Trichocera (Metatrichocera) forcipula Nielsen, 1920

Kolcsár, Levente-Péter, Petrašiūnas, Andrius, Török, Edina & Keresztes, Lujza, 2018, A new species of Trichocera Meigen with further records of Metatrichocera Dahl from Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia (Diptera, Trichoceridae), Turkish Journal of Zoology 42 (2), pp. 172-178 : 175-177

Trichocera (Metatrichocera) forcipula Nielsen, 1920 ( Figures 4 and 5 )

(Other illustrations: Nielsen, 1920, figs. 1–3; Dahl, 1966, figs. 2, 6, 11, 35, 39, 43)

Material: Bulgaria, between Shipkovo (Шипково) and Ribaritsa (Рибарица), Stara Planina Mts., mountain pass, 1230 m, 42.851610°N, 24.493634°E, 29 October 2016, 7 males, leg. Kolcsár L.-P. and Török E ; Serbia, Crni Vrh (Црни Врх), Stara Planina Mts., near Babin Zub (Бабин зуб), 1220 m, 43.381971°N, 22.611664°E, 30 October 2016, 1 female, leg. Kolcsár L.-P. and Török E.

Comments: This species was described from Denmark ( Nielsen, 1920) and later found in many European countries: in France ( Krzemińska and Brunhes, 1991) and Belgium ( Mortelmans and Dekeukeleire, 2012) in the west; through Switzerland ( Bangerter, 1948), Germany ( Dahl, 1992; Schacht, 2000), the Czech Republic ( Martinovský and Starý, 1988), Poland ( Krzemiński, 1983), and the Slovak Republic ( Starý, 1997, 2009) to Hungary ( Krzemińska, 2001) in the east; and through Lithuania ( Podėnas, 1993; Petrašiūnas and Visarčuk, 2007) up to Sweden ( Dahl, 1966) and Russia ( Stackelberg, 1951) in the north. It was mentioned from Bulgaria by Dahl (1992), but with no locality data. The Bulgarian records are the southernmost known so far. Specimens were collected in temperatures between –1 and 5 °C, in a young hornbeam ( Carpinus betulus )-dominated forest in Bulgaria and in a mixed spruce ( Picea abies ) and beech ( Fagus sp. ) forest in Serbia. The species is herein reported from Serbia for the first time and we confirm the presence of the species in Bulgaria with locality data.

Trichocera (Metatrichocera) ticina Starý & Podėnas, 1995 ( Figure 6 )

(other illustrations: Starý and Podėnas, 1995, figs. 1–4)

Material: Serbia, Crni Vrh (Црни Врх), Stara Planina Mts., near Babin Zub (Бабин зуб), 1220 m, 43.381971°N 22.611664°E, 30 October 2016, 1 male, leg. Kolcsár L.-P. and Török E. Romania, Vălișoara , Trască Mts., Vălișoarei Cayon, 520 m, 46.384371°N, 23.575915°E, 14 November 2017, 1 male, leg. Kolcsár L.-P.

Comments: A very rare trichocerid species. Originally described from canton Ticino, Switzerland, close to the Swiss–Italian border ( Starý and Podėnas, 1995). Later the species was also reported from Hungary, collected in a boggy meadow near Pellérd ( Krzemińska, 2001). The male aedeagal structure of this species closely resembles that of the species in subgenus Saltrichocera , but until a more thorough revision of subgenus Metatrichocera , we leave the species in its original placement.

KOLCSÁR et al. / Turk J Zool

The biology and ecology of the species is unknown. We collected the specimen in temperatures between –1 and 2 °C, in spruce ( Picea abies ) and beech ( Fagus sp. ) mixed forest, near a small brook in Serbia. The Romanian specimen was collected in hornbeam ( Carpinus betulus ) forest, in temperatures between 5 and 10 °C. The species is reported here for the first time from Romania and Serbia, which together with Trichocera forcipula , represents the first records of Trichoceridae from Serbia.

Taxonomic remarks: The specimen stored in alcohol is very black with a little gleam in the prescutum.

Nomenclatural acts: This work and the nomenclatural acts it contains have been registered in ZooBank.

Figures

Figure 4. Trichocera (Metatrichocera) forcipula Nielsen, 1920 male: A- wing; B- dorsal view of genitalia; C- ventral view of genitalia; Dlateral view of genitalia; E- lateral view of aedeagal complex. Scale bars: A- 1 mm, B–D- 0.5 mm, E- 0.25 mm.

Figure 5. Trichocera (Metatrichocera) forcipula Nielsen, 1920 female genitalia: A- lateral view; B- dorsal view; C- ventral view; D- close lateral view of female genitalia; E- inner genitalia; F- spermathecal capsule; H- pattern in cercus; I- pattern in the inner side of cercus; J- pattern in the end of cercus. Scale bars: A- 0.25 mm, B and C- 0.25 mm, E- 60 µm, F- 0.2 mm.

Figure 6. Trichocera (Metatrichocera) ticina Starý & Podėnas, 1995 male: A- wing; B- dorsal view of genitalia;C- ventral view of genitalia; D- lateral view of genitalia; E- lateral view of aedeagal complex. Scale bars: A- 1 mm, B–D- 0.5 mm, E- 0.2 mm.