New Neotropical species ofDownesheleaWirth and Grogan and redescription ofD. multilineata(Lutz) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Taxonomic Revision of Neotropical Downeshelea Wirth and Grogan Predaceous Midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

“…A detailed study of this species group is available in Santarém et al (2018) [10]. It did not, however, include D. blantoni.…”

“…Downeshelea blantoni can be distinguished from D. moravia by its smaller size (1.37 mm in D. moravia) (Table 1), the aedeagus rectangular without elliptical sclerotized anterior areas and distal portion non-serrate (subtriangular with elliptical sclerotized anterior areas, distal portion serrate in D. moravia) and sternite 9 with a large convex median lobe (poorly developed in D. moravia). Specimens of Downeshelea blantoni are only recorded from coastal areas in Panama at lower altitudes while D. moravia is restricted to higher altitudes (1600 m) in forested areas of Costa Rica [10] ( Figure 2). Unfortunately, only one female wing was available for study from the paratypes listed herein.…”

“…Downeshelea eclectica Santarém et al, 2018 [10]: 521 (male, female, Costa Rica, Colombia and Brazil); Santarém and Felippe-Bauer, 2019 [2]: 16 (Brazilian distribution).…”

“…Currently, 42 species are included in Downeshelea, with 28 recorded from the Neotropical region (with two of these extending into the Nearctic) [1,10]. With the addition of 18 new species here, there are now 60 species known.…”

“…Morphological terms are from Borkent et al [14]. The antennal ratio was obtained by dividing the combined lengths of the distal five flagellomeres by the combined lengths of the preceding eight flagellomeres for females and the distal four by the preceding nine flagellomeres for males, as was done in our earlier species description of Downeshelea [10,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. The distribution of spines on each of tarsomeres 2-4 of all legs are separated by hyphens.…”