Sclerocoelus pararegularis, Kuwahara & Marshall & Paiero, 2025

Sclerocoelus pararegularis sp. nov.

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Figs 8E View Fig , 104–105 View Fig View Fig

Etymology

This name reflects the overall similarity of this species to the closely related Sclerocoelus regularis ( Malloch, 1914) (from the Greek prefix ‘ para -’, meaning ‘beside, near’).

Material examined

Holotype

MEXICO • ♂; San Luis Potosí, 20 km W of Xilitla; 12 Jun.–6 Aug. 1983; S. and J. Peck leg.; cloud forest , flight-intercept trap; DEBU.

Paratype

MEXICO – Veracruz • 1 ♂; Sontecomapan ; 20 Jun. 1969; B.V. Peterson leg.; CNCI .

Description

BODY ( Fig. 104A View Fig ). Length 1.9–2.5 mm. Head brown, lower half of frons orange; face, gena, and antennae orange-brown. Frontal width 2.3–2.4× frontal height. Three pairs of strong interfrontal bristles surmounting a very fine fourth pair; anterior orbital 0.6–0.7 × posterior. Palpus yellow. Eye large, greatest height about 3.5× shortest genal height. Thorax brown, scutum with paler lateral edges. Two pairs of dorsocentral bristles (anterior pair distinct, 0.4× length of posterior pair) separated by 7–8 rows of acrostichal setulae. Membrane around prosternum bare. Legs pale brown, mid and hind femora darker. Fore femur with three large ventral preapical setae. Ventral surface of male mid tibia with two rows of stout setae in apical quarter. Wing ( Fig. 8E View Fig ) hyaline. CS2 0.7–0.8 × CS3. Halter pale brown.

MALE ABDOMEN ( Figs 104B–C View Fig , 105 View Fig ). Dark brown, tergites reddish medially, posterior edges of tergites slightly desclerotized. T2–5 and S2–4 uniformly long-setose with large posterolateral setae. S5 rectangular, 1.6 × as long as S4, posterolaterally long setose with a very large desclerotized medial area (extending almost to anterior edge), a large, dark, rectangular, medial patch of very dense setulae, and a large, dark, anvil-shaped posteromedial sclerite. Anterior flange of S6+7 0.7× as long as wide; S6+7 completely separated from S8. Sclerite A small, lightly sclerotized; sclerite B long, very narrow and arched; sclerite C absent; sclerite D well sclerotized and slightly sinuate; sclerite E slightly curved with an apical notch; sclerite F large and strongly constricted in mesial third; sclerite G small, about as large as ring sclerite; ring sclerite well sclerotized. Epandrium large, 0.4× length of S8, height 1.4× maximum length and 0.9× maximum width, uniformly long-setose; perianal pads slightly sclerotized but densely setulose. Pseudocercus very small, bearing only a single seta; halves of subepandrial sclerite short and narrow, arched and very weakly fused medially. Subcercus large and shield-like with small lobes articulating with surstylus and epandrium, apex pointed inwards. Hypandrium with long, slightly desclerotized anteromedial apodeme. Surstylus very large and broad, twice as long as deep, concave, densely setose, with a small anterobasal lobe continuous with setose inner anterior ridge. Postgonite relatively long, very slightly sinuate, uniformly broad with a small preapical inner tooth and faint apical ridges. Phallapodeme large, apically bisinuate; basiphallus expanded posterodorsally with a notched central lobe and a pair of rounded, downturned lateral lobes, distally extending as an apically flared tube-like section which articulates with distiphallus; distiphallus largely reduced with a broad dorsal sclerite and a narrow, U-shaped ventral sclerite.

FEMALE ABDOMEN. Female unknown.

Distribution

Neotropical: Mexico.

Remarks

Sclerocoelus pararegularis sp. nov. resembles S. dominicensis sp. nov., S. irregularis sp. nov., and S. regularis from which it can be distinguished by the darker legs, apically pointed subcercus, and sinuate postgonite.