Molophilus (Molophilus) ibericus

Starý, Jaroslav, 2011, Descriptions and records of the Palaearctic Molophilus Curtis (Diptera, Limoniidae), Zootaxa 2999, pp. 45-62 : 52-53

Molophilus (Molophilus) ibericus nom. n., stat. n.

Figures 17, 19, 20

Molophilus gladius var. obscura Lackschewitz 1940a: 23 (diagnosis).

Diagnosis. Rather small species within Molophilus . Body dark brown, restrictedly patterned with yellow, suffused with greyish pruinosity. Gonocoxite of male terminalia without dorsal lobe. Outer (dorsal) gonostylus shorter than inner (ventral) gonostylus, spike-shaped, subacute at tip. Inner gonostylus tapered and curved downwards distally, pointed at apex. Wing length 3.3–4.6 mm.

Redescription. Male. Head. Antenna ( Fig. 17 ) short, not reaching wing base, dark brown throughout. Flagellomeres ovoid, with longest verticils slightly exceeding their respective segments; pubescence short and sparse.

Thorax dark brown, restrictedly patterned with yellow, suffused with dense greyish pruinosity. Prescutum and scutum dark greyish brown, with yellow area lateral to prescutal pit, including adjacent part of paratergite; scutal lobe obscure yellow posterolaterally. Scutellum bright yellow, dark greyish brown on margins. Postscutellum dark greyish brown, yellowed anterolaterally. Pleuron dark greyish brown, yellowed on dorsopleural membrane and basalare. Wing membrane slightly infuscated; venation generally as for genus. Halter dark yellow, with paler knob. Legs with coxae, trochanters and bases of femora brown, rest of legs dark brown.

Abdomen dark greyish brown. Male terminalia ( Figs 19, 20 ) light brown. Dorsal portion of gonocoxite rather short, without dorsal lobe, only expanded posterodorsally and obliquely truncate apically in lateral view, with distinct, setiferous lobule at posteroventral edge. Lateral lobe short, not extending beyond other lobes. Lateral excision rather wide and comparatively shallow. Ventral lobe of gonocoxite of moderate length and breadth, slightly extending beyond apex of dorsal portion of gonocoxite. Both gonostyli darkly pigmented. Outer gonostylus spikeshaped, gently curved ventrally, provided with a few spinules distally, subacute at tip, reaching to about three fourths length of inner gonostylus. The latter smooth, exceeding ventral lobe by about one third its length, tapered and hook-shaped distally, pointed at apex. Aedeagus comparatively short and stout, curved, with middle part arching dorsally, conspicuously expanded in lateral aspect, and with apex drawn out into slender point extending ventrocaudally. Aedeagal plate moderate in size, generally oval in ventral/ventrocaudal aspect, with three dark, slightly curved spines: a median and two posterolateral spines.

Female resembling male in general appearance.

Type material examined. Lackschewitz (1940a: 24) based his “ var. obscura ” of M. gladius (= propinquus ) on the following material: “ Spanien, Aragonien, Albarracin, 22.–30. VI.1924, 3 ƤƤ Typen (Zerny); Marokko, Gr. Atlas, Tachdirt (2200–2900 m), 11.–19.VII. 1933, 4 3 2 Ƥ (Zerny)”. Since, however, Lackschewitz (1940a) nominated as types only the one male (see note under Type material examined of testaceus for the interpretation of the single male symbol) and an unspecified number of females from Spain, only these are syntypes; the Moroccan specimens are excluded from the type series ( ICZN 1999, Article 72.4.6). At present, 1 3 and 1 Ƥ from “ Spanien, Aragonien, Albarracin” and 4 3 and 2 Ƥ from “ Marokko, Gr. Atlas, Tachdirt” are deposited in NHMW (P. Sehnal, pers. comm.). I have examined the Spanish and two Moroccan males, and I here select the Spanish male as lectotype. Lectotype 3 (by present designation): Spain, Aragón, Albarracin, 22.–30.vi.1924 (H. Zerny leg.) ( NHMW), labelled “Aragon Albarracin / 22.–30.VI ’24 Zerny” (printed), “Mol. gladius Meij. / obscura n. var. / det. Lacksch.” (printed, orange). Labelled as lectotype by the present author (“ LECTOTYPE / Molophilus / obscurus Lacksch. stat. n. 3 / J. Starý 2010”; printed red label) and identified as M. (M.) ibericus nom. n. The specimen is micropinned on a piece of foam, with left hind and right fore and hind legs missing; apex of abdomen is cut off. Terminalia mounted by Lackschewitz in Canada balsam between celluloid slides, pinned with the specimen. The two nontype Moroccan males are listed below under Other material examined. The lectotype is designated here to stabilize the concept of the name with respect to M. (M.) propinquus .

Other material examined (75 3, 1 Ƥ): Spain: Andalucía: Ronda, Rio Grande, 5.iv.2005, 1 3; El Burgo, Rio Turón, 5.iv.2005, 3 3; Guaro (nr. Coin), brook, 4.iv.2005, 12 3; Coin, Rio Seco, 30.iii.2005, 7 3, 4.iv.2005, 7 3, 7.iv.2005, 19 3; Alhaurin el Grande, 5 km E, 30.iii.2005, 1 3; Fuengirola, Rio de Fuengirola, 6.iv.2005, 2 3; Benalmádena, 28.iii.2005, 13 3, 9.iv.2005, 3 3; El. Romeral (nr. Cártama), watercourse, 31.iii.2005, 1 3 (all J. Starý leg.) (all JSO); Sierra Nevada Mts, Veleta road (1,500–1,800 m), 10.vii.1977, 1 3, 1 Ƥ (H. Aspöck, H. Rausch & P. Ressl leg.) ( ZFMK; in ethanol); Baza env., 12.v.1979, 1 3 (J. Roháček leg.) ( JSO). Morocco: Gr.

