Research Article |
Corresponding author: Qiu-Lei Men ( menqiulei888@126.com ) Academic editor: Christopher Borkent
© 2020 Pavel Starkevich, Qiu-Lei Men, Duncan Sivell.
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:
Starkevich P, Men Q-L, Sivell D (2020) Redescriptions of the poorly known crane fly species Tipula (Vestiplex) scandens and Tipula (Vestiplex) subscripta from Tibet and Yunnan, China (Diptera, Tipulidae). ZooKeys 917: 127-140. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.917.38044
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Tipula (Vestiplex) scandens Edwards, 1928 and Tipula (Vestiplex) subscripta Edwards, 1928 were both briefly described based on single specimens and lacked illustration in the original literature. In the present paper, these two species are redescribed with new illustrations of additional morphological features based on type and non-type specimens.
taxonomy, biodiversity, systematics, hypopygium, ovipositor, coquillettiana species group, scripta species group
Tipula (V.) scandens and T. (V.) subscripta were both described by
Descriptive terminology generally follows that of
The terminalia were removed and macerated in 10% NaOH for 5–10 minutes, observed in glycerin under an Olympus SZX10 stereomicroscope and preserved in microvials, filled with glycerol, on the same pin as the dry insect. Dry specimens were photographed with a Canon EOS 80D at the Natural History Museum, London. Digital photos were processed and layers were stacked using the program HeliconFocus (http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-focus/).
For citing label data on specimens, a slashed line (/) separates each label. Square brackets ([]) are used to indicate additional information not on the original label.
Abbreviations for institutional collections used herein are:
Tipula (Vestiplex) Bezzi, 1924: 230; Edwards, 1931: 79; Alexander, 1934: 396; 1935: 117; 1965: 355; Mannheims, 1953: 116; Savchenko, 1964: 132.
Tipula cisalpina Riedel, 1913.
Vestiplex was first proposed by
Tipula scandens
Edwards, 1928: 691; Edwards, 1931: 80; Alexander, 1935: 119; Wu, 1940: 15; Alexander, 1953: 343; Savchenko, 1964: 228;
Tipula (V.) scandens can be recognized by following combination of characters: body blackish antenna long, reaching the first abdominal segment if bent backwards, the first flagellomere cylindrical, the remaining flagellomeres strongly dilated at both ends, hypopygium with tergite nine in the shape of a narrow, transverse, sclerotised saucer-shaped plate, gonocoxite unarmed.
Male. Body length: 10.9–15.6 mm. Wing: 12.6–15.2 mm.
Head. Blackish in general. Rostrum blackish, thinly dusted with grey, nasus indistinct (Fig.
Thorax. Pronotum blackish, white pruinose medially. Prescutum blackish, grey pruinose, with three blackish stripes, the laterals oblong, bordered by black line, the median one expanded apically and narrowed at base, separated by a black median line. Scutum blackish, grey pruinose, with two black spots. Scutellum blackish, grey pruinose. Mediotergite blackish. Pleura densely dusted with grey, only suffused with brown at the border of dorsum and pleura (Fig.
Abdomen. Abdomen including hypopygium blackish, segments two to four narrowly suffused with brown on posterior margin (Fig.
Male hypopygium of T. (V.) scandens. 2 Hypopygium, lateral view 3 hypopygium, dorsal view 4 hypopygium, ventral view 5 outer gonostylus, lateral view 6 outer gonostylus and inner gonostylus, lateral view 7 adminiculum, lateral view 8 adminiculum, ventral view 9 gonocoxal fragment, dorsal view 10 compressor apodeme of semen pump 11 semen pump, lateral view 12 semen pump. Abbreviations: ls, lateral sclerite of gonocoxal fragment; ms, medial sclerite of gonocoxal fragment. Scale bars: 0.4 mm (2–4), 0.25 mm (5–12).
Female. Body length: 15.6–18.4 mm. Wing: 8.0–8.1 mm. Body colour same as that of male except as follows. Antenna relatively short, if bent backward reaching before base of the wing. Scape expanded apically and narrowed basally, pedicel short, flagellum with flagellomeres cylindrical, gradually shortening in length distinctly shorter than the length of the corresponding flagellomeres (Fig.
Ovipositor. Tergite nine dark brown, tergite ten shining dark brown. Cercus brown, with tip narrowed and slightly up-turned, outer margin with rough serration (Fig.
