New species of Limnophyes Eaton (Diptera, Chironomidae) from China and synonymy of L. fuscipygmus Tokunaga, 1940

Abstract Two new species, L. minerus Liu & Yan, sp. nov. and L. subtilus Liu & Yan, sp. nov. are described and illustrated as adult males. Limnophyes minimus (Meigen, 1818) is assigned as a senior synonym of L. minerus Tokunaga, 1940. A key to males of Limnophyes from China is presented.


Introduction
Limnophyes was erected by Eaton (1875) with Limnophyes pusillus Eaton, 1875 as type species. Saether (1990a, b) reviewed the Holarctic, Afrotropical and Neotropical members of this genus. Subsequently, the genus in different life stages and geographical areas were studied by a number of authors (Wang 2000;Chaudhuri et al. 2001;Langton and Moubayed 2001;Yamamoto 2004;Makarchenko et al. 2005;Mendes et al. 2007;Murray 2007;Makarchenko and Makarchenko 2011;Moubayed 2011;Pinho and Andersen 2015;Song et al. 2020). To date, the genus comprises more than 90 species recorded worldwide (Ashe and O'Connor 2012;Song et al. 2020). However, although 28 species of Limnophyes have been recorded in Japan, only four of these are widespread Holarctic species. Most likely, many of the remaining Japanese names are synonymous with names from other regions, and a revision is desirable (Przhiboro and Saether 2007).
In this study we describe two new species of Limnophyes from Oriental China as male adults, provide a key to the known adult males of the genus from China, and suggest that L. fuscipygmus Tokunaga, 1940 from China be considered a synonym of L. minimus (Meigen, 1818).

Methods and material
The morphological nomenclature follows Saether (1980). The material examined was mounted on slides following the procedure outlined by Saether (1969). All samples have been stored in 85% ethanol prior to preparation. Color is described as observed in specimens mounted in Canada balsam on slides. Measurements are given as ranges followed by the arithmetic mean when four or more species were measured, followed by the number of specimens measured (N) in parentheses. All types are deposited in the College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, China (BDN).
Distribution. The new species was collected in a subtropical mountain area in Hubei and Sichuan Provinces in Oriental China.
Distribution. The species were collected in a subtropical mountain area in Sichuan Province in Oriental China.