A new species of Trichobius (Diptera: Streblidae) from Mexico and new record of Paratrichobius americanus

Abstract

A new species of Trichobius Gervais, 1844 (Diptera: Streblidae) is described from specimens in Jalisco, Mexico, from host bat Choeronycteris mexicana Tschudi. We consider the new species described is related to the "dugesii" group, since it shares certain characteristics those of T. angulatus and T. tiptoni, but it results easy to differentiate from all the known species due to the cheatotaxis of the thorax in which the prescutum setae, and the lateral setae are very long, while the discal setae are abruptly smaller and denser. It also presents the metasternal lobe, which is very broad and translucent.

Association of bat flies (Diptera: Streblidae) and bats: Richness and host specificity in Western Mexico

“…In Mexico in the last decade, in addition to ecological studies, inventories of the species of streblids and their hosts have also been conducted, providing new records for the country and the description of new species, thus increasing the number of taxa to 16 genera and 61 species ( Cuxim-Koyoc et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Colín-Martínez et al, 2018 ; Cuxim-Koyoc et al, 2018 ; Tlapaya-Romero et al, 2023 ). The state of Jalisco is in an important geographic transition zone between the Nearctic and Neotropical regions resulting in great biological diversity and endemism of fauna and flora ( Santana et al, 2004 ).…”

“…However, only three studies of streblids report 34 species in 21 bats ( Ramírez-Martínez et al, 2016 ; Zarazúa-Carbajal et al, 2016 ; Salinas-Ramos et al, 2018 ). Recent studies in this region have described two new species of bat flies, and two new records for the country ( Graciolli et al, 2021 ; Tlapaya-Romero et al, 2023 ). increasing the number of species of streblids in the country from 59 ( Cuxim-Koyoc et al, 2018 ) to 61 ( Tlapaya-Romero et al, 2023 ); these last findings an indicator that the knowledge of streblids is still ongoing and highlights the importance of continuing with faunistic and taxonomic studies.…”