Mesoconius apicalis sp. nov. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 87837FA9-7934-45C0-B03B-F5F836A48ACF Fig. 41 C–E Etymology Mesoconius apicalis is named to reflect the orange apices of the mid and hind femora, one of the characters distinguishing this species from the closely related M. gelbifacies sp. nov. Material examined Holotype ECUADOR • ♀; Napo, SierrAzul Reserve, 14 km W of Cosanga; 00°40ʹ55ʺ S, 77°56ʹ09ʺ W; 2200 m a.s.l.; 8–11 May 2002; S.A. Marshall leg.; DEBUA301-17 sequenced for CO1; QCAZ. Paratype ECUADOR • 1 ♀; same collecting data as for holotype; DEBUA303-17 sequenced for CO1; DEBU. Description (females only) LENGTH. 16 mm. COLOUR. Dark brown with yellow face, lunule and palpus; antenna reddish brown; frontal vitta velvety black; gena and parafacial strip silvery microtrichose. Fore tarsus and hind tarsomere 1 white; mid and hind femora with a narrow orange base followed by equal length black bands separated by a reddish band of same length; oviscape orange. Wing membrane evenly and lightly infuscated, except for three small, equal, distal clear spots. Abdominal tergites, especially syntergite, reddish. HEAD. Epicephalon and paracephalon finely striate, slightly more shiny than orbits; frontal vitta velvety black, posteriorly sharply tapered (narrowed to a point), anteriorly reaching anterior margin of frons as a broad band. Outer vertical bristle absent, inner vertical bristle strong, postocellar bristle strong, only slightly behind inner vertical bristle. Fronto-orbital bristles large, upper bristle inserted at level of upper ocelli. Antennae separated by 1.5× width of antennal socket, upper face broad with an indistinct central carina; lower face flat and microtrichose. Clypeus shiny medially and laterally, microtrichose at posterior corners only. THORAX. Cervical sclerite with a small, shiny, depressed anterior part divided by a carina and a large, elevated, setulose posterior portion. Prosternum microtrichose and with fine setulae along margin. Notum microtrichose, with rows of small acrostichal and dorsocentral setulae; postpronotal lobe microtrichose, with some scattered small setulae on posterior half only, anteromedial corner shiny, anterior face partially shiny and almost vertical, posterior face microtrichose and almost horizontal. Dorsocentral bristle short (subequal to scutellum). Scutellum with two small discal setulae and long apical bristles (longer than scutellum). Katatergite not prominent, but distinctly convex. Vertical row of katepisternal bristles golden. Coxae with anteroventral golden setae. ABDOMEN. Abdominal segment 1 and basal third of segment 2 petiolate, syntergite 1+2 twice as long as tergite 3. Bursa small, ventral receptacle inconspicuous. Common part of spermathecal duct as long as bursa, splitting into similar single and paired ducts, single duct half as long and half as wide. Paired duct uniformly weakly striate until split, then tapered to a bulb-like swelling at mid point; each paired spermatheca striate and broadly oval. Single spermatheca much reduced but distinct, with an irregular surface. Remarks This species is similar to M. gelbifacies sp. nov., from which it differs in having the postocellar portion of the frontal vitta tapered to a narrow point, the oviscape orange, the parafacial pale and setulose, upper fronto-orbital bristles present, and the mid and hind femora ending in a broad orange apical band. These species appear on the same branch of a CO1 maximum likelihood tree, but they are deeply divergent (Fig. 50).

Published as part of Marshall, Stephen A., 2019, A revision of the genus Mesoconius Enderlein (Diptera, Micropezidae, Taeniapterinae), pp. 1-126 in European Journal of Taxonomy 548 on pages 100-102, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2019.548, http://zenodo.org/record/3401901