DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v62i1.124-127Sociobiology 62(1): 124-127 (March, 2015) Open access journal: http://periodicos.uefs.br/ojs/index.php/sociobiology ISSN: 0361-6525 New Species of Scuttle Flies (Diptera: Phoridae) Associated with a Ponerine Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Brazil Introduction The ant Dinoponera lucida Emery (Ponerinae) is endemic of the Atlantic rain forest in Brazil (Peixoto et al., 2008) and it was included in the list of Brazilian threatened species in 2003 (Campiolo & Delabie, 2008). During 2012 Marcos Teixeira collected Diptera attacking or hovering over this ant in the vicinity of six colonies at Aracruz, Espírito Santo State, in David Farina Park (19o55`54” S - 40o07`41” W). The scuttle flies (Phoridae) were preserved in 70% ethanol and sent to RHLD for slide mounting and identification. The fly specimens are deposited in the Collection of the Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil (MZSP) and the University of Cambridge Museum of Cambridge Museum of Zoology (UCMZ). Genus Apocephalus Coquillett The larvae of this large genus are dominantly parasitoids of ants. We add a further example below. Abstract Among scuttle flies caught at colonies of the ant Dinoponera lucida Emery (Ponerinae) were Apocephalus exlucida Disney new species and females of two species of Megaselia Rondani that, which in our present state of knowledge, cannot be named until associated with their males. Sociobiology An international journal on social insects RHL DISNEY1 , MAL BRAGANÇA2, MC TEIXEIRA3 Article History Edited by Evandro do Nascimento Silva, UEFS, Brazil Received 24 May 2014 Initial acceptance 11 August 2014 Final acceptance 12 August 2014 Keywords ants, parasite. Corresponding author R Henry L Disney Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, U. K. E-Mail: rhld2@hermes.cam.ac.uk Apocephalus exlucida Disney new species In the key of Borgmeier (1971) this species runs to couplet 60 but fits neither species nor subsequently described species running to the same couplet. Among the latter are those covered by Brown’s (2000) A. miracauda-group, which includes some with the most similar ovipositor sheaths, and species associated with leaf cutter ants in Argentina (Brown et al., 2010) but all with very different ovipositor sheaths. Female. Frons as Fig 1, the microtrichia being well spaced. Antennae pale (Fig 2) and postpedicels lacking subcutaneous pit sensilla. Palps as Fig 3. Proboscis with pale labrum and labella, the latter being narrow and lacking fields of spinules on their lower faces. Thorax yellow apart from brown patches on pteropleuron. Notopleoron with two bristles and no cleft in front of these. Mesopleuron bare. Scutellum with an anterior pair of small hairs and a posterior pair of bristles. Abdominal tergites light brown, tending to yellowish at sides with small hairs apart from some longer more robust hairs at sides of T2 SHORT NOTE 1 -University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U. K. 2 - Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Porto Nacional, TO, Brazil 3 - Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, São Mateus, ES, Brazil Sociobiology 62(1): 124-127 (March, 2015) 125 and with some slightly longer fine hairs at rear of T6. Venter pale apart from broad grey bands on flanks below the sides of the tergites, and with hairs, longer than those on tegites, below segments 3-6. Terminal opvipositor sheath complex as Fig 5, with its anterior ventral sclerite comprising an anterior long dark sclerotised rod and a broader greyish brown posterior diamond shape ending in a tapered posterior projection. Legs pale straw yellow apart from brown tips to hind femora and patches on mid coxae. Fore tarsi slender with a posterodorsal hair palisade on all five segments and 5 slightly longer than 4. Dorsal hair palisade of mid tibia extends about 0.8 times its length. Hairs below basal half of hind femur longer than those of the anteroventral row of outer half. Hind tibia with about a dozen differentiated posterodorsal hairs, the last being longer and more robust, and spinules of apical comb all simple. Wings as Fig 6. Knobs of halteres mainly brown. Teixeira, TO-115) (5-164, MZSP). Paratypes: 9 females, 8 males, as holotype except some vii.2012 (TO-114-122) (5- 160-165, MZSP & UCMZ). Comment. Previous records of Apocephalus attacking species of Dinoponera are Apocephalus miricauda