New species of Asphondylia (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae, Asphondyliini) from Brazil

Three new species of Asphondylia are described from Minas Gerais (Brazil): Asphondylia ingaiensis, A. rufae and A. zeyheriae. They induce galls on Moquiniastrum barrosoae (Asteraceae), Bauhinia rufa (Fabaceae), and Zeyheria montana (Bignoniaceae), respectively, all native to Brazil, being the last endemic. Illustrations of relevant morphological characters are provided. The new species are compared with congeneric Neotropical species. Types are deposited in the Museu Nacional, Entomological Collection.


INTRODUCTION
Asphondyliini is a cosmopolitan and monophyletic tribe of Cecidomyiidae (Dorchin et al., 2019), easily recognizable by female and male characters. The female seventh sternite and eighth tergite are unique, the former is much longer than the sixth sternite and the latter is strongly sclerotized, wide, and laterally notched. Male gonostyli are short, compact, and dorsally disposed. This tribe comprises more than 500 gall-inducing species of 43 genera. It is divided in three subtribes, Asphondyliina, Polystesphina and Schizomyiina (Gagné & Jaschhof, 2021).
Asphondylia Loew, 1850 belongs to the tribe Asphondyliina and it is morphologically characterized by a needlelike ovipositor, two-toothed gonostylus, three-segmented palpi and presence of upper and lower horns on the pupal frons (Gagné, 1994). This cosmopolitan genus is one of the most diverse of Cecidomyiidae, with about 300 species. All are gall-inducers and together they are associated with more than 65 plant families (Gagné & Jaschhof, 2021). In Brazil, 22 described species are known.
The neotropical genus Moquiniastrum (Cabrera) G. Sancho occurs only in South America.
It is known from 21 species, 19 of them reported in Brazil (Funk et al., 2014;Sancho, 2020). Up to date, a single cecidomyiid species has been associated with this plant genus, Asphondylia gochnatiae Maia, 2008 (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae), inducing galls on Moquiniastrum barrosoae (Cabrera) G. Sancho, a native plant to Brazil, where it occurs only in Cerrado areas (Sancho, 2020).
The Neotropical genus Zeyheria Mart. comprehends only two species, Z. tuberculosa and Zeyheria montana, the former occurring in Brazil and Bolivia, while the latter is endemic to Brazil, where it is widespread, with records from the Amazonas (North region) to Paraná (South region) (Fischer et al., 2004). So far, no gall-inducing species is known on Zeyheria.
Morphological studies and drawings were made with the aid of an optical microscope coupled to a photographic camera and drawing tube. Measurements were done using a microscope slide with scale from 0.01 to 5.0 mm. Length of wings was measured from the arculus to the apex; total length of females from vertex to posterior margin of the 8 th abdominal segment; and length of antennae, upper and lower facial horns as indicated in Figs. 1A-C. All drawings were edited using Corel DRAW®. Adult morphological terminology follows Cumming & Wood (2009) and larval and pupal stages follows Gagné (1989).
Type material of Asphondylia gochnatiae and A. microcapillata from the Cecidomyiidae Collection of the Museu Nacional (MNRJ)/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro were examined and photographed to be compared to the new species. Morphological data on A. godmanniae Möhn, 1959 were obtained from literature.  about 0.6 X length basal part, upper frontal horn simple, 0.5 X length antennal horn, lower frontal horn tridentate 0.3 X length antennal horn, 8 th abdominal segment with 9-12 dorsal spines in the posterior row.

Etymology:
The name "rufae" is the genitive of the specific epithet of the host plant.

Etymology:
The name "zeyheriae" is the genitive of the host plant genus.

Remarks: Asphondylia zeyheriae induces galls on
Zeyheria montana Mart. (Bignoniaceae), a plant endemic to Brazil with records in the Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, and Cerrado (Lohmann, 2020). This is the first gall midge species reported on this plant.
Only one other congeneric species, Asphondylia godmaniae Möhn, 1959, from El Salvador, induces galls on Bignoniaceae. It is known only from larva and pupa (Möhn, 1959). The described stages of Asphondylia godmaniae and A. zeyheriae are morphologically very similar, but their lar- Figure 23. Asphondylia zeyheriae sp. nov., larva, (A) Prothoracic spatula and associated papillae, ventral view, (B) Terminal segment, dorsal view. Maia, V.C.: New species of Asphondylia from Brazil Pap. Avulsos Zool., 2021;v.61: e20216157 18/20 vae differ mainly in the body length (1.9 mm in the former and 3.7-3.9 mm in the latter), and shape and relative length of the spatula teeth (compare Fig. 23A with Fig. 24A). Pupae of both species differ in body length (2.3-2.4 mm in A. godmaniae and 5.0-6.4 mm in A. zeyheriae) and face integument (sclerotized area between upper and lower facial horns present only in the new species). In both species, the distal part of the antennal horn is longer than the basal part, but in the new species this difference is more accentuated; the upper facial horn is longer and more pointed in A. zeyheriae than in A. godmaniae, and the lower facial horn has the lateral teeth slightly longer than the middle tooth in the new species, while in A. godmaniae this difference is greater (compare Figs. 21B-D with Figs. 24B-D).