Some Psychodidae (Diptera) from Atlantic forest in south-eastern Brazil, with descriptions of Trichomyia dolichopogon sp. nov. and Trichomyia riodocensis sp. nov.

The family Psychodidae includes the medically important phlebotomine sand flies and four other subfamilies that have been little studied in the Neotropics. The authors here report the results of a trip to collect psychodids in Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, a national park in Minas Gerais that contains one of the largest surviving areas of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Collections made by Malaise and CDC light traps as well as from diurnal resting sites included 15 species of Psychodinae and Trichomyiinae, among them Trichomyia dolichopogon sp. nov., T. riodocensis sp. nov. and 13 other species new to science but represented by females only. Twelve species of phlebotomine sand flies (Lutzomyia spp.) were also collected. Collections from an undisturbed area of the park were much richer faunistically than those from an area that was destroyed by fire in 1967 but had since regenerated, suggesting that recovery after environmental disturbances of this type may be prolonged. This pattern was not seen for phlebotomine sand flies, whose greater abundance and species richness in the disturbed section of the park may be related to their dependence on small mammal hosts, known to be more diverse in this type of habitat.

Some Psychodidae (Diptera) from Atlantic Forest in South-Eastern Brazil, with descriptions of Trichomyia dolichopogon sp. nov. and Trichomyia riodocensis sp. nov

The family Psychodidae includes the medically important phlebotomine sand flies and four other subfamilies that have been little studied in the Neotropics. The authors here report the results of a trip to collect psychodids in Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, a national park in Minas Gerais that contains one of the largest surviving areas of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Collections made by Malaise and CDC light traps as well as from diurnal resting sites included 15 species of Psychodinae and Trichomyiinae, among them Trichomyia dolichopogon sp. nov., T. riodocensis sp. nov. and 13 other species new to science but represented by females only. Twelve species of phlebotomine sand flies (Lutzomyia spp.) were also collected. Collections from an undisturbed area of the park were much richer faunistically than those from an area that was destroyed by fire in 1967 but had since regenerated, suggesting that recovery after environmental disturbances of this type may be prolonged. This pattern was not seen for phlebotomine sand flies, whose greater abundance and species richness in the disturbed section of the park may be related to their dependence on small mammal hosts, known to be more diverse in this type of habitat

Adult male bolas spiders retain juvenile hunting tactics.

Bolas spiders in the genus Mastophora exhibit extreme sexual size dimorphism. In temperate regions, the diminutive males become adults about 2 months before females mature. Late-instar and adult females attract certain male moths by aggressive chemical mimicry of those moth species' sex pheromones. While hunting, these larger female spiders hang from a horizontal silken line and capture moths by swinging a "bolas" (i.e., a sticky globule suspended on a thread) at the approaching moths. Small, early-instar bolas spiders of both sexes attract moth flies in the genus Psychoda, which they capture without using a bolas or web. Instead, they position themselves along leaf margins and use their front two pairs of legs to grab approaching prey. The predatory habits of adult male bolas spiders have never been reported. Our field experiments demonstrated that adult males of the bolas spider Mastophora phrynosoma attract adult male Psychoda phalaenoides. Each year during our 3-year study, significantly more P. phalaenoides were captured on sticky traps baited with live adult male M. phrynosoma than on unbaited control traps. Thus, the tiny adult male bolas spiders retain the juvenile hunting tactic of attracting psychodid flies, while female bolas spiders switch from hunting psychodid flies as spiderlings to hunting moths when the female spiders become older and larger.

Preliminary taxonomy of Costa Rican Psychodidae (Diptera), exclusive of Phlebotominae.

