Poecilobothrus pterostichoides ( Stackelberg, 1934 ), 2020

Grichanov, I. Ya., 2020, New records of Dolichopodidae (Diptera) from Russian Primorye and notes on some Chinese species, Russian Entomological Journal 29 (4), pp. 432-438 : 437

Poecilobothrus pterostichoides ( Stackelberg, 1934) ,

comb.n.

= Hercostomus pterostichoides Stackelberg, 1934:118 (in key) (descr. ibid.: 166)

= Poecilobothrus brevipilosus ( Yang et Saigusa, 2002) , comb. n.

= Hercostomus brevipilosus Yang et Saigusa, 2002: 65 (in subgenus Hercostomus ), syn.n. Type locality: China: Shaanxi, Fuping .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. 1♂, 1♀, Shkotovsky distr. , Anisimovka, 43°10´07.0´´N, 132°46´11.3´´E, 11– 13.08.2019, Kosheleva [ ZIN]; 8♂, 10 km NE Vladivostok, 43.21°N, 132.07°E, 21– 29.07.2019, E. Erofeeva [ ZMUM] .

DISTRIBUTION. Type locality: “Ussuri-Gebiet, bei der Station Tigrovaja, Sutshan” [= Ussuriiskaya oblast, near Tigrovaya station, Suchan; now Primorsky krai, Tigrovoi village , Partizansk]. Palaearctic: China (Beijing, Shaanxi), Russia (Primorye) .

NOTES. The species was described by males and females collected on 3–4 August 1927 from the Tigrovoi locality [ Stackelberg, 1934]. It was never found later again [ Negrobov et al., 2013]. New material collected from the Anisimovka village, which is very close (about 5 km) to the type locality of Hercostomus pterostichoides , stimulated the reexamination of descriptions of similar Chinese species of the genus [ Yang et al., 2011]. As it turned out, H. pterostichoides belongs to the Hercostomus cyaneculus group containing 14 Chinese species, of which none corresponds to the nominotypical Hercostomus longiventris lineage [as defined by Brooks, 2005]. According to the generic key of latter author, the Hercostomus cyaneculus group as a whole must be associated with the genus Poecilobothrus Mik, 1878 . This genus can be distinguished [ Brooks, 2005] by the possession of a distinct dark metallic spot above the notopleuron, and one strong posterior to posteroventral preapical seta on the mid femur. Males are further distinguished by their distinctive postgonite and short, conical, slightly dorsoventrally flattened hypandrium, fused to epandrium laterally near basoventral epandrial lobe. Females are further distinguished by the possession of an inner, medial pair of spines on tergite 10. Some species [e.g., P. regalis (Meigen, 1824) , P. aberrans (Loew, 1871) ] have one dorsal seta on hind basitarsus. Arista-like stylus is more or less strongly pubescent or even plumose ( P. aberrans ) that was noted by Stackelberg [1934] in his description of H. pterostichoides (the specific name itself is related with an unjustified emendation of the generic name Pterostylus , now synonym of Poecilobothrus ).

An examination of available Chinese material in ZIN collection for three species from the Hercostomus cyaneculus group (identified by Ding Yang, Chinese Agricultural University, Beijing) in addition to H. flaveolus and H. pterostichoides has confirmed the presence of those characters listed by Brooks [2005]. Moreover, distributed in Palaearctic China Hercostomus brevipilosus is identical with H. pterostichoides . So, the following new combinations are here proposed: Poecilobothrus brunus (Wei, 1997) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus ); Poecilobothrus cucullus (Wei, 1997) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus ); Poecilobothrus cyaneculus (Wei, 1997) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus lii (Yang, 1996) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus ); Poecilobothrus longipilosus (Yang et Saigusa, 2001) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus luchunensis (Yang et Saigusa, 2001) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus mentougouensis (Zhang, Yang et Grootaert‚ 2003), comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus palustrus ( Wei, 2006) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus potanini ( Stackelberg, 1934) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus saetosus ( Yang et Saigusa, 2002) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus singularis (Yang et Saigusa, 2001) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus );

Poecilobothrus zhejiangensis (Yang, 1996) , comb.n. ( Hercostomus ).