Corresponding author: Inocêncio de Sousa Gorayeb (
Academic editor: T. Dikow
Gorayeb IS (2014) Tabanidae (Diptera) of Amazônia XXI. Descriptions of
Intensive collecting efforts along the Amazon coast during the last 15 years have enriched our knowledge of the fauna of the states of Amapá, Pará and Maranhão in Brazil, including the collection of five females and one male identified as
Specimens were collected using Malaise type flight-intercept traps (
The specimens collected were deposited in the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) in Belém, Pará State, the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) in Manaus, Amazonas State, and the Centro de Estudos Superiores de Caxias (CESC/UEMA) at the Maranhão State University. Specimens and genitalia were examined, measured, and illustrated using a Zeiss Stemi SV 11 stereomicroscope with a coupled
The measurements given in the description of the holotype females are followed by parentheses with the ranges of the five specimens.
The terminology follows
Latin.
Eyes glabrous, solid-colored. Frons slightly divergent above. Frontal callus light brown, narrower than frons, extending to vestiges of ocelli on vertex. Basal plate of antennal flagellum with obtuse angle, without tooth or spine. Palpus approximately the same length as antenna. Labella completely membranous. Thorax with reddish-brown integument with irregular yellow spots, black median stripe and yellow stripes on sutures. Wing hyaline with brown basal cells, yellowish-brown veins, except basicostal which is brown, vein R4+5 fork without appendix. Genital furca wide, with flaps extended laterally. Goblets of genital ducts short.
In the key to the genera of
The characteristics of some genera of
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Body 2.15 cm (n = 5 females), with reddish-brown integument. Eyes glabrous. Frons slightly divergent above. Frontal callus light-brown, narrower than frons, extending to vestiges of the ocelli. Antenna with scape and pedicel brown, with sparse pruinescence, flagellum orange with flagellomeres brown darkening to black at the last segment, basal plate orange, with obtuse angle. Thorax with reddish-brown integument with irregular yellow spots, black median stripe and sub-lateral yellow stripes on sutures. Wing hyaline, with brown basal cells and yellowish-brown veins, except basicostal which is brown, without appendix at forking of vein R4+5. Legs with glossy light-brown integument, covered with thin white pruinescence, hind legs darker. Abdomen with reddish-brown integument banded transversely with strips of yellow-brown integument in median and anterior regions of the segments. Genital furca wide, with flaps extending laterally. Goblets of genital ducts short.
(
Female
Body length 2.25 cm (1.99 to 2.27 cm), width of scutum at level of the transverse suture 7.5 mm (6.1 to 7.5 mm), wing length 2.15 cm (1.87 to 2.15 cm), wing width 6.7 mm (5.9 to 6.7 mm), height of frons 3.2 mm (2.6–3.2 mm), width of frons at vertex 0.8 mm (0.6–0.9 mm), width of frons at the base 0.7 mm (0.6–0.8 mm), frontal index 4.38 (3.90 to 4.38), divergent index 1.10 (1.02 to 1.11).
Head. Eyes glabrous. Frons (
Thorax. Scutum with reddish-brown integument with irregular yellow spots, black median stripe, and yellow stripes on sutures; pruinescence weakly gray-white when viewed at certain angles; short bristles bright yellow, orangish in posterior region of the scutum, longer white bristles in tuft on posterior areas of the supra-alar and post-alar lobes. Scutellum reddish-brown with anterior half dark brown, pruinescence grayish-white, with yellow and white setae on lateral sides. Pospronotal lobe whitish-yellow with white pruinescence and yellow setae. Notopleura yellow with pruinescence and setae yellow. Pleura and coxae with reddish-brown integument, coated with dense grayish-white pruinescence and yellowish-white setae. Legs with glossy light brown integument, covered with sparse white pruinescence, hind legs darker; femora with white setae; fore and median tibia with yellow-orange setae, brown setae scattered on the dorsum of distal quarter; posterior tibia with long brown setae, and short yellow-orange setae on ventral region; tarsi with brown to black setae on dorsum. Wing hyaline with brown basal cells (
Abdomen. With reddish-brown integument, with transversal bands of yellow-brown integument on the median and anterior regions of the segments; coated with sparse grayish-white pruinescence and glossy white-yellowish setae, tergite 7 with brown setae.
Terminalia. Tergites 9, 10 and cerci as in
Variations. Body pruinescence varies from white, to grayish-white, to yellow. The setae vary from white, to yellowish-white, to orange; also from matte to glossy. M3 veins vary, and do not reach the margins of either wing in the holotype, and only the right wing margin in the paratype male. The splotches at the base of wings vary from dark brown to hyaline. The integument is generally reddish-brown, but areas of the scutum, scutellum, tergites, and sternites have variable and irregular yellowish-brown stains.
(
Male of
Eyes with ommatidia of similar sizes. Smaller than female, length body 13.5 mm, wing length 12.6 mm, wing width 6.3 mm. Setae generally darker than those of the female, yellow-orange; no white setae. Palpus (
Brazil (states of Maranhão, Pará).
The specific epithet refers to the town of Tracuateua that belonged to the municipality of Bragança, on the coast of Pará State, Brazil.
Holotype ♀, BRAZIL, Pará, Bragança, Isla Canela,
Paratypes. 1 ♀, Same as holotype (MPEG), 2 ♀ Idem (XI-8 to XI-13-1995, 1 ♀, MPEG, 1 ♀, INPA), 1 ♀ Brazil, Pará, Augusto Corrêa, Mandarité Beach,
I understand the concern that this genus is not based on a phylogenetic analysis of
Like other horse fly species that occur exclusively in coastal ecosystems, the specimens of
The author would like to thank the entomologists Francisco Limeira de Oliveira who supplied the male paratype, José Albertino Rafael who made important technical suggestions, Nelson Papavero for his help in defining the scientific names, the technicians of the Entomology department of the Goeldi Museum who made the coastal Amazon collections, especially Ramiro Bittencourt Neto, Francisco Ferreira Ramos (