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| Coprosylia bisetosa Marshall
in Marshall & Yau, 2019
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Abstract
Coprosylia bisetosa new genus and new species (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae: Limosininae) is described
on the basis of four males and one female found riding on the abdominal sternites of a dung-rolling scarab beetle
(Paragymnopleurus maurus [Sharp]) in Sarawak, Malaysia. This is the first record of phoretic Diptera associated
with coprophagous beetles in Southeast Asia. The new species is presumed to be kleptoparasitic in dung balls
sequestered by host beetles.
Key words: phoresy, Sarawak, kleptoparasitism, coprophagy, Scarabaeinae
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| Figs. 1, 2. Coprosylia bisetosa. 1A, B, Male and female flies on host Paragymnopleurus maurus; 2A, Male paratype, right wing; 2B, Male holotype, left lateral; 2C, Male paratype, left mid tibia and tarsomere one. |
Coprosylia bisetosa Marshall & Yau, new genus and new species
Type of genus (by current designation): Coprosylia bisetosa Marshall, new species
Diagnosis. Small Limosininae with conspicuously large presutural dorsocentral bristles, small eyes, subequal second and third costal sectors with the latter not overlapped by the costa, and mid tibial chaetotaxy including apicoventral, midventral, preapical anterior, and multiple dorsal bristles (Fig. 2).
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Etymology. The generic name is an adaptation of the Greek term nekrosylia, defined in Brown (1954) as “robbery of the dead”. The gender of the name is feminine. The altered prefix “copro” (dung) reflects the assumption that the larvae of this species develop as robbers of the dung transported by scarabaeine beetles. The specific name refers to the strikingly large anterior dorsocentral bristles.
Stephen A. Marshall and Tiffany Yau. 2019. Coprosylia bisetosa, A New Genus and Species of Limosinine Sphaerocerid (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) Phoretic on Dung Beetles in Borneo. RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY. 67; 183–188.
Etymology. The generic name is an adaptation of the Greek term nekrosylia, defined in Brown (1954) as “robbery of the dead”. The gender of the name is feminine. The altered prefix “copro” (dung) reflects the assumption that the larvae of this species develop as robbers of the dung transported by scarabaeine beetles. The specific name refers to the strikingly large anterior dorsocentral bristles.
Stephen A. Marshall and Tiffany Yau. 2019. Coprosylia bisetosa, A New Genus and Species of Limosinine Sphaerocerid (Diptera: Sphaeroceridae) Phoretic on Dung Beetles in Borneo. RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY. 67; 183–188.