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| Nudopeza cura Nudopeza glypha Marshall. 2025 |
Abstract
The Neotropical genus Nudopeza (Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae) is described for a group of 41 species, including Nudopeza tapanti sp. nov. (type species) and Nudopeza pronigra (Hennig) n. comb. for Grallipeza pronigra Hennig 1934, Nudopeza arcuata (Hennig) n. comb. for Grallipeza arcuata Hennig 1934, and the following 38 additional new species: N. cegex sp. nov, N. cura sp. nov, N. duplitheca sp. nov, N. gilli sp. nov., N. glypha sp. nov., N. gracei sp. nov., N. hansoni sp. nov., N. horologia sp. nov., N. laselva sp. nov., N. mephitis sp. nov., N. mexicana sp. nov., N. micromephitis sp. nov., N. nigrivertex sp. nov., N. nigriscutellum sp. nov., N. nudarcuata sp. nov., N. penai sp. nov., N. palenque sp. nov., N. paramephitis sp. nov., N. peruviensis sp. nov., N. quadrivitta sp. nov., N. ruficincta sp. nov., N. rutilans sp. nov, N. sirena sp. nov., N. sumaco sp. nov., N. trinidadensis sp. nov., N. uniseta sp. nov., N. variterga sp. nov., N. venezuelensis sp. nov., N. verpa sp. nov., N. versivitta sp. nov., N. viriola sp. nov., N. viva sp. nov., N. yungasensis sp. nov., N. zarza sp. nov., N. zostera sp. nov., N. zumera sp. nov., N. zygoma sp. nov., and N. zytha sp. nov.
Keywords: new species; new combinations; Grallipeza
Nudopeza New Genus
Type species: Nudopeza tapanti sp. nov., current designation.
Etymology: The generic name Nudopeza was used informally for many years to refer to species with a bare arista but otherwise superficially similar to Grallipeza. Because the name has been widely used as a manuscript name it is retained and formalized here even though the generic concept is now expanded to include species with a plumose or pubescent arista.
Diagnosis: Most species of Nudopeza, including the type species, have a conspicuous white or centrally white scutellum, a white postpronotum flanked mesally by a characteristic black spot, an all or mostly black frontal vitta, and an angled black line dividing the fronto-orbital plate into a pale lower (frontal) plate and a variously pigmented upper (orbital) plate (the net effect is usually a black “V” running eye to eye across the black or mostly black frontal vitta). Male terminalia of most species are simple, with the basal distiphallus ending in a broad phallic bulb as in Grallipeza, although a few males have a short (N. verpa group) to moderately long (N. zostera) distal distiphallus beyond the phallic bulb and two species (N. mexicana sp. nov., N. glypha sp. nov.) have an extraordinarily long distal distiphallus extending far anteriorly into the abdomen along with a correspondingly elongate hypandrium. Female N. glypha and N. mexicana have extremely long spermathecal ducts that seem to correspond with the elongate male phallus. The spermathecal complex of most Nudopeza species includes a simple primary spermathecal duct running to a pair of long, characteristically twisted and often ornamented spermathecal stems; the secondary spermathecal duct is usually very small with a single small or entirely atrophied spermatheca, but some species have both the primary and secondary spermathecae and associated ducts strongly developed. A few species, including the type, have two pairs of spermathecae. One unusual species (N. penai sp. nov) is the only known micropezid with five spermathecae.
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| Nudopeza cura sp. nov. Costa Rica (MNCR). (A). Topotypic ♀, habitus. (B). Head and notum. (C). Spermathecae and associated structures. (D). ♂ Terminalia, left ventrolateral. (E). Phallus. |
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| Nudopeza glypha sp. nov. Costa Rica, living flies (DEBU). (A,B). ♂♂. (C). ♀. |
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| Nudopeza rutilans sp. nov., ♀♀ Peru. (A). holotype, living (MUSM). (B). Spermathecae and associated structures (DEBU). (C). paratype, living (DEBU). |
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| Nudopeza venezuelensis sp. nov. holotype ♀, Venezuela (DEBU). (A). Head and thorax. (B,D). Habitus, lateral and dorsolateral. (C). Spermathecae and associated structures. |
Stephen A. Marshall. 2025. Nudopeza, a New Genus of Neotropical Micropezidae (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae). Taxonomy. 5(2), 19; DOI: doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy5020019 [12 April 2025]
