–0GI–ICI–03) (MAS) and by a Discovery Grant from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (MAS). The authors also wish to acknowledge the efforts and time of the editor and reviewers, who provided insights and suggestions allowing us to make our work better.