Corresponding author: Augusto León Montoya (
Academic editor: Ximo Mengual
The morphological similarities between five new large
Montoya AL, Wolff M (2020) Description of six new large species of
Flower flies or hoverflies (
Extensive sampling in the cloud forest, high-Andean and Páramo ecosystems in Mesoamerica (México and Costa Rica) and Tropical Andes (Colombia and Ecuador) in the last twenty-five years resulted in the discovery of several new
The type series of the new species is comprised of dry pinned material deposited in the CEUA, USNM, INBio, and ECO-TAP-E.
To illustrate the morphological variation of the herein described species, habitus photographs were created from a series of images taken at different focal depths with a digital camera Olympus OM-D (Olympus Raw Image file in .ORF) using the facilities of the
Body length was measured from frons to the posterior end of the abdomen; wing length was measured from wing insertion to the apex of the wing. Measurements were made using a Zeiss Stemi 2000-C stereomicroscope (magnification 6.5–115×) equipped with a stereoscope grid. Measurements of antennal segments are approximations based on the mid-line of the inner surface and are presented in the ratio format scape:pedicel:flagellomere.
For the study of the male genitalia, the structure was dissected. The genitalia were cleared in a KOH solution (approximately 10%) boiling at 37 °C for 10 to 15 minutes. Schema of internal structures were illustrated from digital images taken through the stereomicroscopes. Additional, sketches were produced with a camera Lucida attached to the stereomicroscope. Final drawings were prepared by tracing and vectorizing in Adobe Illustrator CC, and pile was omitted.
The new species are described from males and females collected together in at least one locality, and sexual dimorphic variation reported. Only
With the aim of spanning the entire known distribution of included species, original label information was compiled in a Darwin Core standard-compliant data. Distributional maps were generated using the software QGIS desktop 2.2.0 and an excel .csv file (comma delimited) to plot presence. A digital file with an elevation model (SRTM30 CGIAR-SRTM with 30 seconds resolution) was used in addition to a shapefile with the biogeographic provinces proposed by
The new
The new key was modified based on characters provided by
1 | Postpronotum pilose (MCAD fig. 30); male abdomen with four unmodified pregenital segments; tergum 5 usually not visible in dorsal view (MCAD figs 1, 4) (subfamilies |
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– | Postpronotum bare; male abdomen with five unmodified pregenital segments; tergum 5 visible in dorsal view (MCAD figs 53-61) (subfamily |
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2 | Face and/or scutellum partially yellow or yellowish-brown in background color, aedeagus two-segmented |
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– | Face and scutellum entirely black in background color (some species with partly pale face or scutellum), aedeagus unsegmented ( |
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3 | Abdomen petiolate, distinctly narrower than thorax (MCAD figs 59, 60); face usually without tubercle, flat, straight or convex |
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– | Abdomen parallel-sided or narrowly oval (MCAD figs 55, 58); face with tubercle |
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4 | Antennal cavity broadly confluent (MCAD fig. 24); metathoracic pleuron with several fine subappressed pile ventral to spiracle; katepisternum with pile patches broadly separated posteriorly, joined anteriorly |
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– | Antennal cavity broadly separated (MCAD fig. 23); metathoracic pleuron bare; katepisternum with pile patches usually broadly separated throughout |
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5 | Metasternum greatly reduced to a small diamond (MCAD fig. 34; |
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– | Metasternum entire, not reduced (MCAD fig. 35; |
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6 | Antennae shorter, scape broader than long, scape nearly equal to pedicel, basoflagellomere large, slightly oval and apically rounded (Fig. |
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– | Antenna elongate, scape longer than broad; basoflagellomere oval or elongate (MCAD fig. 22); face straight in profile, tubercle low (MCAD fig. 22); mesocoxa bare posteriorly; male genitalia normal size ( |
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7 | Basoflagellomere oval or slightly elongate (MCAD fig. 22); face usually with transversal grooves dorsally along tubercle (MCAD fig. 23) and shine (bare) punctuate maculae laterally; scutellum without a deep groove next to the rim; metacoxa without a pile tuft at posteromedial apical angle; abdomen slightly spatulate, oval or with parallel sides, with triangular to quadrate or oval markings | |
– | Basoflagellomere large, slightly oval and apically rounded (Fig. |
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8 | Antenna brown (Fig. |
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– | Antenna orange ventrally; alula and costal cell bare; femur yellow on apical 1/3 or more; second tergum with broad macula |
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9 | Legs extensively yellow (Fig. |
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– | Legs black on basal 1/3 or more (Figs |
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10 | Abdomen with a transverse fascia on the third tergum (Fig. |
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– | Abdomen with a pair of large maculae on the third tergum, slightly touching each other toward the middle; metacoxa yellowish pilose (Figs |
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11 | Metafemur brown basally; coxa black; third and fourth tergum with a pair of quadrangular maculae (Fig. |
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– | Metafemur yellow basally; coxa orange-brown; third and fourth tergum with a pair of triangular maculae (Figs |
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12 | Face white pollinose and pilose (Fig. |
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– | Face yellow pollinose and pilose (Fig. |
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Face yellow pollinose and pilose. Metafemur extensively brown, only slightly orange on apical 1/6. Tibiae yellow with a dark ring near the middle, more prominent on the metalegs. Third and fourth tergum with a pair of broad subquadrate maculae, reaching the lateral margin in their full width, fifth tergum with a pair of small maculae in the basal corners.
