Sciara bryophila, Menzel & Salmela & Vilkamaa, 2020

Menzel, Frank, Salmela, Jukka & Vilkamaa, Pekka, 2020, New species and new records of black fungus gnats (Diptera: Sciaridae) from the Viidumäe Nature Reserve, Estonia, European Journal of Taxonomy 720, pp. 62-76 : 66-72

Sciara bryophila sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DD54A2D5-89FC-448C-914A-95FF4F6FAF52

Figs 3–4

Sciara sp. n. – Salmela & Vilkamaa 2005: 288, 290 (part of Finnish material).

Sciara sp. A – Salmela et al. 2015: 65, 88 (part of Finnish material).

Diagnosis

Wing length 2.2–2.7 mm, anal lobe strong. Gonostylus with a strong, densely setose subapical lobe. Setose medial lobe is smaller than the subapical lobe, with (2–4) megasetae, or none. Apical megasetae (5–9) of gonostylus rather short. Tegmen long and conical, apically divided. Aedeagal teeth in a long and narrow area, numerous and evenly short.

Etymology

The name, a Latin adjective, is derived from the Latinized Greek words ʻ bryon ʼ (ʻmossʼ) and ʻ philo ʼ (ʻlovingʼ), referring to the mossy habitat of the species.

Material examined

Holotype

FINLAND • ♂; Lapponia kemensis pars orientalis , Pelkosenniemi, Sudenvaaranaapa; 67.189° N, 27.639° E; 28 Jul.–23 Sep. 2014; J. Salmela leg.; Malaise trap; rich fen; in ethanol; BOLD: JSCOI-2016-0161; GenBank: KY200864 ; LMM NVO.20170727 .

Paratypes

FINLAND • 1 ♂; same collection data as for holotype; in ethanol; BOLD: JS-COI-2016-0162; GenBank: KY200865 ; LMM NVO.20170728 • 1 ♂; Ostrobothnia borealis pars borealis, Keminmaa, Kallinkangas ; 65.8162° N, 24.5036° E; 27 Jun.–28 Jul. 2014; J. Salmela leg.; Malaise trap; rich fen; in Euparal; JSsl-2015-0001; LMM NVO.20170449 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for preceding; in Euparal; MZH • 5 ♂♂; same collection data as for preceding; 28 Jul.–23 Sep. 2014; in Euparal; MZH • 4 ♂♂; same collection data as for preceding; 28 Jul.–23 Sep. 2014; in Euparal; SDEI • 2 ♂♂; Ostrobothnia borealis pars borealis, Tervola, Karhakkamaa ; 66.2031° N, 25.1231° E; 1 Jun.–2 Aug. 2004; J. Salmela leg.; Malaise trap; calcareous rich fen and spring; in Euparal; MZH • 1 ♂; Ostrobothnia borealis pars borealis, Ylitornio, Palokas ; 66.4319° N, 249267° E; 7–28 Aug. 2017; J. Salmela leg; Malaise trap; rich fen; in ethanol; LMM NVO.20171126 • 1 ♂; Tavastia borealis, Toivakka, Ruostesuo ; 62.0807° N, 25.9070° E; 1–27 Jul. 2003; J. Salmela leg.; Malaise trap; rich sloping fen; in Euparal; MZH .

ESTONIA • 1 ♂; Saaremaa Island, Viidumäe Nature Reserve ; 58.2966° N, 22.0863° E; 14 Jun. –17 Jul. 2002; T. Talvi leg; Malaise trap; rich fen; in Euparal; MZH .

Other material

FINLAND • 7 ♂, 2 ♀; Lapponia kemensis pars orientalis, Pelkosenniemi, Kätkäaapa-Serrijoki; 67.16738°N, 27.8772°E; 31Jul.–29Sep.2015; J. Salmela leg.; Malaise trap;rich fen; DIPT-JS-2015-0426; LMM NVO.20170572 • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; DIPT-JS-2016-0002; LMM NVO.20170607 .

Description

Male

HEAD. Brown, antenna unicolorous, paler brown, maxillary palpus very pale brown. Eye bridge 2–3 facets wide. Face with 18–27 setae, clypeus with 1–5 setae. Maxillary palpus with 3 segments; segments long, segment 3 longest, segment 2 shortest; palpal segment 1 with 6–8 setae, with indistinct dorsal patch of sensilla; body of 4 th flagellomere 2.2–3.0 × as long as wide, without distinct apical margin, neck much shorter than broad, sensilla pale and fine, longest sensilla shorter than width of flagellomere.

