Calycomyza inselbergensis Boucher, 2025

Calycomyza inselbergensis Boucher , n. sp.

( Figs 4 View FIG ; 5 View FIG )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:70413387-20D4-475F-961F-B2FF18E699F4

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Guyane • ♂; Mitaraka , sampling site: MIT-E-savane roche 2; 02°13’59.8”N, 54°27’46.5”W; 471 m; open / partially opened areas; 13-20.VIII.2015; MT (6 m); Pierre-Henri Dalens leg.; sample code: MITARAKA/230 sorted by M. Pollet; MNHN. GoogleMaps

ETYMOLOGY. — The specific name refers to the habitat (inselberg) of the type specimen.

DIAGNOSIS. — This species differs from other Neotropical species of Calycomyza by the following features: halter and notopleuron pale brown; calypter and fringe brown; orbital plate brown to lower ors; postpronotum and anepisternum almost completely brown; male genitalia with a very large ring-like sclerite at the base of distiphallus.

DISTRIBUTION. — French Guiana.

HOST PLANTS. — Possibly Verbenaceae (see Remarks).

DESCRIPTION

Male

Orbital plate not projecting in front of eye in profile; frons narrow, width including orbital plates 0.22 mm at midpoint; two reclinate ors and two weaker inclinate ori; orbital setulae sparse, short and reclinate, in one row; first flagellomere small, rounded apically with short white pubescence; arista long with distinct pubescence ( Fig. 4A, C View FIG ); gena at midpoint about 0.1 × eye height; clypeus narrow with anterior margin rounded ( Fig. 4B View FIG ); small triangular epistoma present ( Fig. 4B View FIG ); two well-developed postsutural dc distant from each other, and one weaker third postsutural dc (on right side only); prsc absent; acrostichal setulae in about 7-8 rows; mid tibia with two approximate posterolateral setae; wing length approximately 1.7 mm (wing bent) with last section of M 4 1.6 × penultimate section.

Colour

Frons yellow; upper orbital plate brown to lower ors ( Fig. 4C View FIG ); antenna brown; face apparently partly pale brown (partly hidden by the antennae); palpus brown; clypeus dull brown, paler brown centrally; mesonotum and scutellum shiny brown; postpronotum brown except for narrowly yellow hind corner; notopleuron brownish ( Fig. 4A View FIG ), slightly paler, yellowish ventrally; anepisternum, katepisternum and anepimeron brown; legs brown except for narrowly yellow fore knee; calypter and fringe brown; halter slightly darkened, pale brown ( Fig. 4A View FIG ).

Male genitalia

Distiphallus in the shape of two long tubules with apical section bent to almost 90° and basal section surrounded by a large ring-like sclerite that extends far beyond the width of the tubules in ventral and lateral view ( Fig. 5A, B View FIG ); length of distal tubules anterior to the ring-like sclerite 0.1 mm ( Fig. 5A View FIG , arrow a), equal to the length of mesophallus ( Fig. 5A View FIG , arrow b); epandrium with numerous short internal spines ( Fig. 5C View FIG ); surstyli with short spines and a few (4-5) long setae on upper margin ( Fig. 5C View FIG ); hypandrium narrow and slightly constricted near midpoint; ejaculatory apodeme large with wide blade ( Fig. 5D View FIG ).

REMARKS

The male genitalia of this new species are most similar to those of C. verbenivora Spencer, 1963 , which feeds on various plants in the family Verbenaceae . The type specimen of the latter species from Venezuela, illustrated in Spencer (1963), apparently has the lower tubule broken off (see comment in Spencer 1973b: 49), but the upper tubule is complete, and it is distinctly longer than the mesophallus, quite different from C. inselbergensis Boucher , n. sp. Another difference is the ring-like sclerite at the base of the distiphallus which is distinctly wider in C. inselbergensis Boucher , n. sp. Additional illustrations of the phallus of C. verbenivora from Argentina ( Valladares 1981) and Peru ( Korytkowsky 2014) more closely resemble the phallus of C. inselbergensis Boucher , n. sp. (except for the size of the ring-like sclerite), but C. verbenivora shows significant external differences that are diagnostic: calypter yellow with fringe partially to completely yellow; arista virtually bare; orbital plate bright yellow; and notopleuron, posterior half of postpronotum and upper posterior corner of anepisternum bright yellow. Externally C. inselbergensis Boucher , n. sp. is most similar to C. verbenae (Hering, 1951) , a species known from southern United States and Brazil ( Spencer 1963; Esposito 1994), but the male genitalia of the two species are distinct. Calycomyza verbenae is separated externally from C. verbenivora by the darker, distinctly black calypteral fringe and black face ( Spencer 1963). Like C. verbenivora , C. verbenae feeds on species of Verbena L. and other plants in the family Verbenaceae ( Benavent-Corai et al. 2005) . This species was initially listed as morphospecies Calycomyza Mit- 2 in Boucher & Pollet (2021), along with an additional female specimen. After reconsideration, the female specimen is not included here as a paratype due to uncertain conspecificity. The female differs from the male by its yellow halter, yellow face, mid tibial setae that are further apart, and a shiny brown clypeus.