A new species of Asphondylia (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and a key to separate species of the genus associated with Asteraceae from Neotropical region

A new species, Asphondylia cipo sp. nov. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) causing stem and petiole galls on Lessingianthus warmingianus (Baker) H. Rob. (Asteraceae) is described and illustrated from Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. A key is provided to separate species of this genus associated with host plants in the Asteraceae family from the Neotropical region. Key-Words. Asphondyliini; Insect-plant association; Morphology; Taxonomy.


INTRODUCTION
Asphondylia Loew, 1850 belongs to the tribe Asphondyliini of the subfamily Cecidomyiinae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). The genus is cosmopolitan with 299 species described to date, of which about 100 species occur in the Neotropical region and 21 in Brazil (Gagné & Jaschhof, 2017;Flor & Maia, 2017). Asphondylia species have been recorded on 66 plant families in the world, being most frequently found on Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Chenopodiaceae (Gagné & Jaschhof, 2017). So far, 19 species of Asphondylia have been associated with Asteraceae species in the Neotropical region, mostly shrubs and herbs.
Previously no Asphondylia species have been described from Lessingianthus neither to Neotropics nor to other biogeographical region in the world. Here the new species is described, named Asphondylia cipo sp. nov. and compared to 19 congeners associated with Asteraceae in the Neotropical region. A key is provided to separate these species.  Gagné (1994), as well as the terminology of morphological characters. The type specimens of the new species were deposited in the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP).

Etymology:
The specific name "cipo" is in apposition, referring to the type locality, Serra do Cipó.
Gall and biology (Fig. 6): Globoid stem and petiole swelling on Lessingianthus warmingianus (Baker) H. Rob. (Asteraceae). Galls are bare, monothalamous, unilocular even when closely approximated to one another. The interior of larval chamber is lined with a fungal mycelium, as described for A. glomeratae and A. moehni in Gagné et al. (2001). Pupation in gall. The adults emerged through an escape hole dug with the antennal horns of the pupa. Remarks: Asphondylia cipo sp. nov. can be easily differentiated from any other species of the genus by the following set of characters: the great body length; needle part of ovipositor 1.6 mm length, 2.3 times longer than sternite 7; upper frontal horn simple, lower frontal horn trilobed; prothoracic spiracle setiform with an accessory structure in spiral format; four-toothed prothoracic spatula of larva, the inner pair tiny and widely separated; one pair of discrete terminal papillae; galls on stem and petiole of Lessingianthus warmingianus.
Of the 16 species Asphondylia inducing galls on Asteraceae whose larvae are known, only A. ajallai, A. serrata, A. ulei, A. zacatechichi, and A. cipo sp. nov. have spatula with inner teeth much less than ½ the size of the outer with the inner incision flat and wide (Fig. 7F), however, the distance between the inner teeth is much larger in A. cipo sp. nov. than in the other known species; from these, only A. serrata and A. cipo sp. nov. share one inner and two outer lateral papillae, A. ajallai and A. ulei have two inner and two outer lateral papillae, and A. zacatechichi has 3inner and 2 outer lateral papillae. Asphondylia cipo sp. nov. differ of A. serrata by the shape of antennal horn, triangular in the former, rectangular in the later in pupa; and in females, the needle part of ovipositor is 2.3 times longer than sternite 7 in the former and 1.87 in the later. The morphological evidence discussed above indicates that this species is distinct from all other species of Asphondylia inducing galls on Asteraceae described previously.

Identification key to the species of Asphondylia associated with Asteraceae in the Neotropical region
The male and female characters of Asphondylia are near all similar among the species, that's why most of the characters used in the key are from pupa, larva, host plants, and galls.   vic. San Vicente) because the type specimens are lost. Asphondylia hieronymi (Weyenbergh) (Distrib. Argentina) could be included in the Asphondylia species grouped under the couplet 5' , which larval spatula was described with four teeth, the inner much less than ½ of outer, with inner incision flat and wide, but the required information to the next steps of the key is unavailable in the original description and the type specimens are referred as lost in Gagné & Jaschhof (2017). Larva with two inner and two outer lateral papillae; terminal segment of larva with one ( Fig. 8A) or four terminal papillae (Fig. 8E)  Larva with the inner teeth of spatula reach at least ½ of outer teeth, inner incision absent (Fig. 7C) or, if present, deep and narrow (Fig. 7D) Figure 8A modified from Gagné et al. (2001), 8B, 8C from Möhn (1959), 8D from Möhn (1973), 8E from Maia (2004 Larva with inner incision of spatula very deep (Fig. 6D) Larva with two inner and two outer lateral papillae; two pairs of setose terminal papillae of larva (