Stilobezzia (Eukraiohelea) elegantula (Johannsen)

William L. Grogan, Jr., Hribar, Lawrence J., Murphree, C. Steven & Cilek, James E., 2010, New records of biting and predaceous midges from Florida, including species new to the fauna of the United States (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (147), pp. 1-59 : 39

Stilobezzia (Eukraiohelea) elegantula (Johannsen)

Bezzia elegantula Johannsen, 1907: 109 (Kansas) .

Probezzia elegantula: Malloch 1914a: 137 (combination).

Parabezzia elegantula: Malloch 1915a: 359 (combination).

Parabezzia (Eukraiohelea) elegantula: Johannsen 1934: 345 .

Eukraiohelea elegantula: Johannsen 1943: 781 (combination).

Stilobezzia (Eukraiohelea) elegantula: Wirth 1953a: 62 (revision of Nearctic Stilobezzia ); Wilkening et al. 1985: 525 (Florida records); Wirth and Spinelli 1992a: 343 (review of New World Eukraiohelea ) ; Borkent and Grogan 2009: 22 (in Nearctic catalog; distribution) .

Stilobezzia (Eukraiohelea) maculitibia Lane and Forattini, 1956: 207 ( Panama) ; Wirth and Spinelli 1992a: 344 (synonym of S. elegantula ).

Discussion. Wirth and Spinelli (1992a) only listed specimens they examined and identified as S. elegantula from Alachua, Orange, Putnam and Sarasota counties in Florida. However, Wilkening et al. (1985) listed this species from Alachua, Bay, Citrus, Dade and Hillsborough counties, but, their records from the latter four counties probably represent specimens of S. amnigena . We examined approximately 150 slide-mounted specimens in the FSCA as well as two females and two males in WLG’s collection from Alachua Co., Florida and a male from Prince Georges Co., Maryland that were labeled by Wirth as S. elegantula , and, all except one female appear to be that species. This female plus the two females and two males from Alachua Co. and the Maryland male are actually examples of S. amnigena . As noted by Wirth and Spinelli (1992a), males of both species have distinctive differences in their genitalia, but are otherwise very similar morphologically. Wirth and Spinelli (1992a) provided the wing length of a male S. elegantula as 1.25 mm, and we measured 36 males of this species from Alachua Co. with a mean wing length of 1.21 mm and range of 1.15-1.27 mm. However, two males from Alachua Co. and one Maryland male of S. amnigena had a mean wing length of 1.62 mm and range of 1.53-1.69 mm. Therefore, it is now apparent that males of S. amnigena are considerably larger than those of S. elegantula , and this is apparently a distinct morphometric difference between males of these otherwise very similar species.