Lycopale magnifica ( Bigot, 1880 )

Lycopale magnifica ( Bigot, 1880) View in CoL

( Figures 2–4 View Fig View Fig View Fig , 9a View Fig , 10–11 View Fig View Fig )

Plagiocera magnifica Bigot, 1880:85 View in CoL .Type locality: Colombia. Holotype: male (OUMNH) ( Figure 4 View Fig ).

Plagiocera magnifica View in CoL : HULL (1949): 390, fig. 24h (head); THOMPSON et al. (1976): 101 (catalog); THOMPSON (1999): 329 (key); MONTOYA (2016): 491 (catalog distribution record)

Habromyia (Plagiocera) magnifica View in CoL : THOMPSON (1976: 101)

Habromyia magnifica View in CoL : MONTOYA (2016: 491) View Cited Treatment

Material examined. COLOMBIA: Risaralda, Pueblo Rico,Tatamá National Park,Vereda Montebello, Cañón del Rio Taiba, 5.21245, -76.092473,

1690–1900 meters above the sea level [m a.s.l.], Bosque, 13–20.ix.2014, leg. C. Bota-Sierra, Red Entomológica (3 ♀♀, CEUA 92869, ZFMK-DNA-FD19584777,GenBank PP979580, CEUA 92870,92871); Santander, Carmen de Chucurí, La Bodega, 6.660277, -73.384553, 2300–2400 m, 16.viii.2001, leg. P. Duque & A. Vélez, Van Someren-Rydon trap baited by fish (1 J, CEUA 69689); Nariño, Pialapi, 1.053441, -77.863838, 2881 m, 21–25.iii.1996, Leg. G. Castillo (1 ♀, CEUN 14750).

Length. Body 13.2 mm; wing 10.8 mm.

Diagnosis. Lycopale magnifica is similar in appearance to Lycopale rectilinea but can be easily distinguished from it by the facial vitta black ( Figs 2a, b, d, e View Fig and 4a, b View Fig ); antenna extensively black ( Figs 2a, b, d, e View Fig and 4a, b View Fig ); postpedicel trapezoid; scutum with a small median vitta before the transverse suture ( Figs 3a, b View Fig and 4c View Fig ); scutellum orange ( Figs 3a, b View Fig , 9a View Fig ); abdomen shiny purplish black in the background of the second tergum, with a triangular macula perpendicular to the lateral edge ( Figs 2c, f View Fig , 3a, b View Fig ). Redescription. Male. Head ( Figs 2a–b View Fig , 3a View Fig , 4a–c View Fig ). Face yellow with broad black medial vitta reaching frontal prominence, white pilose and pruinose laterally, shiny and bare on medial vitta; gena orange-brown, shiny and bare anteriorly, white pilose and pruinose posteriorly; frontal triangle black, shiny except for very narrow grayish white pruinose vitta along eye margin, black and yellow pilose; vertical triangle black, black pilose; eyes bare, narrowly dichoptic, separated from eye margin by at least ocellus width; occiput white pruinose and pilose, except for a few black piles dorsally. Antenna: dark brown except for reddish orange basoventral 1/3 of postpedicel; postpedicel trapezoid; arista light yellow and pubescent.

Thorax ( Figs 2b–c View Fig , 3a View Fig , 4a–c View Fig , 9a View Fig ). Dull black; postpronotum yellowish pruinose and pilose; scutum with two submedial yellow pruinose vittae throughout entire scutum length, in addition to one median vitta reaching the 3/4 of the scutum length; transversal suture yellowish pruinose and pilose; pre-scutellum vitta yellowish pruinose, rectangular-like and confluent with two submedial longitudinal vittae; postalar callus with yellow sublateral pruinose vitta on wing base, yellow pilose; pleuron brown, whitish grey pruinose, orange pilose; scutellum orange, orange pilose, except for a few black piles on disc; calypter orange, border brown, orange pilose marginally; plumula orange; halter pedicel orange; capitulum orange.

