Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2015-11-24
Page range: 114–126
Abstract views: 41
PDF downloaded: 2

Redescription of Aposycorax chilensis (Tonnoir) (Diptera, Psychodidae, Sycoracinae) with the first identification of a blood meal host for the species 

Mississippi Entomological Museum, Mississippi State University, 100 Old Highway 12, P.O. Drawer 9775, Mississippi State, MS 39762-9775, USA.
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, 2431 Joe Johnson Drive, 205 Ellington Plant Sciences Bldg., The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-4560, USA.
Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3222, USA.
Diptera hematophagous moth flies Batrachyla frogs Chile Patagonia

Abstract

Adults of Aposycorax chilensis were collected from several sites during fieldwork in Chilean Patagonia, December 2013. Specimens were swept or aspirated from roadside seeps and found in greatest numbers during the morning hours. DNA was extracted from a recently blood-fed female and was subjected to the polymerase chain reaction using vertebrate-specific 16S primers. An amplicon was obtained and the resulting sequence was found to have over 99% identity with two frogs in the genus Batrachyla, thus establishing this species’ preference for amphibian hosts. The diagnosis and description of adult A. chilensis are revised, including the first description of the complete male genital tract. Habitat characteristics for this species and rotation of the male genitalia are discussed.