Borgmeier and Apocephalus sp. at D. gigantea Perry (Silveira-Costa & Moutinho, 1996); it being shown that injured ants attracted more phorids than uninjured ants, but it was not the haemolymph that was the lure, A. miricauda at D. longipes Emery, there being 4-9 eggs per host and oviposition being mainly between the propodeum and petiole but sometimes the antennal suture (Brown, 2000). Genus Megaselia Rondani In this huge genus, most females cannot be named until linked to their males in our present state of knowledge. Megaselia species A In the keys of Borgmeier (1962) this species belongs to Abteilung VII, running down to couplet 8 but fails to fit either lead. Female. Frons brown, clearly broader than long, with about 80 hairs and devoid of very fine microtrichia. Supra- antennal bristles (SAs) unequal, the lower pair being clearly shorter and finer. The upper SAs slightly wider apart than the pre-ocellars. The antials very slightly lower on frons than anterolaterals, closer to ALs than to upper SAs. Pre-ocellars closer together than than either is from a mediolateral bristle, which is a little higher on frons. Cheek without bristles and jowl with two. The subglobose postpedicels light brown, 0.09 mm in diameter, with 2-3 subcutaneous pit sensilla (SPS) vesicles of which the diameter of the largest is subequal to that of the socket of a lower SA bristle. Palps pale yellow, at most 0.038-0.039 mm at broadest, with 7-8 bristles (the longest clearly longer than palp breadth) and 4-5 hairs. Labrum pale brownish yellow and about 0.95-0.10 mm wide. Labella paler than palps and lacking small spinules below. Thorax brown. Three notopleural bristles and no cleft in front Figs 1-6. Apocephalus exlucida female. Fig 1. Frontal view of head; Fig 2. Antenna; Fig 3. Palp; Fig 4. Dorsal view of abdominal segments 3 to tip; Fig 5; Terminal (ovipositor sheath) segments of abdomen; Fig 6. Right wing. Figs 7-10. Apocephalus exlucida male. Fig 7. Frontal view of head; Fig 8. Left face of hypopygium; Fig 9. Right face of hypopygium; Fig 10. Left face of hypopygium. Male. Head as Fig 7. Thorax as female. Abdomen with tergites with hairing similar to female but with stronger hairs at rear of T6 (Fig 8) but while largely brown they are variably partly yellow, especially T5. Venter entirely pale yellow and with hairs below segments 3-6 but those at rear of segment 6 longer than those at rear of T6 (Fig 8). Hypopygium as Figs 8-10. Legs, wings and halteres similar to female. Material examined. Holotype female, BRAZIL, Espírito Santo, Aracruz, vi.2012, at Dinoponera lucida Emery, (Marcos Disney, R.H.L. et al. - Scuttle Flies Associated with a Ponerine Ant in Brazil126 Female. Frons as Fig 14 and with fairly dense but very fine microtrichia. Cheek with 2-3 small bristles and jowl with two that are longer and more robust. The subglobose postpedicels pale yellow, without subcutaneous pit sensilla (SPS) vesicles, and 0.10-0.11 mm at widest. Palps yellow, 0.05 mm greatest breadth with, 6 bristles (the longest being 0.08 mm long) and as many hairs. Labrum yellow lightly tinged brown and 0.16- 0.17 mm wide. Labella coloured as palps and lacking short spinules below. Thorax yellow, apart from brown patches on pteropleuron. Two notopleural bristles and no cleft in front of these. Mesopleuron bare. Scutellum with an anterior pair of hairs and a posterior pair of bristles, the former being about 0.59 times as long as the latter. Abdominal tergites 1-5 part brown and part whitish yellow. T6 whitish yellow apart from very narrow brown lateral margins and about twice as long as broad. Tergite 7 similar but smaller. Epiproct very pale. Venter mainly pale apart from broad gray bands on the flanks extending from the sides of the tergites, and with hairs below segments 3-6. Sternite 7 represented by hairs only. Posterolateral lobes at rear of sternum 8 pale with 2 hairs at rear margin. Cerci very pale and about twice as long as broad. Furca not evident. Dufour’s crop mechanism very pale, about twice as long as wide and slightly pointed at rear end. Apart from brown patch on mid coxa and tip of hind femur legs yellow. Fore tarsus with posterodorsal hair palisade on segments 1-5 and 5 slightly longer than 4. Dorsal hair palisade of mid tibia extends about 0.8-0.9 times its length. Hairs below basal half of hind femur longer than those of anteroventral row of outer half (Fig 15). Hind tibia with about 16 differentiated posterodorsal