Wing ( Figs 2b–c View Fig , 3a View Fig , 4b, d View Fig ). Hyaline except for orange basal 1/2, brownish black apical 1/2; microtrichose, except for bare areas on posterior half of cells cup and dm, bare also on anterior half of cell bm; alula bare basomedially; tegula and basicosta orange pilose.

Legs ( Figs 2a–c View Fig , 3a View Fig , 4b View Fig ). Orange, coxae and trochanters orange, orange pruinose and pilose; profemur orange, orange pilose, mesofemur orange pilose except black apicoventrally; metafemur orange, orange pilose except black pilose ventrally, in addition to some black piles on apicodorsal 1/4; hind tibia orange pilose except for some black pile on basoventral 1/3.

Abdomen ( Figs 2b–c View Fig , 3a View Fig , 4d View Fig , 9a View Fig ). Shiny purplish black, pile mainly orange-yellow; first tergum brown grey pruinose, orange pilose on basolateral margin; second tergum with large triangular oblique macula perpendicular to lateral edge, orange pilose, except for black pile on apicolateral margin and medially; third tergum with narrow basal yellow tomentose fasciae separated medially, orange pilose except for black pile on apicolateral margin and medially; sterna brown, orange pilose; male genitalia as in Figs 3c–e View Fig , purplish black, grey pruinose, yellow and black pilose.

Female ( Figs 2d–f View Fig and 3b View Fig ). Similar to male, except for normal sexual dimorphism and: on frontal triangle grayish white pruinose vitta along eye margin wider than in male, triangular oblique macula on second tergum larger than in male, terga extensively covered with orange golden pile. Body length 12.1–12.3 mm; wing length 9.3–9.8 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Lycopale magnifica is similar in appearance to Lycopale rectilinea , from which it differs in having the following combination of characters: facial vitta black ( Figs 2a, b, d, e View Fig and 4a, b View Fig ) (versus facial vitta yellow (J) or reddish brown (♀) in L. rectilinea ); antenna extensively black ( Figs 2a, b, d, e View Fig and 4a, b View Fig ) (versus brownish orange in L. rectilinea ); both species with two submedial yellow pollinose vittae, confluent with a transverse vitta before scutellum base, but in Lycopale magnifica ( Figs 3a, b View Fig and 4c View Fig ) the scutum has a small median vitta before the transverse suture (versus scutum without a small median vitta before transverse suture in L. rectilinea ( Fig. 9b View Fig )); scutellum orange ( Figs 3a, b View Fig , 9a View Fig ) (versus scutellum dull brownish to shining blackish in L. rectilinea ); abdomen shiny purplish black in the background ( Figs 2c, f View Fig , 3a, b View Fig ) (versus abdomen extensively black in the background in L. rectilinea ( Fig. 9b View Fig )).

Distribution and natural history. MONTOYA (2016) recorded Lycopale magnifica from the Eastern Mountain range (Santander, Carmen de Chucurí) in Colombia and herein, it is recorded from the Western Mountain range (Risaralda, Pueblo Rico, Montezuma) for the first time ( Figs 1I View Fig , 10–11 View Fig View Fig ), inhabiting the Andean montane forest from 1690 to 2400 meters of elevation. Recently, MONTOYA & BOTA- SIERRA (2023) recorded a female specimen carrying the “louse flies”, Ornithoica vicina (Walker, 1849) (Hippoboscoidae: Ornithoicinae : Olfersiini) hitchhiking on the abdomen dorsum ( Fig. 2f View Fig ). The species is also distributed in Ecuador: Pichincha (Locality Nambillo Valley, near Mindo, -0.067991 -78.743024, 1450 m, BMNH) ( Natural History Museum 2024), a locality situated about 155 km from Nariño, Pialapi, which corresponds to the most southwestern record in Colombia.

Remarks. The type material of Plagiocera magnifica was examined from photos ( Fig. 4 View Fig ) provided by Amoret Spooner and Robert Douglas (OUMNH). The species was labeled as Colombia but the particular locality was not provided. The terminalia of Lycopale magnifica was described based on additional material since the holotype terminalia were not dissected.