100 species of Psychodidae, not including the Phlebotominae, are recorded from Costa Rica. Keys are given for all the following taxa, except species of Maruina, and descriptions and illustrations are given for all new species: TRICHOMYINAE: 1. Trichomyia triangularis, n.sp., 2. T. pseudodactylis, n.sp., 3. T. brevitarsis Rapp, 4. T. saurotis, n.sp., 5. T. tritruncula, n.sp., 6. T. xaniostylis, n.sp., 7. T. intricata, n.sp., 8. T. ptilotis, n.sp., 9. T. acanthostyla, n.sp., 10. T. clavellata, n.sp., 11. T. dolichakis, n.sp. PERICOMINI: 12. Pericoma hansoni, n.sp., 13. P. zumbadoi, n.sp., 14. P. hespenheidei, n.sp., 15. Syntomoza monteverdica, n.sp. MARUININI: 16. Maruina (Aculcina) amadora Hogue, 17. M. (A.) amada Hogue, 18. M. (A.) querida Hogue, 19. M. (A.) cholita Hogue, 20. M. (A.) muchacha Hogue, 21. M. (Maruina) chamaca Hogue, 22. M. (M.) chamaquita Hogue, 23. M. (M.) chica Hogue, 24. M. (M.) dama Hogue, 25. M. (M.) vidamia Hogue, 26. M. (M.) tica Hogue, 27. M. (M.) nina Hogue, 28. Alepia alfaroana (Dyar), 29. A. valentia, n.sp., 30. A. relativa, n.sp., 31. Arisemus spilotos, n.sp., 32. A. lepidotos, n.sp., 33. A. salazari, n.sp., 34. Caenobrunettia plegas, n.sp., 35. S. laselva, n.sp., 36. S. tropicalis, n.sp., 37. Armillipora selvica, n.gen., n.sp., 38. Balbagathis sylvatica, n.gen., n.sp., 39. B. talamanca, n.sp., 40. Tonnoira bitenacula, n.sp., 41. T. plumaria, n.sp., 42. T. moragai, n.sp. TELMATOSCOPINI: 43. Duckhousiella furcatus (Kincaid), 44. Telmatoscopus mergacolis, n.sp., 45. T. clavatus, n.sp., 46. T. congruus, n.sp., MORMIINI: 47. Bryopharsos palpiculum, n.gen., n.sp., 48. B. claviformosum, n.sp., 49. B. clavigum, n.sp., 50. B. tritaleum, n.sp., 51. Eugenys clavellata, n.gen., n.sp., 52. Brunettia bistria, n.sp., 53. B. apiculata, n.sp. PSYCHODINI: 54. Philosepedon tritaxis, n.sp., 55. P. pandiculatus, n.sp., 56. P. tetartos, n.sp., 57. P. atopos, n.sp., 58. P. parifurcus, n.sp., 59. P. longistylus, n.sp., 60. P. ensiger, n.sp., 61. P. retusus, n.sp., 62. P. bicuspis, n.sp., 63. P. hamatus, n.sp., 64. P. ancepitis, n.sp., 65. P. pollicaris, n.sp., 66. P. bicalcaratus, n.sp., 67. P. dimorphus, n.sp., 68. P. tritenaculus, n.sp., 69. P. deceptrix, n.sp., 70. P. tripetalis, n.sp., 71. P. majorinus, n.sp., 72. Psychoda quiniversa, n.sp., 73. P. litotes, n.sp., 74. P. obeliske, n.sp., 75. P. setigera Tonnoir, 76. P. alternata Say, 77. P. alternata complex, 78. P. balaenica, n.sp., 79. P. laticaula, n.sp., 80. P. apparitia, n.sp., 81. P. spondea, n.sp., 82. P. articaula, n.sp., 83. P. stenostypis, n.sp., 84. P. cordiforma, n.sp., 85. P. bicordata, n.sp., 86. P. savaiiensis Edwards, 87. P. buxoides, n.sp., 88. P. incompta, n.sp., 89. P. mimica, n.sp., 90. P. laticeps, n.sp., 91. P. psilotes, n.sp., 92. P. rhis, 9. P. varablanca, n.sp., 97 P. bisacula, n.sp., 98, P. entolopha, n.sp., 99. P. aculeata, n.sp., 100. P. flagellata, n.sp.

Juvenile bolas spiders attract psychodid flies.

Large immature and mature female bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora attract certain male moths by aggressive chemical mimicry of those moth species' sex pheromones. These older spiders capture moths by swinging a "bolas" (i.e., a sticky globule suspended on a thread) at the approaching male moths. Juvenile bolas spiders do not use a bolas, but instead use their first two pairs of legs to grab prey, which our field observations suggested were primarily nematocerous Diptera. Our field experiments over a 2-year period demonstrated that juvenile bolas spiders attract moth flies (Psychodidae), with each species apparently specializing on a particular prey species. In three experiments, sticky traps containing young Mastophora phrynosoma spiderlings consistently captured significantly more male Psychoda phalaenoides than were captured on traps containing spiderlings of other Mastophora species or no spiderlings (control traps). Results from two of the three experiments suggested that Mastophora hutchinsoni spiderlings attract male Psychoda trinodulosa. Only two of our experiments included Mastophora bisaccata and those produced contrasting results. In the first experiment, M. bisaccata appeared to attract P. phalaenoides, albeit in lower numbers than were captured on traps containing M. phrynosoma. However, in a second experiment the following year, M. bisaccata spiderlings attracted Psychoda satchelli, a species that had not been caught on any traps the previous year. As suggested by a systematist four decades ago, the taxon currently called M. bisaccata may consist of two or more sibling species, which could account for the contrasting results obtained from our two experiments involving M. bisaccata. This is the first reported evidence that, during early developmental stadia before these spiders attract moths, juvenile bolas spiders attract their prey.