Macropelopia Thienemann, 1916

Tang, Hongqu & Niitsuma, Hiromi, 2020, Revision of the Chinese Macropelopia (Diptera: Chironomidae: Tanypodinae) with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4834 (2), pp. 207-218 : 208

Genus Macropelopia Thienemann

Macropelopia Thienemann in Thienemann & Kieffer, 1916: 497 ; Fittkau 1962: 102; Roback 1971: 87, 1978: 159; Fittkau & Murray 1986: 50; Murray & Fittkau 1989: 61; Epler 2001: 4.53; Niitsuma et al., 2004: 44; Cranston & Epler 2013: 53; Silva & Pinho 2020: 575 .

Bethbilbeckia Fittkau et Murray, 1988: 253 ; Murray & Fittkau 1989: 46; Epler 2001: 4.29.

Type species: Isoplastus bimaculatus Kieffer [= Tanypus nebulosus Meigen ], by original designation.

Remarks. Bethbilbeckia Fittkau et Murray was transferred as a subgenus to the genus Macropelopia by Cranston & Epler (2013) because of their resemblances in all life stages. It was supported by morphological and molecular analyses ( Siri & Donato 2015, Silva & Ekrem 2016, Krosch et al. 2017), although Watson (2010: 339) stated that in spite of similarities to Macropelopia , B. floridensis lacks several characters considered diagnostic for that genus. More recently, in the description of the second species of the subgenus, Macropelopia (Bethbilbeckia) chilensis from the Neotropical region, Andersen (2018: 89) wrote, “However, based on the material at hand the species shows a mixture of characters found either in the subgenus Bethbilbeckia or in Macropelopia (s. str.), indicating that the status of Bethbilbeckia as a separate subgenus should be reconsidered.”

Two species groups, the notata and the nebulosa groups, are currently recognized in Macropelopia s. str., generally based on the pupal morphology; abdominal segment VII with 5 LS-setae in the former, whereas 6 LS-setae in the latter ( Fittkau 1962, Roback 1978, Fittkau & Murray 1986).