Eloeophila yezoensis ( Alexander, 1924b )

Podenas, Sigitas, Park, Sun-Jae, Byun, Hye-Woo, Kim, A-Young, Klein, Terry A. & Aukštikalnienė, Heung-Chul Kim and Rasa, 2020, New data on Limoniinae and Limnophilinae crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) of Korea, Journal of Species Research 9 (4), pp. 492-531 : 523-524

Eloeophila yezoensis ( Alexander, 1924b)

Limnophila (Ephelia) subaprilina yezoensis Alexander, 1924b: 72 .

Eloeophila (Eloeophila) subaprilina yezoensis Savchenko, Krivolutskaya, 1976: 61 .

Eloeophila subaprilina yezoensis Savchenko, 1983: 50 ; 1989: 85.

Eloeophila yezoensis Oosterbroek, 2020 .

General: Body coloration brown, dusted with gray. Male body length 4.2-5.2 mm, wing length 5.8-6.7 mm. Female body length 5.5 mm, wing length 5.5 mm.

Head: Brown, indistinctly darkened along dorso-medially, densely dusted with gray, narrowly light gray to yellowish gray along eye margin, covered with sparse short erect brown setae. Vertex with indistinct tubercle marked with darker line along middle. Eyes widely separated in both sexes, distance between them at base of antennae approximately same as length of both basal antennomeres taken together. Male antenna ( Fig. 13A ) 1.8 mm long, reaching to about middle of prescutum, if bent backward, female antenna 1.3 mm long. Scape pale brownish yellow, dusted with gray, elongate, nearly cylindrical, twice as long as pedicel. Pedicel brown, widened distally. Basal flagellomere light yellow, second and third segments pale brown, remaining flagellomeres dark brown, slightly elongate in male, oval in female, narrower towards apex of antenna, covered with dense whitish pubescence. Apical segment subequal in length to preceding. Verticils dark brown, about twice as long as respective segments. Rostrum brown dorsally, dark brown ventrally, dusted with gray, palpus dark brown to blackish, labella brown.

Thorax: Cervical sclerites and pronotum brown dusted with brownish gray. Mesonotal prescutum brown, dusted with gray, with four longitudinal stripes. Median stripes partly broken at middle, lateral indistinct with short transverse spot frontally. Tubercular pits indistinct at frontal margin of sclerite, pseudosutural fovea distinct polished brown. Scutal lobe brown, densely dusted with brownish gray and with darker spot at middle. Area between lobes brownish gray, frontal margin narrowly polished brown. Scutellum brownish gray. Mediotergite brown, densely covered with brownish gray pruinosity, darker along posterior margin. Pleuron yellowish brown, dusted with brownish gray. Wing ( Fig. 13B ) iridescent with brownish tinge, yellowish at base. Stigma distinct, dark brown. Brown spots at base of wing, along frontal margin, surrounding branching points of veins and cross-veins and at tips of all longitudinal veins along wing margin. Veins brownish yellow, darker in darkened areas, yellowish at wing base. Venation: Sc long, reaching wing margin slightly before branching point of Rs, sc-r three to four times its own length before tip of Sc. Rs long, arched at base. Free end of R 1 short, nearly longitudinal, R 2 indistinct, at the middle between tip of R 1 and branching point of R 2 + 3 and R 4. R 3 and R 4 diverging, cell r 3 with long stem, which is as long as m-cu. Cross-vein r-m distinct, slightly beyond base of discal cell. Discal cell twice as long as wide. Cross-vein m-cu from slightly before to middle of discal cell. Additional cross-vein in cell bm at the middle between base of Rs and tip of anal vein. Anal vein sinuous. Anal angle wide, posterior margin widely rounded. Halter with pale stem, yellowish at base, and brownish knob. Length of male halter 0.8-0.9 mm, that of female 0.7 mm. Coxae brown, dusted with gray. Trochanters yellowish brown. Femur yellow, apical part indistinctly darkened. Tibia yellow with narrowly brownish apex. Three basal tarsomeres yellow with indistinctly darkened apices, remainder of tarsus brown. Tibia of fore leg with single apical spur, tibiae of middle and hind pairs of legs with two apical spurs each. Male femur I: 4.5 mm long, II: 4.2-4.5 mm, III: 4.7-5.0 mm, tibia I: 5.3 mm, II: 5.0- 5.2 mm, III: 4.5-5.2 mm, tarsus I: 5.0 mm, II: 4.4-4.5 mm, III: 3.2-3.5 mm. Female femur I: 3.5 mm long, II: 3.7 mm, III: 3.8 mm, tibia I: 3.5 mm, II: 3.5 mm, III: 3.8 mm, tarsus I: 3.2 mm, II: 2.9 mm, III: 3.0 mm. Claw simple, without spines.