THORAX. Brown, pleura slightly paler. Setae dark. Anterior pronotum with 3–10 setae. Prothoracal episternum with 7–16 setae. Scutum with short dorsocentrals, with some longer and shorter laterals, scutellum with more than 4 long setae, and some short setae.

WING. Fumose brown. Length = 2.2–2.7 mm. Width/length = 0.45. Anal lobe strong. Veins distinct. R1/R = 1.1–1.65. c/w = 0.55–0.75. r-m subequal with bM. M and CuA setose, stM with some setae, r-m non-setose or with 1–7 setae, bM non-setose or rarely with 1 seta.

LEGS. Pale brown, coXae darker. CoXal setae dark. Fore tibial organ with pale and fine vestiture forming large subtriangular patch. Fore tibial spur as long as tibial width. Hind tibia without spinose setae. Claws without teeth.

ABDOMEN. Brown, slightly paler than thorax. Setae dark, strong and rather long. Hypopygium ( Figs 3A , 4 ) brown, concolorous with abdomen. Gonocoxae short and broad, nearly as long as gonostyli, mesial margin with sparse setosity. Gonostylus ( Fig. 3B ) with 5–9 megasetae apically (average 7 by n = 13), with richly setose subapical lobe and small densely setose medial lobe with 0–4 strong megasetae on its apical side (0 in southern populations, i.e., Estonia and Toivakka ( Fig. 4 ), 2–4 megasetae present in northern populations). Tegmen long and conical, apically with indistinctly divided medial process, ventrally with narrow elongated area of small aedeagal teeth, all aedeagal teeth numerous and evenly short; aedeagal apodeme sclerotised and very short.

Taxonomic remarks

Sciara bryophila sp. nov. belongs to the Sciara humeralis group in the sense of Menzel & Mohrig (2000). These have a basically triangular gonostylus, strongly impressed and narrowed towards the apex, with strong megasetae (spines) which in some species are arranged in a long and narrow apical group on a common basal projection, and a basal, densely setose lobe. Although there is some variation between the specimens of Sciara bryophila sp. nov. from different localities, for eXample, the specimens from northern Finland have stronger gonostylar megasetae than the central Finnish and Estonian specimens, we regard all as conspecific.

Sciara bryophila sp. nov. is similar to S. multispinulosa Mohrig & Kozánek, 1992 – described from North Korea in Mohrig et al. (1992: 19, fig. 1a–c) and redescribed by Sutou et al. (2004: 185, fig. 6a–b) on the basis of Japanese material – and S. kitakamiensis Sutou, 2004 described from Japan in Sutou et al. (2004: 186, fig 7a–d). The mentioned three species have the gonostylus dorsally strongly impressed with a dorsobasal short lobe and a stronger ventral lobe with short, curved spine-like setae and the apex with strong megasetae, two of which are placed on a common basal body dorsally in the subapical part. Sciara bryophila sp. nov. is similar to S. kitakamiensis in having the ventral lobe of the gonostylus in the apical half of the gonostylus, and the gonostylus with only 9 strong megasetae, whereas S. multispinulosa has the ventral lobe at the middle of the gonostylus, and the gonostylus with 15–18 weak megasetae. Sciara bryophila sp. nov. is similar to S. multispinulosa and differs from S. kitakamiensis in having its gonostylus ventrally more impressed, its dorsal lobe more prominent and the dorsosubapical pair of setae much longer than their common base. Furthermore, S. bryophila sp. nov. differs from S. kitakamiensis in having the apical megasetae of the gonostylus separate, not placed in a common long basal projection, and in having the ventral lobe less apical in position and in having a few megasetae on the apical side of the ventral lobe ( S. kitakamiensis has the ventral lobe nearly apical in position and has no megasetae on its dorsal side).

DNA analyses

In the BOLD ( Ratnasingham & Hebert 2007) database, the present barcodes cluster in a unique BIN (Barcode Index Number, BOLD:ADD2461), shared by no other specimens. The closest specimen in BOLD is 3.29%distant (K2P) from the sequenced type specimens, and the closest BIN(BOLD:ADD2588) is mainly composed of specimens belonging to S. humeralis Zetterstedt, 1851 .

Ecology and distribution

The new species occurs in rich fens, that is, in peatlands dominated by brown mosses and characterised by pH values around 7 or even above. In Finland the species occurs from south boreal to north boreal zones, but in South Finland it is known only from one site (Toivakka). It is assumed that S. bryophila sp. nov. is a rare or relict-like species in the hemiboreal and south boreal zones, being more common in mid and north boreal zones, especially in areas with limestone or calcareous bedrock. There are no records from the subalpine zone and the species may be absent from the northernmost parts of Fennoscandia.

