Molophilus (Molophilus) hradileki, Starý, Jaroslav, 2011

Starý, Jaroslav, 2011, Descriptions and records of the Palaearctic Molophilus Curtis (Diptera, Limoniidae), Zootaxa 2999, pp. 45-62 : 50-51

Molophilus (Molophilus) hradileki sp. n.

Figures 13–16

Diagnosis. Rather large species within Molophilus . Body orange yellow, mostly shiny, patterned with pale yellow. Gonocoxite of male terminalia without dorsal and lateral lobe. Outer (dorsal) gonostylus shorter than inner (ventral) gonostylus, slender, setulose, pointed at tip. Inner gonostylus stouter and much longer, obtuse, spatuliform at apex. Wing length 3.8–5.4 mm.

Description. Male. Head. Antenna of moderate length, extending about to wing base. Basal segments yellowish brown. Flagellomeres infuscated, brown to dark brown, ovoid to long-ovoid, with longest verticils slightly exceeding length of their respective segments.

Thorax orange yellow, mostly shiny, patterned with pale yellow. Prescutum and scutum yellowish brown medially, with pale yellow area laterally around prescutal pit; scutal lobe pale yellow posterolaterally. Scutellum pale yellow. Postscutellum orange yellow, pale yellow anterolaterally. Pleuron orange yellow, mostly shiny, patterned with pale yellow on dorsopleural membrane, basalare and restrictedly elsewhere. Wing membrane tinged with yellow; venation generally as for genus. Halter pale yellow throughout. Legs yellow, with distal halves of femora, tips of tibiae and most of tarsi (except for yellow proximal two thirds of metatarsus) darkened.

Abdomen somewhat darker than thorax, yellowish brown dorsally. Male terminalia ( Figs 13–16 ) orange yellow. Dorsal portion of gonocoxite moderately long, without dorsal and lateral lobe, tapered conically to obtuse apex in lateral view. Two blackened crests at dorsal inner margin at about two thirds length of gonocoxite; pale, glabrous, finger-like process at posteroventral edge of gonocoxite, directed mesally ( Figs 13, 14 ). Lateral excision comparatively deep and narrow. Ventral lobe of gonocoxite generally slender and long, its rounded tip not extending as far as apex of dorsal portion of gonocoxite. Both gonostyli darkly pigmented distally. Outer gonostylus tapered from broad base to slender pointed spine, slightly curved dorsally, provided with setulae and reaching to about half length of inner gonostylus. The latter long, exceeding ventral lobe by more than half its length, more or less parallel-sided, undulate, curved ventrally in distal part, obtuse at apex when viewed laterally, but expanded, spatuliform in ventral aspect. Aedeagus of moderate length and breadth, expanded before mid-length in lateral view and slightly bent ventrally, then gradually tapering to slightly upturned tip. Aedeagal plate large, generally oval in ventral/ventrocaudal aspect, with very long, slender, blackened median spine and with microscopically serrate margin posterolaterally.

Female resembling male in general appearance.

Material examined. Holotype 3: Kazakhstan, Altay Mts, Katon-Karagay N. Park, Yazovka, Belaya Bereľ valley, Ser-Sembai (1,580–1,610 m) (49°37'N / 86°28'E), 28.vi.2007 (Z. Hradílek leg.) ( SMOC). Paratypes: 19 3, 2 Ƥ, same data as for holotype ( JSO, SMOC).

Etymology. The new species is named in honour of its collector, Dr. Zbynĕk Hradílek Ph.D. (Univerzita Palackého, Olomouc, Czech Republic), a bryologist at the Department of Botany, in thanks for highly interesting cranefly material from Kazakhstan. A noun in genitive singular.

Discussion. Based on a distally tapered gonocoxite, the overall shape of the gonostyli, and/or the structure of the aedeagal plate the new species is similar to M. (M.) medius de Meijere, 1918. It may be compared, and is distantly related to M. (M.) maurus Lackschewitz, 1925 and its allies, such as M. (M.) urodontus Savchenko, 1978 , and subspecies brachyurus Savchenko, 1978 and cephaliger Savchenko, 1978 (both apparently represent valid species), all differing externally from M. (M.) hradileki sp. n. by darker body colouration. M. (M.) hradileki sp. n. is peculiar in having two blackened crests at the dorsal inner margin of the gonocoxite ( Figs 13, 14 ), a character otherwise unknown to me.

Distribution. Kazakhstan.

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.