Monopelopia (Monopelopia) recta, Mondal & Mukherjee & Hazra, 2022

Mondal, Debarshi, Mukherjee, Tuhar & Hazra, Niladri, 2022, TWO NEW SPECIES OF MONOPELOPIA FITTKAU, 1962 FROM FORESTS IN INDIA ALONG WITH A KEY TO ADULT MALES OF ORIENTAL AND PALEARCTIC SPECIES (DIPTERA: CHIRONOMIDAE) Abstract, CHIRONOMUS Journal of Chironomidae Research 35 (35), pp. 32-42 : 32-33

Monopelopia (Monopelopia) recta sp. n.

https://zoobank.org/3E037AAF-2981-42A3-

A04C-959B52B4752C

Type Material. Holotype male, labelled ‘ Monopelopia recta sp. n. Mondal, Mukherjee and Hazra., India, West Bengal, Matha (23.11, 86.06), 03.VII.2019, Coll. D. Mondal’. Paratypes 3 males, same data as holotype. GenBank accession number: MW168820 .

Diagnosis. AR 1.78–1.81 (1.81); squamal setae 15–17 (17); wing with macrotrichia on the distal portion; abdominal tergites I–V with broad anterior bands, T VI–VIII brown; 4–5 stout setae on second palpomere; fore, mid, and hind tibial spurs each with 3 lateral teeth, hind tibial comb with 8 setae; anal point short and conical; gonocoxite bearing with 3 strong dorsomedial setae in a uniform row; T IX with 2 dorsolateral setae on each side.

Etymology. The name ‘ recta ’ is of Latin origin meaning ‘straight’ referring to inner side of gonocoxite bearing 3 strong basal setae in a straight row.

Description

Male imago (n = 4). Total length 1.92–1.99 (1.98) mm.

Colouration. Head brown. Antenna pale brown, maxillary palp light brown. Thorax dark, vittae pale, antepronotum dark, wing membrane pale, cross vein dark brown, legs pale brown, T I–V of abdomen ( Fig. 1D ), with dark anterior bands, T VI–VIII brown. Hypopygium brown, megaseta dark.

Head. Eyes with dorsomedial extension 62–66 (62) µm. Antenna with strong preapical seta ( Fig. 1A ); number of flagellomeres 14, AR 1.78–1.81 (1.81). Temporal setae uniserial, 10–12, postorbitals 2–3. Clypeus with 17–19 (18) setae. Length of palpomeres I–V (µm): 22–27 (23): 28–35 (30): 98–104 (102): 100–108 (104): 116–128 (119); second palpomere with 4–5 long pale setae. CA 0.66–0.70 (0.70). CP 1.29–1.34 (1.32).

Thorax. Scutal tubercle absent. Antepronotum with 3–4 (4) lateral setae; acrostichals 26–28 (26), irregularly biserial; humerals 8; dorsocentrals 15–18 (15) on each side, uniserial in middle and biserial distally; prealars 5–6; scutellars 9–10 (9).

Wing ( Fig. 1B ). Wing length from arculus 1.15– 1.18 (1.18) mm, width 0.39–0.42 (0.40) mm, L/ W 2.89 –2.98 (2.95). Total length/WL 1.67–1.72 (1.68). WL/ length of forefemur 2.12–2.19 (2.15). Wing membrane with macrotrichia on distal portion; squama with 15–17 (17) setae; brachiolum with 2 setae; vein lengths (µm): C 1045–1055 (1050), Sc 568–577 (575), R 1 445–453 (450), R 2 +3 absent, R 4 +5 646–652 (650), M 1+2 794–807 (800); anal lobe well developed, angular; CR 0.86–0.89 (0.89); VR 0.86–0.88 (0.88).

Legs ( Fig. 1C ). Fore tibial spur 43–48 (46) µm long bearing 3 lateral teeth; spurs of mid tibia 47– 52 (52) µm long bearing 3 lateral teeth; spurs of hind tibia 58–65 (64) µm long, with 3 lateral teeth [not visible in Fig. 1C ]. Hind tibial comb with 8 setae. Lengths and proportions of leg segments as in table 1.

Abdomen. T IX with 2 dorsolateral setae on each side ( Fig. 1E ). Abdominal banding pattern as in Fig. 1D .

Hypopygium ( Fig. 1E ). Anal point short and conical. Gonocoxite cylindrical, 138–145 (140) µm long, 67–70 (69) µm wide, 2.02 × as long as broad, 3-setal row. Gonostylus simple, slightly curved inwardly, 60–84 (72) µm long, basal width 26–28 (28) µm, Gs/Gc 0.67. Megaseta 9–11 (11) µm long. Phallapodeme 19–22 (21) µm long. HR 1.50–1.72 (1.69); HV 2.70–2.86 (2.83).

Remarks

Some distinguishing male characters of Monopelopia (Monopelopia) recta sp. n. are compared with eight morphologically similar species in Table 2 .

The submitted sequences have shown 8.6 % divergence with the closest sequences in GenBank of NCBI ( Fig. 2 ).

Distribution and bionomics. Monopelopia recta is so far known only from India. Matha is a dense forested area with deciduous vegetation occupying the eastern fringes of the Chota Nagpur plateau. There are small streams within the forests and trees with tree holes containing water at the time of collection. The species was collected from light traps set from dusk to dawn using incandescent bulb.

Figures

Figure 1. Male of Monopelopia (Monopelopia) recta sp. n. A, ultimate antennal flagellomere, scale: 30 µm; B, wing, scale: 1 mm; C, tibial spurs, scale: 10 µm; D, abdomen showing dark bands; E, hypopygium, scale: 100 µm.

Figure 2. Neighbor-Joining tree based on the COX1 gene sequences of Monopelopia recta sp. n. and thirteen most similar sequences from NCBI GenBank. Scale: K2P genetic distance.