hairs, the last being the longest and strongest but the two preceding it clearly weaker and shorter than those above them; and spinules of apical combs simple (Fig 15). Wings (Fig 16) 1.2-1.3 mm long. Costal index 0.59. Costal ratios 3.7 : 3.4 : 1. Costal cilia (of section 3) 0.05 mm long. No hair at base of vein 3 . With 6 axillary bristles, the outermost being 0.10-0.11 mm long. Sc reaching R1. Haltere knob pale grayish brown. of these. Mesopleuron bare. Scutellum with an anterior pair of hairs (about as long as hairs of scutum adjacent to notopleuron) and a posterior pair of bristles. Abdominal tergites brown. T5- T7 as Fig 11. Venter brown, and with fine hairs below segments 3-6. Sternite 7 a narrow bar, about 0.08 mm at widest and tapering a little anteriorly. Epiproct pale contrasting with its sclerotised anterior apodemes. Posterolateral lobes at rear of sternum 8 pale and with 3 longish hairs at hind margin (the longest about 0.05- 0.06 mm). Furca not evident. Dufour’s crop mechanism pale, and at least twice as long as broad and rounded behind. Apart from increasingly brown outer half of hind femur and dark brown patch on mid coxa, legs yellow. Fore tarsus with posterodorsal hair palisade on segments 1-4 and 5 about as long as 4. Dorsal hair palisade of mid tibia extends about 0.75 times its length. Hairs below basal half of hind femur longer than those of anteroventral row of outer half (Fig 12). Hind tibia with 10 differentiated posterodorsal hairs, the last being stronger and longer than the rest, and spinules of apical combs simple. Wings (Fig 13) 1.2-1.3 mm long. Costal index 0.56-0.57. Costal ratios 3.6 : 3.3 : 1. Costal cilia (of section 3) 0.04-0.05 mm long. Without hair at base of vein 3. With two unequal axillary bristles, the outer being 0.06-0.07 mm long. Sc not reaching R1. Haltere with pale stem and brown knob. Material examined. 1 female, Espírito Santo, Aracruz, vii.2012, at Dinoponera lucida Emery, (Marcos Teixeira, TO- 115, MZSP). Figs 11-13. Megaselia species A female. Fig 11. Abdominal tergites 5-7; Fig 12. Hind femur; Fig 13. Right wing. Megaselia species B With the anterior scutellar strong hairs being about 0.59 times as long as the posterior bristles, in the keys of Borgmeier (1962) this species belongs either to Abteilung VI or VII, depending on whether it is considered to possess 2 or 4 scutellar bristles. In Abteilung VI it runs to couplet 50, but is immediately excluded by its yellow thorax. In Abteilung VII, it runs down to couplets 79 and 82-84, which cover males only but in all cases non sexually dimorphic details exclude this species. Figs 14-16. Megaselia species B female. Fig 14. Frontal view of head; Fig 15. Hind femur and tibia; Fig Right wing. Sociobiology 62(1): 124-127 (March, 2015) 127 Material examined. 1 female, Espírito Santo, Aracruz, vii.2012, at Dinoponera lucida Emery, (Marcos Teixeira, TO- 118, MZSP). Acknowledgements RHLD’s studies of Phoridae are currently supported by grants from the Balfour-Browne Trust Fund (University of Cambridge). MALB thanks to CNPq for the financial support in Brazil. Filipe Pola Vargas for support in the field work. References Borgmeier, T. (1962). Versuch einer Uebersicht ueber die neotropischen Megaselia-Arten, sowie neue oder wenig bekannte Phoriden verschiedener Gattungen (Dipt. Phoridae). Studia Entomologica, 5: 289-488. Borgmeier, T. (1971). Further studies on Phorid flies, mainly of the Neotropical Region (Diptera, Phoridae). Studia Entomologica, 14: 1-172. Brown, B. V. (2000). Revision of the “Apocephalus miricauda-group” of ant-parasitizing flies (Diptera: Phoridae). Contributions in Science. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 482: 1-62. Brown, B.V., Disney, R. H. L., L. Elizalde, L. & Folgarait, P. J., (2010). New species and new records of Apocephalus Coquillett (Diptera: Phoridae) that parasitize ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in America. Sociobiology, 55: 165-190. Campiolo, S., & Delabie, J. H. C. (2008). Dinoponera lucida Emery. In: Machado, A. B. M., Drummond, G. M. & Paglia, A. P. (Eds.) Livro vermelho da fauna brasileira ameaçada de extinção. 1st Ed., Brasília, DF: Ministério do Meio Ambiente; Belo Horizonte, MG: Fundação Biodiversitas. p. 388-389. Peixoto, A. V., Campiolo, S., Lemes T. N., Delabie, J. H. C. & Hora, R. R. (2008). Comportamento e estrutura reprodutiva da formiga Dinoponera lucida Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 52: 88-94.