Phytobia espositae Carvalho-Filho, Monteiro & De-Souza, 2025

Phytobia espositae Carvalho-Filho, Monteiro & De-Souza , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 3A–B View FIGURE 3 , 7 View FIGURE 7 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂ ( MPEG): Brasil [ Brazil] AC [= state of Acre]— Rio Branco / 25–X a [to] 8–XI–91 / F. Ramos / A. Henriques / I. Gorayeb / N. Bittencourt [collectors] // Armadilha [trap] / Malayse / T. Firme [upland forest]

PARATYPES (3). 2 ♂♂ ( MPEG): Brasil [ Brazil], Rondônia [= state of Rondônia] / Ouro preto do Oeste / LINHA–212 / 1 a [to] 4–IV–1985 // Brasil Rondônia / Armadilha [trap] Malayse / F. F. Ramos [collector] . 1♂ ( MPEG): Brasil [ Brazil], Rondônia [= state of Rondônia] / Ouro preto do Oeste / LINHA–212 . GLEBA 21B / LOTE 36 / 07 a [to] 10–IV–1985 // Armadilha suspensa 20 m [suspended trap at a height of 20 meters] // Brasil Rondônia / J. Dias [collector]

Description. Male. Body length 3.6–3.7 mm; wing length 3.2–3.3 mm.

Female. Unknown.

Colouration. Head ( Fig. 1A View FIGURE 1 ): Frons, fronto-orbital plate and ocellar triangle matte black; lunule with silvery microtomentum; face greyish-black; clypeus black; gena dark brown; antenna including the arista entirely brown; palpus dark brown; proboscis brownish-yellow; labellum brownish-yellow, with light setae. Thorax ( Fig. 1A–1B View FIGURE 1 ): scutum mostly black, with complete yellow lateral stripe from postpronotum that continues along posterior border of scutum that has a particularly wide extension in front of scutellum to level of second dorsocentral and narrower extension to second intra-alar; scutal spot with additional constriction at level of transverse suture and with posterior margin having two pairs of glossiform stripes on the intra-alar area not reaching posterior margin of scutum; scutellum light yellow; postpronotum light yellow, with small central brownish spot; proepisternum brownish; notopleuron yellow; anepisternum yellow with anteroventral corner brown; anepimeron yellow, with a small median brown spot; katepimeron, katepisternum, and meron brown; halter entirely yellow; calypter margin and fringe brown. Wing ( Fig. 1D View FIGURE 1 ): hyaline, brown infuscate along cells c, sc, r 1, r 2+3, br, r 4+5 and around crossvein bm-cu; legs brown with apex of fore femur brownish-yellow. Abdomen ( Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 ): mostly yellow, tergites 1 to 3 entirely yellow, tergites 4 to 6 with median black stripe, tergites 5 and 6 with lateral black stripe, terminalia entirely black.

Head. Frons not visible above eye margin in lateral profile; 2 reclinate upper frontal setae and 2 inwardly inclinate lower frontal setae, similar in size; orbital setulae erect in one row; facial keel differentiated, extending to bases of antennae, slightly widening below; ocellar triangle short, ending before second upper frontal seta; lunule high, 38% of frons length; clypeus rounded; first flagellomere circular and densely covered with black hairs; arista long, about 3/4 of vertical height of eye, short pubescent; vibrissa short and thick, 1/3 length of arista.

Thorax ( Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 ).Acrostichal setulae arranged in seven irregular rows; prescutellar seta absent; 3+1 dorsocentral setae, increasing in size from presutural; 2 notopleural setae, similar in size. Wing ( Fig. 1D View FIGURE 1 ). Wing tip nearer to R 4+5 than M 1; R 4+5 and M 1 slightly recurved; C sections 2–4: 0.43: 0.18: 0.15; ultimate section of CuA 1 0.71 length of basal section; r-m distal to midpoint of dm. Legs. Fore tibia without posterodorsal seta; mid tibia with 2 posterodorsal setae on middle third.

Terminalia ( Figs 3A–B View FIGURE 3 ). Epandrium rectangular in profile, with long setae and some small spines along posteroventral margin; cercus long, about 1/2 height of epandrium, with long setae; surstylus rounded, with some short setae and with strong, stout spines on distal margin; hypandrium U-shaped; postgonite clubbed and laterally flattened; phallapodeme about 2.5 length of hypandrium; basiphallus long (longer than mesophallus plus distiphallus), elongate and thin, perpendicular to mesophallus and distiphallus; mesophallus short and rounded; distiphallus rounded, capsule-shaped, with inner portion forming an intricate convolution; ejaculatory apodeme missing.

Distribution. Acre ( Brazil) ( Fig. 7 View FIGURE 7 ).

Etymology. This species is named in honor of Dr. Maria Cristina Esposito (Universidade Federal do Pará — UFPA), for her pioneering study of the Amazonian Agromyzidae fauna. In addition, she acted in the training of several dipterists in the Amazon, including some of the authors of this study (FSCF, NJSM).

Remarks. The new species runs to couplet 21 in the key from Sousa & Couri (2017), which includes the species Phytobia monsonensis Sasakawa and P. pyri Sousa & Couri. However , in couplet 19, the wing length of P. espositae sp. nov. does not correspond to any of the wing lengths mentioned. It differs from P. monsonensis in having tergite 3 entirely yellow, the lunule is silvery, and the distiphallus apex is not divided. In P. monsonensis , tergite 3 has a median brown spot, the lunule is yellow with white microtomentum, and the distiphallus is bifid apically. The new species differs from P. pyri in having tergites 5 and 6 mostly yellow with brown spots and the epandrium and surstylus have spines. In P. pyri , tergites 5 and 6 are entirely black and the epandrium and surstylus are without spines. In addition, the scutal color pattern of P. pyri is very different (see Fig. 34 in Sousa & Couri (2017)).

The scutum colour pattern of P. espositae sp. nov. is similar to that of P. amazonica Sousa & Couri , but differ in the shape of black stripes in the intra-alar region, which are glossiform in P. espositae sp. nov. and with a slight constriction before tip in P. amazonica . In addition, P. espositae sp. nov. has patterned wing and surstylus with spines, while in P. amazonica the wing membrane is hyaline and the surstylus has no spines.