Colombia, department of Antioquia, Sonsón municipality, Vereda Norí municipal rural settlement, Norí Mountain hill, forest,
The specific epithet
Abdomen with a pair of large quadrangular maculae on the third and fourth tergum, sometimes slightly touching toward the middle. Legs black, metafemur only slightly yellow in the extreme apex. Coxae black. Metacoxa yellowish pilose.
Colombia, department of Cundinamarca, Choachí municipality, La Victoria.
The specific epithet “
Only type specimen is known.
Second tergum with a broad macula reaching apical 1/2. Third tergum with a short rounded basal fascia. Metacoxa black pilose.
México, department of Chiapas, San Cristóbal municipality, L.C. Huitepec
The specific epithet
Antenna orange ventrally, oval, longer than wide. Costal cell hyaline, bare basally. Alula bare medially. Pro- and mesofemur yellow. Metafemur orange on basal 1/5 and apical 3/5. Probasitarsomere, meso- and metabasitarsomere I–II yellow. Second tergum with a broad macula reaching apical 1/3. Third tergum with a broad macula, short in fourth. Sternite fourth to fifth black pilose.
Costa Rica, department of Puntarenas, Coto Brus municipality, Sendero entre Estación Tres Colinas y Laguna Seca,
The specific epithet
Legs extensively yellow. Tegula yellow pilose and the halter entirely yellow. Abdomen with four pairs of lateral broad yellow maculae.
Colombia, department of Caldas, Manizales municipality, Corregimiento Las Palmas, Parque Rio Blanco,
The specific epithet
Antenna brown, rounded, as long as wide; face opaque, white pollinose and pilose. Wing, alula and, costa cell extensively microtrichose, except for extensive bare areas on basal half (cells, sc, r1, dm, and bm); costal cell brownish, calypter and border whitish, fringe plumula and, halter yellow, knob white. Femora and tarsi extensively brown. Abdomen, second tergum with a pair of small narrow maculae reaching basal 1/5; third and fourth tergum with basomedial maculae, reaching 2/5 and 1/5, respectively; fifth sternite black pilose.
Costa Rica, department of Cartago, Rio Macho muncipality, Estación Ojo de Agua,
The noun in apposition ‘
(modified from
(modified from
COLOMBIA: Antioquia, Bello, San Félix, Las Baldías,
Adults of
Genus
Biogeographical distribution of
Biogeographical distribution of
Biogeographical distribution of
The new
The new
Their restricted distribution, the local abundance and the fact that most species inhabit Protected and Conserved Areas suggest their vulnerability as proposed for several syrphid groups (see
In consequence and given that only one Neotropical species has been assessed in the IUCN Red List (
Thanks are due to F. Christian Thompson (Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA) for his continuous support to my formation and for allowing me to study the flower flies housed in the USNM collection. I’m very thankful to the collection curators and researchers, in particular to Philippe Sagot for facilitating access to the material to his cure. I sincerely thank Torsten Dikow for all the valuable help during my internship at the Smithsonian Institution. Thank are due to everyone who collects this invaluable material, especially to the members of the Entomology Group, University of Antioquia (GEUA). This study was supported by funding provided by the FONDO NACIONAL DE FINANCIAMIENTO PARA LA CIENCIA LA TECNOLOGÍA Y LA INNOVACIÓN "FRANCISCO JOSÉ DE CALDAS" and COLCIENCIAS (Convocatorias 712–2015, 745–2016) to the project “Las moscas de las flores (
Table S1
occurrence