Volucella pellucens tabanoides Motschulsky

Choi, Deuk-Soo, Ôhara, Kenji & Han, Ho-Yeon, 2006, Taxonomic notes on the Volucella pellucens species group (Diptera: Syrphidae) with a description of one new species from the Eastern Palaearctic, Zootaxa 1185, pp. 1-19 : 13-16

Volucella pellucens tabanoides Motschulsky ( Figs. 4C , 5Q–T , 6C, D )

Volucella tabanoides Motschulsky, 1859: 504 (Type­locality: “des environs du fl. Amour, depuis la Schilka jusqu’à Nikolaëvsk”, Russian Far East; Type?, ZMM); Shiraki, 1930: 216 (redescription); Matsumura, 1931: 358 (redescription); Sack, 1931: 249 (redescription); Shiraki, 1968: 210 (redescription); Okuno, 1970: 268 (biology); Kim, 1971: 863 (redescription); Kim, 1980: 295 (Korean distribution); Kim et Park, 1984: 42 (gut anatomy); Han et Choi, 2001: 127 (in Korean checklist).

Volucella japonica Bigot, 1875: 473 (Type­locality: Japan; Holotype Female, UMO); Matsumura, 1916: 209 (redescription); Coquillett, 1898: 324 (specimen information).

Volucella pellucens var. japonica Matsumura, 1916: 238 (Type­locality: “ Hokkaido (Sapporo)”, Japan, Holotype Male, HUS; see also Remarks for further information); Shiraki, 1930: 216 (as synonym of tabanoides Motsch. ).

Volucella matsumurai Han et Choi, 2001: 125 (new name for V. pellucens var. japonica Matsumura, 1916 ), misidentification of Volucella thompsoni n.sp.

Volucella pellucens tabanoides: Zimina, 1961: 145 (in Palaearctic key); Violovitsh, 1983: 110 (in Siberian key); Peck, 1988: 131 (in Palaearctic catalog); Ôhara, 1989: 789 (in Japanese checklist); Huang et al., 1996: 202 (in Chinese key); Yang et Wang, 2002: 102 (redescription).

Volucella pellucens: Knutson et al., 1975: 336 (in Oriental catalog); Ôhara, 1985a: 210 (in Japanese larval key).

Diagnosis

See Diagnosis of V. pellucens pellucens .

Material examined

KOREA: Chungcheongbuk­do: 16♂, 5♀; Chungcheongnam­do: 1♀ ; Gyeongsangbukdo : 1♂, 1♀; Gyeonggi­do: 1♂, 2♀ ; Gangwon­do : 70♂, 141♀ ( YSUW) . JAPAN: Hokkaido: Sapporo, holotype male of Volucella pellucens var. japonica (HUS) ; Kamikawa, Mts. Daisetsu , 7km NW Aizankei, 550–650m, 19–20. VI.1986, FC Thompson, 1♂ ( USNM) ; Kushiro, Lake Kussharo (west shore), Rt. 243, 8km S BihoroPass, 23.VII.1980, FC Thompson, 1♀ ( USNM).

Distribution

Russian Far East, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan; Oriental region? (see Remarks)

Biology

This species is associated with Vespa and Vespula species (Hymenoptera) during immature stages. Recently, the larvae of three Volucella species including this species were collected from soil under the nest of Vespula flaviceps lewisii (Cameron) and studied morphologically in Japan ( Ôhara, 1985a).

Remarks

Specific status of this taxon has been confused in the past. Authors have treated it as V. tabanoides , V. pellucens or V. pellucens tabanoides in Eastern Palaearctic region (see synonymy). This is due to the fact that there are subtle but clear differences between Western and Eastern Palaearctic females. Choi (2005 ­Ph.D. thesis; nomenclatural changes not available) recently suggested the Eastern Palaearctic population as subspecies based on almost identical male genitalic and molecular characters (mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COII gene sequences). We also have found differences between the Western and Eastern Palaearctic subspecies (see Diagnosis of V. p. pellucens ), but we do not believe that they are different species as some earlier authors indicated ( Sack, 1931; Shiraki, 1968; Han et Choi, 2001 etc.). Except for the slight differences in the color pattern of female scutum ( Figs. 6A, B vs. 6C, D) and the male eye contiguity­vertex ratio, they are morphologically indistinguishable. In addition, our molecular sequence data showed that they are genetically very close (3–5/1,292 differences in 16S rRNA and 1–2/766 differences in COII gene) (Choi et al., in prep.). Based on our prior experiences, we believe that this level of difference usually constitutes intraspecific variation. There also is a record of V. pellucens from India and Malaya ( Knutson et al, 1975), but we have not seen any Oriental specimens yet. More comprehensive study of the distribution and variation is needed to further understand their subspecific status.

According to the original description of V. pellucens var. japonica Matsumura, 1916 , it was based on unspecified number of specimen(s) from Sapporo, Japan. The second author (K. Ôhara) had a chance to examine the Matsumura’s collection deposited in HUS, and found that there were three males under the name V. pellucens var. japonica . However, two of them were from Budapest and Sakhalin collected in 1932, and a single male from Sapporo appeared to be the only specimen used by Matsumura in 1916. This assumed holotype is a bit teneral specimen but apparently belongs to V. p. tabanoides based on both its external appearance and genitalic structures. There are three labels associated with the holotype: 1) 5.22 Sapporo Matsum; 2) Type Matsumura; and 3) Volucella japonica Mats. det. FC Thompson, 1980 ( Fig. 7B ). In addition, the body length and wing span were listed as 13.5 mm and 30 mm in the original description without indicating any variation, and this may also be viewed as an indirect evidence for the single type.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Volucella pellucens (Linnaeus). A, male head, anterior view; B, male head, dorsal view (pellucens pellucens type); C, male head, dorsal view (pellucens tabanoides type); D, male head, lateral view; E–G, female head in anterior, dorsal, and lateral view; H, male genitalia, lateral view; I, surstylus, inner view; J, male genitalia, posterodorsal view. b epand lb = basal epandrial lobe.

FIGURE 5. Volucella species (dorsal and lateral view). A–D, V. thompsoni n.sp. (A, B, male, C, D, female); E–H, V.inflata (E, F, male, G, H, female); I–L, V. nigricans (I, J, male, K, L, female); M–P, V. pellucens pellucens (M, N, male, O, P, female); Q–T, V. pellucens tabanoides (Q, R, male, S, T, female).

FIGURE 6. Female thoracic patterns of Volucella pellucens subspecies. A, B, V. pellucens pellucens; C, D, V. pellucens tabanoides.

FIGURE 7. The holotype (A) and associated labels (B) of Volucella pellucens var. japonica Matsumura, 1916.