Moth flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) collected in colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis virulens (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with description of two new species Sociobiology

Three species of Psychodidae were collected in colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis virulens (Smith, 1858) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in an area of Atlantic forest on the south of Bahia State, Brazil. Two of them are new to science, herein described: Trichomyia myrmecophila sp. nov. and


Introduction
Association between Diptera and Formicidae (Hymenoptera) has been reported for many species of Phoridae (Borgmeier, 1938;, some Microdontinae (Syrphidae) (Reemer, 2013) and in nematocerous Diptera of the families Culicidae, Ceratopogonidae, Cecidomyiidae and Sciaridae (Kistner, 1982, Evenhuis et al., 2007. The association between Psychodidae (Diptera) and ants was only recorded in three psychodid species, each one of which in distinct subfamilies: adults of Lutzomyia texana (Dampf) (Phlebotominae) in Atta texana Buckley nest, southern U.S.A. (Young & Perkins, 1984); pupa of Nemapalpus mopani De León (Bruchomyiinae) in Eciton hamatum (Fabricius) nest, Guatemala and Ecuador (Kistner et al., 2001) and larvae of Alepia longinoi discovery of three species of Psychodidae associated with colonies of Solenopsis virulens (Smith). Despite of its wide distribution, being found in forest areas of northeastern South America, from Bolivia to the state of Bahia at Atlantic Coast (Trager, 1991), there were already no report of myrmecophile interactions for this fire ant. Herein we describe two new species of moth flies, and also record for the first time Trichomyinae species associated with ant nests.

Material and methods
The adults of Psychodidae were collected from fragments of 12 nests of Solenopsis virulens found on fallen tree trunks and at the base of trees. Approximately 2000 cm³ of the nests were collected, carried to the laboratory -in enclosed plastic container -and accommodated in an emergency trap, during the period of 15 days. The moth flies were fixed in 70% ethanol, then cleared with 10% sodium hydroxide and mounted in Canada balsam. The terminology of the morphological descriptions follows Cumming Etymology: The new species is named after its discovery in the nest of the fire ant Solenopsis virulens.

RESEARCH ARTICLE -ANTS
Diagnosis: Base of R 5 and r-m unsclerotized; gonocoxites fused with two internal expansions, the dorsal longer than ventral one, straight, narrow ending in a point and the dorsal ending in a bifurcated apex; gonocoxite with one pair of arms and with a strong setae in the interior margin of this structure; cercus pyriform, wider basally narrower apically with two distinct apical setae.
Female: Unknown. Distribution: Known only from the type locality, Ituberá, Bahia, Brazil.
Remarks: No other Neotropical species of Trichomyia with one pair of arms have a pyriform cercus with two apical setae. Diagnosis: Male cercus slightly curved, with one apical long tenaculum, around 0.7 length of cercus; gonocoxites almost contiguous; gonocoxal apodemes forming a ventral sheath to aedeagus; aedeagus straight, long and slender, with truncate apex; female subgenital plate wider than long, bilobed, with a pair of strongly sclerotized round structures.
Female: Head, antenna and wing same as male. Genitalia as figured; subgenital plate slightly wider than long, pilose, bilobed with lobes well delimited (Fig 18); a pair of round sclerotized structures interior to the subgenital plate.
Remarks: This species is very similar to Quatiella cubana, but they can be differentiated by genitalic characters, as follows: in Quatiella truncata sp. nov. males present a long dorsal sheath to aedeagus (which may be fused parameres) and females presents subgenital plate wider than long with well delimited apical lobes and round internal structures, while in Q. cubana the males have no dorsal sheath to aedeagus and the subgenital plate of female is slightly longer than wide with a pair of saculiform structures internally. The genus Quatiella was already considered a subgenus and a synonym of Philosepedon Eaton, 1904 by Duckhouse (1973Duckhouse ( , 1974, but was accepted as a genus by others (Vaillant, 1973(Vaillant, , 1974(Vaillant, , 1990(Vaillant, , 1991Ježek, 1985;Wagner & Masteller, 1996;Ibánez-Bernal, 2004). This genus is similar to Feuerborniella (Ježek, 1985 even suggested they could be synonyms) by having eyes proximate, bulbous labellum with short spines on inner margin, 14 flagellomeres, 12-14 reduced, ascoids Y-shaped, male genitalia with cercus bearing one tenaculum at apex. But they can be differentiated by male terminalia characters. In Quatiella, the tenaculum is longer, at least half the length of cercus, the hipoproct is subretangular, much wider than long, and the gonocoxites are not separated by the hypandrium. In contrast, Feuerborniella has a shorter tenaculum, not reaching half of cercus, hipoproct projecting posteriorly, and gonocoxites separated by the hypandrium.
The paratypes of Quatiella truncata were collected with Malaise and CDC light traps and not found emerging from a fire ant nest, as the holotype. However, at least the specimens from the States of Amazonas and Pará were collected in a forest area, as the holotype, where S. virulens is known to occur (Trager, 1991).

Discussion
This is the first study about myrmecophilous interactions with fire ant Solenopsis virulens. However, inside fire antsgeminata group (Trager, 1991) -in the first study to survey myrmecophilous species associated with nests of Solenopsis saevissima richteri Forel, Collins & Markin (1971) cataloged fifty-two species of arthropods, including crustaceans, millipedes, arachnids, and eight orders of Hexapoda .
To explain the coexistence and permanence of these insects within the nests Vander Meer et al. (1989) discovered that many of the insects myrmecophilous have similar or identical cuticular hydrocarbons to those of their host. Although we can not affirm what kind of association the moth flies described here present with the ant nests, Kistner et al. (2001) and Quate and Brown (2004) notes on Psychodidae larvae inside ant nests show that moth flies may be capable of using this type of habitat for breeding.
In a recent work (Mendes et al, 2009), a new genus of Nicoletiidae (Zygentoma), Allotrichotriura was discovered in colonies of Solenopsis saevissima, demonstrating the need to further study the biodiversity of those insects that live in nests of ants.
(CAPES) for the fellowship to Thalles Platiny Lavinscky Pereira. The Michelin Ecological Reserve (REM) supported this study. The authors acknowledge the support of the SECTI/FAPESB-CNPq PRONEX program PNX0011/2009.