Lipsothrix jiri Podenas, 2020

Podenas, Sigitas, Park, Sun-Jae, Kim, A-Young & Aukstikalniene, Rasa, 2020, New species of Lipsothrix (Diptera: Limoniidae) from South Korea, Zootaxa 4802 (3), pp. 534-540 : 535-539

Lipsothrix jiri Podenas , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–6 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F3DF41DD-CB0F-4BDF-8E07-AA6B543A8B3C

Diagnosis. Body distinctly dark brown dorsally, yellow ventrally ( Fig. 1 ). Wing patternless with abundant macrotrichiae in apical cells. Gonocoxite elongate, longer than gonostyli. Outer gonostylus with small spine at middle. Inner gonostylus setiferous, arched, long and narrow, blunt-apexed. Interbase long and slender with needle-shaped distal part. Ovipositor brownish yellow with brown cercus.

Material examined. Type specimens 4 males, 2 females.

Holotype: male (pinned), S. Korea, Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Toji-myeon, Naeseo-ri , Piagol valley , N 35.27448, E 127.56378, alt. 593 m, 2015.07.01 (1), S. Podenas, net ( NIBR).

Paratypes: 1 male (in ethanol), S. Korea, Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Toji-myeon, Naeseo-ri , Piagol valley , N 35.26590, E 127.58096, alt. 446 m, 2014.08.24 (1), S. Podenas, net ( NIBR) ; 1 male (pinned), S. Korea, Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Toji-myeon, Naeseo-ri , Piagol valley , N 35.26590, E 127.58096, alt. 446 m, 2015.06.26, S. Podenas, net ( NIBR) ; 1 female (in ethanol), S. Korea, Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Toji-myeon, Naeseo-ri , Piagol valley , N 35.27177, E 127.57146, alt. 490 m, 2015.06.27 (1), S. Podenas, net ( NIBR) ; 1 male (pinned), S. Korea, Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Toji-myeon, Naeseo-ri , Piagol valley , N 35.27177, E 127.57146, alt. 490 m, 2015.06.28 (2), S. Podenas, net ( NIBR) ; 1 female (pinned), S. Korea, Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Sandong-myeon, Jwasa-ri , N 35.32780, E 127.52736, alt. 817 m, 2019.06.28 (2), S. Podenas, net ( NIBR) .

Compared also with L. babai Alexander, 1958 , holotype, male (antenna, wing, leg and genitalia slide mount- ed), Japan, Honshu, Kurokawa, VI-17, 1955, Kintaro Baba ( USNM) and with specimens listed in Podenas et al. (2019).

Description. Adult ( Fig. 1 ), male (N =4), female (N =2). General body coloration dark brown dorsally, yellow ventrally. Body length of male 6.8–8.0 mm, of female 9.1–10.4 mm. Wing length of male 8.4–9.0 mm, of female 9.0– 9.5 mm.

Head. Dark brown, tan posteriorly, sparsely dusted with gray, light gray along eye margin. Vertex with small brownish tubercle. Eyes large, narrowly separated dorsally, reaching each other ventrally. Antenna 3.2 mm long in male, 1.4–2.0 mm in female, reaching to about base of abdomen if bent backwards in male and to about base of wing in female. Scape elongate, about 1.5 times as long as wide, pedicel subglobular, approximately as long as width of pedicel. Both basal antennomeres brown, sparsely dusted with gray. Flagellum 14-segmented, flagellomeres elongate, subcylindrical, decreasing in length apically, ultimate flagellomere small, about twice as short as penultimate flagellomere. Flagellum yellow at base, turning grayish brown towards apex. Verticils very short, about 1/4 to 1/3 times as long as respective segments, flagellomeres covered with dense whitish pubescence. Rostrum short and brown. Palpus and mouth parts brown to dark brown.