Abdomen: Tergites reddish yellow or yellow with widely dark brown posterior and lateral margins, covered with sparse yellowish erect setae. Sternites yellow, with widely dark brown posterior and lateral margins, covered with sparse yellowish erect setae. Male terminalia ( Fig. 13C ) light brown. Ninth tergite wider than longer, posterior margin widely concave at middle. Gonocoxite elongate, slightly narrower at middle of mesal surface. Outer gonostylus sclerotised, blade-shaped, with two apical spines. Inner gonostylus elongate, fleshy and setose. Paramere simple, elongate, stick-shaped. Aedeagus short and straight. Ovipositor ( Fig. 13D ) brownish-grayish yellow. Cercus long and narrow, nearly straight, blunt-apexed. Hypovalva long and straight, point-apexed, reaching slightly beyond middle of cercus.

Elevation in Korea: From less than 50 to more than 1800 m.

Period of activity in Korea: Early July through mid August.

Habitats: small springs surrounded by willows and grassy vegetation in mountainous areas, wet surface of rocks covered with algae.

General distribution: North Korea, Honshu and Hokkaido Islands of Japan, Russian Far East including Kuril and Sakhalin Islands.

Remarks: Original description of E. yezoensis as a subspecies of E. subaprilina was based on a single female. It was given status of subspecies based only on subtle color differences of antennae and femur. Ch. Alexander later identified male specimen from North Korea as E. subaprilina yezoensis and slide mounted genitalia, but details of genitalia show no difference from typical E. subaprilina . Oosterbroek (2020) raised E. yezoensis to species status. On the other hand, both species E. subaprilina and E. yezoensis are very similar to E. serenensis originally described from North Korea. Similarities were observed in the wing pattern, male and female terminalia. Differences were observed in coloration of separate structures, like antennae, halters, and legs. At the moment, it is difficult to say, if these three species deserve species status, or are just color variations of same taxon. Comparison of DNA barcoding results of freshly collected males of E. serenensis from North Korea, E. subaprilina from Honshu Island of Japan, and E. yezoensis from Hokkaido Island of Japan would be helpful to resolve their taxononic status.

Examined material ( Fig. 16M ): holotype (as Limnophila (Ephelia) subaprilina yezoensis ), female (wing slide mounted), Japan, Jozankei [Ishikari-no-kuni], alt. 1000 ft., 1923.08.16, T. Esaki ( USNM) ; metatype (as Limnophila (Elaeophila) subaprilina yezoensis ), male (wing and genitalia slide mounted), N. Korea, Seren Mts., alt. 2000 ft., 1938.08.08, A. Y. Yankovsky ( USNM); 1 male (pinned), N. Korea, Chonsani, alt. 4000 ft., 1940.07.04, A. Y. Yankovsky ( USNM); 1 male (pinned), N. Korea, Pontani Paiktusan , alt. 6000 ft., 1940.07.26, A. Y. Yankovsky ( USNM); 1 male (pinned), N. Korea, Pontani Paiktusan , alt. 6000 ft., 1940.08.04, A. Y. Yankovsky ( USNM); 1 female (pinned), S. Korea, #27, Hwy. #13, 6 mi. E of Seoul, 1 mi. W. Han River , 150 ft., 1954.08.19, G. W. Byers ( SMEK); 1 male, 1 female (in EtOH), S. Korea, Gangwon-do , Yangyang , Seo-myeon , Osaek-ri , Heullim 1 gyo (bridge), Seoraksan NP, N 38.09512, E 128.41309, alt. 800 m, 2015.07.07 (3), S. Kim, S. Podenas ( NIBR) .

Figures

Fig. 13. Eloeophila yezoensis (Alexander, 1924). A. male antenna. B. wing. C. male genitalia, dorsal view. D. ovipositor, lateral view. Scale bars 0.5mm.

Fig. 16. Distribution maps of Korean Limoniidae crane flies.A. Dicranomyia (Erostrata) submelas. B. Dicranoptycha venosa. C. Austrolimnophila(Archilimnophila) subunicoides. D. A.(A.) unica. E. A.(Austrolimnophila) asiatica. F. Conosia irrorata. G. Dicranophragma (Brachylimnophila) transitorium. H. D.(Dicranophragma) melaleucum melaleucum. I. Eloeophila persalsa. J. E. serenensis. K. E. subaprilina. L. E. ussuriana ussuriana. M. E. yezoensis. N. Paradelphomyia chosenica. O. P. macracantha.