Female ovipositor of T. (V.) scandens. 14 Tergite ten and cercus, lateral view 15 sternite eight with hypovalvae, ventral view 16 sternite nine, furca, and part of internal reproductive system, dorsal view. Abbreviation: bp sd, basal part of spermathecal duct. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (14, 15), 0.4 mm (16).
Holotype, female, China: “Type” / “Tibet: Phusi La 16, 500’, 3- vii-1924. Maj. R. W. G. Hingston” / “Tipula scandens Edw F.W.Edwards. det. 1928” / “HOLOTYPE” / “HOLOTYPE Tipula scandens Edwards det. J. E. Chainey, 1995” / “
Tipula (Vestiplex) scandens Edwards, 1928: China: 1 female, E. Tibet, Poshö, 16,000 ft., 20. VII. 1936, R. J. H. Kaulback, B. M. 1937-547, Tipula scandens Edw. Det. C. P. Alexander 1950 (
China (Tibet).
T. (V.) scandens belongs to the coquillettiana species group (
Tipula subscripta
Edwards, 1928: 689; Edwards, 1931: 80; Alexander, 1935: 119; Wu, 1940: 15; Alexander, 1963: 327; Savchenko, 1964: 164;
Tipula (V.) subscripta can be recognized by following combination of characters: body yellowish-brown, antenna bicolored except three yellow basal segments, if bent backwards reaching the base of the wing, tergite nine forming a pale-yellow saucer-shaped plate anteriorly having raised border, gonocoxite armed with a strong spine.
Male. Body length: 14.4–14.7 mm. Wing: 18.2–19.1 mm.
Head. Yellow in colouration generally (Fig.
Thorax. Pronotum yellow, black in middle and whitish pruinose laterally. Prescutum brownish with four grey stripes, the lateral stripes narrow with broad brown border, the median two stripes also suffused with brown borders. Space between median and lateral stripes whitish pruinose. Scutum yellowish brown, thinly whitish pruinose, with two grey spots, the posterior one distinctly bigger than anterior one. Scutellum and mediotergite yellowish brown, whitish pruinose, both with a brown median line. Pleura brownish, darker on dorsal side of anepisternum. Leg slender, coxa same as pleuron in colouration, trochanter yellow, femur and tibia yellow with slightly dark tips, tarsus yellowish brown (Fig.
Abdomen. First abdominal segment yellowish, remaining segments including hypopygium yellowish-brown (Fig.
Male hypopygium of T. (V.) subscripta. 18 Hypopygium, lateral view 19 hypopygium, dorsal view 20 hypopygium, ventral view 21 gonocoxite, lateral view 22 outer gonostylus, lateral view 23 inner gonostylus, outer lateral view 24 inner gonostylus, inner lateral view 25 adminiculum, ventral view 26 adminiculum, lateral view 27 gonocoxal fragment, dorsal view 28 compressor apodeme of semen pump 29 semen pump, lateral view 30 semen pump. Abbreviations: ls, lateral sclerite of gonocoxal fragment; ms, medial sclerite of gonocoxal fragment. Scale bars: 0.4 mm (18–20), 0.25 mm (21–30).
Female. Body length: 21.9–24.5 mm. Wing: 20.7–23.1 mm. Body colouration same as that of male except as follows. Antenna, if bent backward reaching pronotum. Scape and pedicel yellow, flagellar segments darkened at base. Each flagellomere slightly narrowed at apex, gradually shorter in length, base with five black verticils that are slightly longer than the length of its corresponding flagellomere (Fig.
Ovipositor. Tergite nine brown, tergite ten shining brown. Cercus brown, slender, with tip narrowed and up-turned, outer margin with rough serration (Fig.
Holotype, male, China: “Type” / “S. W. China: Yunnan. E. of Janula. 11,000’, 24. vii-1922. Prof. J. W. Gregory” / “Tipula subscripta Edw. F. W. Edwards. det. 1928” / “HOLOTYPE” / “HOLOTYPE Tipula subscripta Edwards det. J. E. Chainey, 1995” / “
Tipula (Vestiplex) subscripta Edwards, 1928: China: 1 female, Southeast Tibet, Nagong, Shiuden Gompä, 12,500 ft., 25. viii. 1933, F. Kingdon Ward, B. 14,000 ft., 24. VII. 1936, R. J. H. Kaulback, B. M. 1937-547, Tipula subscripta Ed. Det. C. P. Alexander 19[??] (
China (Yunnan, Tibet).
T. (V.) subscripta belongs to the scripta species group. The scripta species group was proposed by
We are grateful for Dr. J. Gelhaus (