Atlas, Tachdirt (2,200–2,900 m), 11.–19.vii. 1933, 2 3 (H. Zerny leg.) ( NHMW) [listed as “ var. obscura ” by Lackschewitz 1940a; non-types (see above)]; Ht Atlas, Massif Toubkal, Imlil, 17 km S Asni (1,700–1,900 m), 7.vii.1977, 2 3 (H. & T. v. Oorschot, E. Houkes & P. Oosterbroek leg.) ( ZMAN, JSO).

Etymology. The name of this species, ibericus , was proposed by H. Mendl for his undescribed species, referring to the Iberian Peninsula where Mendl’s specimens (now in ZFMK, see Other material examined) come from, as well as most other material examined here. The name is to be deemed to be a latinized adjective in nominative singular

Discussion. Lackschewitz (1940a) established this species as “ var. obscura n. var. ” of M. gladius de Meijere, 1920 [= M. propinquus ( Egger, 1863) ]. The name obscura is subspecific in terms of Article 45.6.4. of ICZN (1999), and the taxon is here raised to species rank. The name, however, is a junior secondary homonym of Erioptera obscura Meigen, 1818 (now in Molophilus ). Hence, a new replacement name is proposed here, ibericus nom. n., based on Mendl’s manuscript name (see Etymology). H. Mendl considered his ibericus to be a valid species; similarly, Savchenko (1982: 212, footnote) suggested Lackschewitz’s “ var. obscura ” as being possibly distinct from M. (M.) propinquus .

M. (M.) propinquus , a common and widely distributed Palaearctic species, and its allies constitute a distinctive species complex distinguished by the structure of the male terminalia, primarily the ventrally curved aedeagus and the aedeagal plate provided with three spines subequal in size. M. (M.) alexanderianus Nielsen, 1963 (Middle Asia), M. (M.) pseudopropinquus Mendl, 1973 ( France, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland), and M. (M.) ponticus Savchenko, 1982 (Crimea, North Caucasus, Transcaucasia) belong here and are considered distinct species based on details of the male terminalia. Since, however, a certain genital variation may occur within each species, in particular for the widespread M. (M.) propinquus , all the species are more significantly differentiated by their male antennae, which differ considerably among the species by their overall length and the length and density of both verticils and pubescence on the flagellomeres. Some other forms, such as M. triacanthus Alexander, 1934 (Russian Far East, North Korea, Japan) and M. debilispinus Alexander, 1957 ( Japan) , are insufficiently known and currently treated as subspecies of M. (M.) propinquus (see Oosterbroek 2010). A form illustrated by Savchenko (1982, Fig. 98/4) as „ M. (s. str.) sp. cf. occultus Meijere “ is of doubtful taxonomic status, but could represent a separate taxon, having in fact nothing in common with M. (M.) occultus .

M. (M.) ibericus nom. n. clearly fits in this species complex. It differs from M. (M.) propinquus externally by its darker body colouration and somewhat smaller size, having the antennae shorter, with moderately long verticils and only sparse and short pubescence; the antennae of M. (M.) propinquus are longer, with somewhat longer verticils and the pubescence conspicuous, long, suberect and dense (cf. Figs 17 and 18 ) [the antennae of alexanderianus are still longer, with flagellomeres subcylindrical, verticils indistinct, and pubescence conspicuous (see Savchenko 1982, Fig. 87/4); those of pseudopropinquus are moderately long, with verticils twice the length of their respective segments and pubescence conspicuous; the antennae of ponticus are short, long-verticilate and inconspicuously pubescent (see Savchenko 1982, Fig. 87/3)]. In the structure of the male terminalia, M. (M.) ibericus nom. n. is distinguished by having the lateral lobe short, not protruding ( Fig. 19 ), whereas, in M. (M.) propinquus , this part extends posteriorly beyond other lobes of the gonocoxite. The outer gonostylus is shorter and subacute at the tip in M. (M.) ibericus nom. n. (longer and rather obtuse at tip in propinquus , with abundant, black spinules or spinoid setulae present not only at the apex but also at the inner margin along most of the length of the gonostylus), and the inner gonostylus is more slender and less conspicuously curved distally. The aedeagus is more expanded in the lateral view in M. (M.) ibericus nom. n., with a longer narrowed point and the spines on the aedeagal plate may be somewhat less pronounced.

Distribution. Spain, Morocco. If Lackschewitz’s (1940a) M. gladius var. obscura is the only record for M. (M.) propinquus from Spain in the recent checklist ( Eiroa & Báez 2002), then the latter species should be excluded from the list.

Figures

FIGURES 13 – 20. Male terminalia and male antennae. 13 – 16 — M. (M.) hradileki sp. n. (paratype), general view, lateral (13), distal part of gonocoxite, dorsal (14), aedeagal complex, lateral (15), and aedeagal plate, ventral (16). 17 – 18 — male antenna, M. (M.) ibericus nom. n. (Spain: Fuengirola) (17) and M. (M.) propinquus (Czech Republic: Lobodice) (18). 19 – 20 –– M. (M.) ibericus nom. n. (Spain: Fuengirola), general view, lateral (19) and aedeagal complex, lateral (20). Scale bars 0.5 mm.