Taxonomia de Pipunculidae (Diptera: Insecta) da Colômbia

Abstract

Pipunculidae (Diptera: Brachycera: Cyclorrhapha) is a cosmopolitan group of small flies, ranging from 2.0-11.5 mm. Pipunculidae are usually dark brown to black flies, characterized by having large compound eyes that occupy most of the head, which is hemispherical to subspherical, being known as big-headed flies. The family harbors 28 genera and 1,402 described species to date, classified into 28 genera or subgenera, divided into four subfamilies: Chalarinae, Nephrocerinae, Pipunculinae and Protonephrocerinae. The Neotropical fauna is composed of 270 species, classified into 18 genera, divided into three subfamilies: Chalarinae, Pipunculinae and Protonephrocerinae. Chalarinae includes three genera, of which only Chalarus Walker, 1834 has a Neotropical distribution. Protonephrocerinae has two genera, but only Protonephrocerus Collin, 1931 with neotropical distribution. Pipunculinae is the most diverse subfamily, comprising three tribes: Microcephalopsini, Pipunculini, and Tomosvaryellini, all with a neotropical distribution. Before this study, Colombia had registered 10 species and five genera and, despite being considered a megadiverse country, Pipunculidae is one of the lesser-known Diptera groups. This thesis aims to taxonomically review most of the genera and species of Pipunculidae from Colombia, describe the new taxa found, and propose new dichotomous keys and redescriptions for neotropical species, supported by full images of critical characters, and also including a comparative diagnosis, with comments on habitats preferences as well as an update on the geographical distributional in the country. The results are presented in chapters structured as follows: (I) Chapter 1 – review of the species of Chalarus from Colombia, describing two new species (Chalarus boyacensis sp. nov. and C. chairensis sp. nov.), including three new records for the country (C. absonus Rafael, 1990; C. delicatus Rafael, 1990 and C. connexus Rafael, 1988); (II) Chapter 2 – review of the species of Clistoabdominalis from Colombia, describing a new species (Clistoabdominalis lucyae sp. nov.) as well as a new record for the country [C. spinitibialis (Hardy, 1954)]; (III) Chapter 3 – review of the species of Dasydorylas from Colombia, describing three new species (Dasydorylas colombensis sp. nov., D. gibbera sp. nov., and D. santainensis sp. nov.) and a new record for the country [D. nigellus (Rafael, 1990)]; (IV) Chapter 4 – review of the species of Pipunculus from Colombia, describing three new species (Pipunculus caeruleus sp. nov., P. chiminiguagua sp. nov., and P. planus sp. nov.). In the annex are presented only the cover page of the article to avoid copyright issues): (I) Annex 1 – review of the species of Basileunculus from Colombia, work that described three new species (Basileunculus elieceri Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; B. elongatus Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022 and B. tayronensis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022), including a new record for the country (B. rex Curran, 1943); (II) Annex 2 – review of the species of Cephalops and Semicephalops from Colombia, work that described five new species (Cephalops acutus Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; C. gracilis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; C. klinsmanni Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; C. lobatus Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022 and Semicephalops folium Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022) as well as two new distributional records for the country (C. amapaensis Rafael, 1990 and S. inpaganus Rafael, 1990); (III) Annex 3 – review of the species of Cephalosphaera and Neocephalosphaera from Colombia, work that described nine new species (Cephalosphaera munchiquensis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; Neocephalosphaera carinae Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; N. grisea Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; N. iguaquensis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; N. muisca Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; N. paolae Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; N. spinifera Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022; N. spiralis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022 and N. sumapazensis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2022); (IV) Annex 4 – review of the species of Tomosvaryella from Colombia, work that described two new species (Tomosvaryella macarenensis Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2021 and T. martae Ramos-Pastrana et al. 2021), including six new records for the country [T. galapagensis (Curran, 1934); T. lynchi Shannon, 1927; T. mexicanensis Ale-Rocha e Rafael, 1995; T. similis Ale-Rocha e Rafael, 1995; T. tuberculate Ale-Rocha e Rafael, 1995 and T. venezuelana Ale-Rocha e Rafael, 1995], and also the first record of the species T. similis Ale-Rocha e Rafael, 1995 for South America. In this work, new updated dichotomous keys for the Neotropical species were elaborated or updated, including distributional maps for Colombia and comments on habitat preferences. Additionally, updates the Colombian Pipunculidae fauna to 52 species, 14 genera and three tribes, belonging to two subfamilies (Chalarinae and Pipunculinae), placing the country as the second with the highest Pipunculidae diversity in the Neotropical region.