Research Article |
Corresponding author: Jozef Oboňa ( obonaj@centrum.sk ) Academic editor: Christopher Borkent
© 2019 Jaroslav Starý, Jozef Oboňa.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Starý J, Oboňa J (2019) Two new species of Molophilus Curtis from the Mediterranean and Transcaucasia (Diptera, Limoniidae). ZooKeys 871: 49-53. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.871.34559
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Two new species of the genus Molophilus Curtis, 1833 are described, Molophilus (Molophilus) rohaceki sp. nov. (Italy: Calabria) and M. (M.) soldani sp. nov. (Azerbaijan), and their male terminalia are illustrated.
Limoniid Crane Flies, West Palaearctic Molophilus (Molophilus), male terminalia, description
The genus Molophilus Curtis, 1833 is a cosmopolitan taxon (101 West Palaearctic species, 1018 species worldwide in 11 subgenera, cf.
The morphological terminology adopted here follows essentially that of
All type specimens are preserved dry, glued on cardboard points. Since the specimens of M. (M.) soldani sp. nov. were dried from ethanol, the colour features as indicated in the description may differ somewhat from a normally dried state. The male terminalia were preserved in glycerine in a small plastic tube pinned below the associated specimen.
The following museum and collection acronyms are used in the text:
JSO Collection of J. Starý, Olomouc, Czech Republic;
Medium-sized (wing length 4–5 mm) species within Molophilus. Body deep dark brown, almost black, mostly shiny, locally suffused with slight greyish pruinosity, restrictedly patterned with yellow. Male terminalia with outer (dorsal) gonostylus pale, inner (ventral) gonostylus darkly pigmented, latter longer than former. Aedeagus exceedingly swollen for most of its length, except for slender terminal portion. Aedeagal plate long, rectangular in ventral aspect, without microsetae, level with base of terminal portion of aedeagus.
Male. Head. Antenna slightly lengthened, compared to most other west Palaearctic species, extending beyond wing base, dark brown throughout. Flagellomeres long-ovoid, with longest verticils subequal to length of their respective segments.
Thorax in general deep dark brown to black, mostly shiny. Prescutum and scutum mostly black, shiny, with slight greyish pruinosity and slightly paler laterally, yellowed lateral to prescutal pit and around wing base, pale yellow on paratergite anteriorly. Scutellum and postscutellum shiny black, paler laterally. Pleuron shiny black throughout. Wing length 5.0 mm. Wing membrane slightly infuscate; venation as for genus. Halter yellowish brown. Legs yellowish brown, with tips of femora and tarsi darkened.
Abdomen deep dark brown to black. Male terminalia (Figs
Male terminalia. 1–2 M. (M.) rohaceki sp. nov. (holotype) 1 general view, lateral 2 aedeagal complex, lateral 3–4 M. (M.) soldani sp. nov. (holotype) 3 general view, lateral 4 aedeagal complex, lateral. Scale bar: 0.25 mm. Abbreviations: aed – aedeagus; aedpl – aedeagal plate; dp – dorsal portion of gonocoxite; ig – inner gonostylus; le – lateral excision; og – outer gonostylus; vl – ventral lobe of gonocoxite.
Female. Unknown.
Holotype ♂: Greece, SW Peloponnese, Taygetos Mts, Alagonia 2.4 km NW (1335 m), 37°06'55"N, 22°16'07"E, brook, springs, 9.10.2017 (J. Roháček leg.) (SMOC).
The new species is named in honour of its collector, Dr. Jindřich Roháček (Silesian Museum, Opava, Czech Republic), a world-famous specialist of Anthomyzidae and Sphaeroceridae (Diptera). A noun in genitive singular.
The new species differs from its similar congeners by details in the structure of the male terminalia, especially its swollen aedeagus and very long aedeagal plate. Molophilus (M.) brevihamatus Bangerter, 1947 has a similarly swollen aedeagus, but is distinctive by various other features, including body colouration (brown in M. (M.) brevihamatus, shiny black in the new species) and shape of gonostyli and aedeagal plate.
Medium-sized species within Molophilus. Body dark brown, suffused with dense greyish pruinosity, restrictedly patterned with yellow. Male terminalia with outer (dorsal) gonostylus pale, inner (ventral) gonostylus darkly pigmented, latter longer than former, with three distinct teeth on dorsal surface. Aedeagus slender, sinuous, with its tip down-curved. Aedeagal plate short, triangular in ventral aspect, without microsetae, with its tip pointing to ca. one third length of aedeagus.
Male. Head. Antenna of both holotype and male paratype broken off, but probably much same as that of female paratype, of moderate length, extending to approximately wing base, dark brown throughout. Flagellomeres ovoid, with longest verticils subequal to length of their respective segments.
Thorax in general dark greyish brown. Prescutum and scutum mostly dark brown, suffused with dense greyish pruinosity, slightly paler laterally, yellowed lateral to prescutal pit and around wing base, pale yellow on paratergite anteriorly. Scutellum yellow, dark greyish brown anteriorly, postscutellum dark greyish brown, narrowly yellowed laterally. Pleuron mostly dark greyish brown, restrictedly paler, especially on anepimeron. Wing length 4.2–4.9 mm. Wing membrane slightly infuscate; venation as for genus. Halter pale yellow. Legs yellowish brown, with tips of femora indistinctly darkened and tarsi dark brown.
Abdomen dark greyish brown. Male terminalia (Figs
Female. Female resembling male in general appearance. Female terminalia with cercus very slender, gently upturned, subacute at tip, approximately twice length of tergite 10. Hypogynal valve straight, reaching to ca. three fourths length of cercus.
Holotype ♂: Azerbaijan, Qabala district, S of Durca, nr. tributary of Qaraschay R. (1236 m), 41°02'11.2"N, 47°53'13.6"E (light trap), 30.5.2017 (Ľ. Hrivniak leg.) (SMOC). Paratypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data as for holotype (JSO).
The new species is named in honour of the late Prof. Dr. Tomáš Soldán, an outstanding Ephemeroptera specialist. A noun in genitive singular.
The new species is distinctive by the combination of the quadrangular outline of its dorsal portion of gonocoxite and an unusually shaped inner gonostylus with three distinct teeth on the dorsal surface. The type specimens were dried from ethanol; hence, their body colouration might be darker in a normal dried state.
We would especially like to thank to editor of Zookeys C. Borkent (California Department of Food and Agriculture, California) and reviewers H. de Jong (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Niederland) and J. Salmela (Regional Museum of Lapland, Finland) who helped by providing constructive comments, as well as for improving the manuscript. We are also grateful to J. Roháček (Silesian Museum, Opava, Czech Republic) and Ľ. Hrivniak (Czech Academy of Sciences, Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic) for collecting the type specimens. J. Kramer (Oadby, England, U.K.) kindly checked and improved the English of this paper. The work of J. Starý was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic by Institutional financing of long-term conceptual development of the research institution (the Silesian Museum, MK000100595). The work of J. Oboňa was financially supported by the Grant Agency of University Prešov in Prešov under the contract No. GaPU 30/2019.