Two new species of the Drosophila onychophora species group (Diptera, Drosophilidae) in the Polylepis forest of Papallacta, Pichincha, Ecuador

Two new species of the Drosophila onychophora species group (Diptera, Drosophilidae) in the Polylepis forest of Papallacta, Pichincha, Ecuador. Despite being a relatively small country, Ecuador has a variety of ecosystems that has favored high speciation levels. One of these ecosystems is the high-altitude Polylepis forests. In these forests, there is great plant diversity including Asteraceae, which host a plethora of insects in their flowers, among which one can find species from the Drosophila onychophora species group. In this study, we describe two new species of Drosophila collected in a remnant of Polylepis pauta in the Paramo of Papallacta at 4000 m. Both species belong to the D. onychophora group: Drosophila yurag sp. nov. and Drosophila yuragshina sp. nov. The two species have elongated aedeagus that are typical of the group. Morphologically both species are very similar; the easiest way to distinguish them is by observing their wings.