PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 103(2), 2001, pp. 444-451 A NEW SPECIES OF CLADOCHAETA COQUILLETT (DIPTERA: DROSOPHILIDAE) AND A NEW RECORD FOR CLADOCHAETA STURTEVANTI WHEELER AND TAKADA IN ARIZONA, WITH NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY Tam C. Nguyen Division of Invertebrate Zoology (Entomology), American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79'*^ Street, New York, NY 10024, U.S.A. (e-mail: nguyen@amnh. org) Abstract. — Cladochaeta johnsonae, new species, is described and figured, including description of larvae and their association with spittlebug (Cercopidae) nymphs. A new record for Cladochaeta sturtevanti Wheeler and Takada is reported from Arizona, previ-ously known only from California, Washington, and southwestern Utah. Key Words: Cladochaeta, Drosophilidae, taxomony, Arizona, larvae, spittlebugs, Cer-copidae The genus Cladochaeta was erected by the dipterist, D. W. Coquillett (1856-1911) in 1900 for Cladochaeta nebulosa. The ge-neric name refers to the single-branched arista of this species. In 1924, J. R. Malloch described Clastopteromyia for the eastern North American species Clastopteromyia inversa, naming the genus in reference to its association with the cercopid Clastop-tera. These two generic names were sub-sequently used synonymously until Wheel-er and Takada (1971) recognized Clastop-teromyia as a junior synonym of Clado-chaeta. Vilela and Bachli (1990), in a study of type specimens, provided a diagnosis for a monophyletic genus Cladochaeta, in which they included 13 described species. Grimaldi and Nguyen (1999) reported over 1 00 additional new species to the genus and transferred two species from the genus Dia-thoneura to Cladochaeta. In the present pa-per, I describe the adults and immature stag-es of a new species of Cladochaeta and re-port a new record for C. sturtevanti Wheel-er and Takada. Material and Methods During August 22-25, 1998, and Sep-tember 12-17, 1999, spittlemasses were surveyed at and in the vicinity of the South-western Research Station (SWRS). The sta-tion is located near Portal, Arizona, in the Chiricahua Mountains at elevations of roughly 4,500-5,500 ft. (1,372-1,677 m). Vegetation of the area is dominated by oaks {Quercus spp.), pinyon pine (Pinus edulis Engelmann), juniper (Juniperus spp.), and agave and creosote at slightly lower eleva-tions. Spittlemasses with fly larvae or pupae were collected and kept in plastic vials with branch cuttings from the respective host plants. Some fly larvae and spittlebug nymphs were immediately preserved in 70% ethanol and subsequently critical point dried. The remaining immatures were al-lowed to eclose, were collected, critical point dried, and mounted for study. Diagnostic measurements of the adult head of Cladochaeta were taken as de-scribed in Grimaldi and Nguyen (1999) (see Table 1). Overall body length was also mea-
A new species of Cladochaeta coquillett (Diptera: Drosophilidae) and a new record for Cladochaeta sturtevanti wheeler and takada in Arizona, with notes on natural history
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