Dilophus aff. tetracanthus, Edwards, 1930

Dilophus aff. tetracanthus View in CoL ( Fig. 4C View FIGURE 4 )

Material examined. Treinta y Tres: Quebrada de los Cuervos, 32°57’42”S, 54°30’10”W, 2♀, 28-x-2023, V. C. Pacheco da Silva , D. Hagopián, M. Panzera, A. Costa, A. Mailhos, leg., D. Schelesky-Prado det., Malaise trap (FCE-Dip 1520) GoogleMaps .

Comments. These females fit into couplet 27 of Hardy’s (1953) key; D. tetracanthus Edwards (as Philia tetracantha ) and D. luteus Edwards (as Philia lutea ). Both species are known from Chile and D. tetracanthus is also recorded from Argentina ( Fitzgerald et al. 2020). Besides, they may be the same species ( Hardy 1953). The females from Uruguay keyed with D. tetracanthus and indeed share several features with this species, such as short rostrum, dorsum of thorax yellow and black colored, four medial spines on fore tibia, and mid tibia with spinose setae (the latter feature described for males, but probably present in females as well) ( Edwards 1930). However, the specimens studied differ in some aspects from D. tetracanthus : anterior thoracic comb with 7-8 spines (10-12 spines are present in D. tetracanthus ), and four medial spines on fore tibia, two near the base and two in the middle (four spines in a transverse row at the end of basal third is the pattern described for females of D. tetracanthus ) ( Edwards 1930). The pattern observed in the studied females is similar to the pattern described for males of D. tetracanthus , and it is possible that the condition described for females is variable (two sets of two spines or a single set of four spines), however, it is necessary to study more specimens of both sexes to be able to confirm this. Additionally, the specimens studied have a variation in the division of the anterior comb, which is divided in one specimen and undivided in the other one, which is unusual. Therefore, it is preferred here to identify the material as D. aff. tetracanthus .