Thorax. Cervical sclerites yellowish brown. Pronotum dark brown dorsally, pale laterally, covered with few erect setae. Mesonotal prescutum uniformly dark brown, sparsely dusted with grayish pruinosity, semi-polished, without stripes, lateral margin narrowly yellowish. Tubercular pits missing, pseudosutural fovea indistinct. Scutal lobe concolorous with prescutum, suture between lobes light brown, scutellum dark brown, frontally dusted with gray. Mediotergite brown, dusted with gray, semi-polished. Pleuron brownish yellow with brown to dark brown laterotergite and katepisternum. Wing ( Fig. 2 ) subhyaline, brownish, unpatterned, stigma indistinct, nearly missing. Veins brown. Distal wing cells with central streaks of macrotrichiae, which are more abundant in radial cells, they present in other marginal cells along postero-apical wing margin, few macrotrichiae present also in cell cua at wing margin. Venation: Sc long, reaching frontal wing margin at or slightly beyond branching point of Rs. Cross-vein sc-r at or slightly beyond apex of Sc. Rs long and straight, slightly angulate or arched at base. Free end of R 1 elongate. R 2 transverse and indistinct, one to three times its own length from apex of R 1. R 3 nearly straight, R 4 slightly arched at wing margin and diverging from R 3. Cross-vein r-m distinct, at about one third of discal cell’s length. Discal cell elongate, slightly more than twice as long as wide. Cross-vein m-cu at middle of discal cell. CuP nearly straight, A 1 slightly arched before wing margin. Anal lobe wide, anal angle widely rounded. Length of male halter 1.2–1.4 mm, of female 1.4–1.6 mm. Halter pale at base, stem grayish brown, knob dark gray. Coxae brownish yellow. Frontal trochanter grayish yellow, remaining trochanters yellow. Femur yellow with narrowly dark brown apex, tibia yellow with indistinctly darkened apex, three basal tarsomeres yellow, distal tarsomeres brown to dark brown. Male femur I: 5.5–5.8 mm long, III: 6.5–7.8 mm, tibia I: 7.6–8.0 mm, III: 6.5–7.5 mm, tarsus I: 5.8–6.8 mm, III: 5.0– 5.5 mm. Female femur I: 5.5 mm long, III: 6.2 mm, tibia I: 6.0 mm, II: 5.3 mm, III: 6.4 mm, tarsus I: 5.6 mm, III: 5.0 mm. Claw with three teeth at basal half.

Abdomen. Semi-polished, distinctly dark brown dorsally, yellow ventrally. Fifth sternite brown, sternites 6–8 dark brown in male, brownish yellow in female. Male terminalia with yellow gonocoxites ( Fig. 3 ). Ninth tergite transverse, posterior margin slightly concave. Gonocoxite elongate, longer than gonostyli. Outer gonostylus glabrous, blackened, slightly arched, point-apexed with small spine at middle. Inner gonostylus setiferous, arched, long and narrow, wider at base, blunt-apexed. Interbase ( Fig. 5 ) long and slender with needle-shaped distal part. Paramere strongly arched, aedeagus directed ventrally with a single wide opening ( Fig. 4 ).

Female. Ovipositor ( Fig. 6 ) brownish yellow with brown cercus. Tenth tergite strongly elongate, setose, cercus long, narrow, distal part turned upwards, point-apexed. Hypovalva long and straight, getting narrower distally, apex pale, slightly enlarged, reaching to about middle of cercus. Spermatheca small, rounded.

Habitats. Adults have been found flying near small springs, seepages, and small streams surrounded by mountain slopes covered with dense deciduous shrubs and trees and had accumulations of dead twigs and branches that had fallen into water ( Fig. 7 ). Despites insects were collected at light every evening in Jirisan National Park, no one specimen of new species was attracted to it.

Elevation. Adult flies were taken at altitudes from nearly 450 m to more than 800 m.

Period of activity. Adults are known to be active from end of June through the end of August.

Distribution. Currently known only from Jirisan National Park, South Korea ( Fig. 8 ).

Remarks. Worldwide, only three species of Lipsothrix besides L. jiri Podenas , sp. nov. have wings covered with macrotrichiae ( Table 1). One of them, L. babai occurs in Honshu Island, Japan. Two species, L. nigrilinea ( Doane, 1900) and L. shasta Alexander, 1946 are from the Nearctic Region. L. jiri Podenas , sp. nov. is unique by having strongly elongated antenna, length of flagellomere more than four times exceeds its width, when that in other species is close to two times. Male gonocoxite of L. jiri Podenas , sp. nov. exceeds length of gonostyli, gonocoxite subequal to gonostyli in other species. L. jiri Podenas , sp. nov. could be easily recognized in the field conditions by its distinct body coloration, dorsally dark brown, ventrally yellow. In L. jiri Podenas , sp. nov. and L. babai length ratio of R 3 / R 2+3+4 exceeds 2.0 that in North American species ( L. nigrilinea and L. shasta ) is about 1.5–1.6. Position of m-cu is at or beyond middle of discal cell in L. jiri Podenas , sp. nov. and L. babai , that in North American species is at 1/4–1/3 of discal cell’s length.

Etymology. This species is named after the beautiful Jirisan (san = mountain in Korean) National Park, South Korea, the only known locality of this species.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Type locality of Lipsothrix jiri Podenas, sp. nov. Valley of Piagol.

FIGURE 8. Sites on Korean Peninsula where Lipsothrix were collected. Red circle–L. odaesana, blue triangle–L. jiri Podenas, sp. nov.

FIGURES 1–6. Lipsothrix jiri Podenas, sp. nov. 1. Holotype male, general view. 2. Wing. 3. Male genitalia, dorsal view. 4. Male genitalia with ninth sternite removed, ventral view. 5. Aedeagal complex, dorsal view. 6. Ovipositor, lateral view. Scale bars 0.5 mm. Abbreviations: aed–aedeagus, cerc–cercus, goncx–gonocoxite, hyp vlv–hypovalva, i gonst–inner gonostylus, interb–interbase, o gonst–outer gonostylus, tg 9–ninth tergite, tg 10–tenth tergite.