Faunistics

A relatively high number of new species and species new for the Estonian fauna were recorded from a rather small number of studied specimens (n =225). Corynoptera saetistyla (24 specimens), C. verrucifera (Lengersdorf, 1952) (17 specimens), Cratyna nobilis (Winnertz, 1867) (17 specimens), Camptochaeta camptochaeta (Tuomikoski, 1960) (13 specimens) and Corynoptera postforcipata Rudzinski, 1993 (12 specimens) were most numerous. Most of the detected sciarid species are known from Central and/or Northern Europe, while many of them are common and widespread in the Palaearctic region. The sciarid species recorded in the Viidumäe Nature Reserve from April to November 2002 with four Malaise traps are listed in Table 1 .

Discussion

A total of 225 individuals belonging to 60 species were identified, of which Cratyna palustricola sp. nov. and Sciara bryophila sp. nov. are new to science. Of the 60 species collected in the Viidumäe Nature Reserve, only three were already known from other localities in Estonia: Corynoptera saetistyla , Corynoptera trepida and Cratyna uliginosa . Thus, 57 sciarid species are here recorded for the first time from Estonia, including the two previously undescribed species ( Table 1 ). The previously identified species Chaetosciara estlandica , Leptosciarella brevipalpa and Dolichosciara nigrovittata were not found in our study, which may be due to the habitat structure of the collected areas and/or the trapping method used. Consequently, 63 sciarid species are currently known from Estonia. They are spread over 19 genera as follows: Bradysia Winnertz, 1867 (7 species); Camptochaeta Hippa & Vilkamaa, 1994 (3); Chaetosciara Frey, 1942 (1); Claustropyga Hippa, Vilkamaa & Mohrig, 2003 (2); Corynoptera Winnertz, 1867 (14); Cratyna Winnertz, 1867 (5); Ctenosciara Tuomikoski, 1960 (1); Dichopygina Vilkamaa, Hippa & Komarova, 2004 (2); Dolichosciara Tuomikoski, 1960 (3); Leptosciariella Tuomikoski, 1960 (4); Lycoriella Frey, 1942 (4); Mouffetina Frey, 1942 (1); Prosciara Frey, 1942 (1); Pseudolycoriella Menzel & Mohrig, 1998 (1); Scatopsciara Edwards, 1927 (5); Sciara Meigen, 1803 (2); Scythropochroa Enderlein, 1911 (1); Trichosia Winnertz, 1867 (4); Xylosciara Tuomikoski, 1957 (2).

Faunistically significant are Camptochaeta sicilicula Hippa & Vilkamaa, 1994 , Corynoptera marinae Mohrig & Mamaev, 1986 , Corynoptera subtetrachaeta Komarova, 1995 and Dolichosciara saetosa ( Lengersdorf, 1929) . Only one individual of each of these rare species was captured in the Viidumäe Nature Reserve during an entire vegetation period. Furthermore, only a few specimens of these four species exist in collections, and they have been found in very few places in Europe.

Our results have revealed that the sciarid fauna of Estonia is very poorly known so far. The new faunistic records clearly reflect the lack of previous studies rather than a large sampling effort in the present study. This is supported by the comparison of the previously known species inventory of the Baltic States with that of the Fennoscandian countries ( Table 2 ). Currently only 63 species are known from Estonia, 28 from Latvia and 22 from Lithuania. The Fennoscandian fauna is much better studied ( Norway = 143 species; Sweden = 299 species; Finland = 370 species). About 450 to 500 sciarid species are expected for the fauna of Fennoscandia and at least 300 for the Baltic States.

The high number of identified species, the two newly described species and the high proportion of species that were newly recorded for the Estonian fauna show that even relatively small field studies can make a major contribution to biodiversity research. However, the discovery of new and faunistically interesting species shows also that mires, eutrophic fens and spring water-influenced habitats may provide new insights into sciarid ecology and taxonomy, and that they are worth protecting.

Figures

Fig. 3. Sciara bryophila sp. nov., holotype (LMM NVO.20170727). A. Hypopygium, ventral view. B. Gonostylus, mesial view.

Fig. 4. Sciara bryophila sp. nov., paratype from Estonia, Viidumäe (MZH), hypopygium, ventral view. Scale bar = 300 µm.