Antillocladius pluspilalus Saether, 1982

Mendes, Humberto Fonseca & Andersen, Trond, 2008, A review of Antillocladius Saether and Litocladius Mendes, Andersen et Saether, with the description of two new Neotropical genera (Diptera, Chironomidae, Orthocladiinae), Zootaxa 1887 (1), pp. 1-75 : 36

Antillocladius pluspilalus Saether

Antillocladius pluspilalus Saether, 1982: 474 , Fig. 6 ; Saether (1984: 1, Figs 1–2 ); Spies and Reiss (1996: 75); Mendes et al. (2004: 48).

Material examined: Type material as in Saether (1982). ECUADOR: Provincia Pichincha: Setor Palmeras, unión Rios Guajalito y Bricador , Bosque Protector Rio Guajalito , 00°14.925'N, 78°48.193'W, 1900 m a.s.l., 1 male, 4–10.ii.2000, light trap, F.M. Quesada . MEXICO: Campeche: Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul, Zona Arqueológica , 18°07'26.7''N, 89°48'56.7''W, 265 m a.s.l., 1 male, 20.ix.1997, light trap, A. Contreras-Ramos et al. ( ZMBN) .

Diagnostic characters: The male can be separated from all other members of the genus by having numerous apical setae on the wing membrane, cell m 3+4. with several setae; setose squama; acrostichals in mid scutum, all more or less scalpellate; long virga; anal point long, tapering, with moderately strong lateral setae; and inferior volsella prominent with anterior digitiform projection equally long as and partly covering rounded posterior lobe. The pupa has thorn-like macrosetae, caudal spines on tergites, no pearl row on antennal sheath, and anal lobe not extended laterally.

Remarks: Antillocladius pluspilalus , A. yakyijeus , A. scalpellatus and A. subnubilus are only separable on the size of the virga and the chaetotaxy of squama and cell m 3+4. We retain the four species as separate species. However, further studies using different approaches should be carried out in order to clarify whether this is a single, widespread and variable species or four closely related species. A. pluspilalus is Nearctic-Neotropical, while the remaining three are Palaearctic.

Biology and distribution: The species was described from southeastern U.S.A., and has later been recorded from Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Mexico ( Spies & Reiss 1996; Mendes et al. 2004). It is described as male, pupa and larva. The larva was taken in a seep area on the shore of a reservoir in South Carolina, U.S.A. ( Saether 1984).

Figures

FIGURES 5–6. Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA) of the species belonging to: 5—Antillocladius Saether; 6—Gravatamberus gen. n., Gynocladius Mendes, Saether et Andrade-Morraye, and Genus H sensu Epler.

FIGURES 1–2. Parsimony analysis of some Orthocladiinae genera and species with Brillia Kieffer, Diplocladius Kieffer and Propsilocerus Kieffer fixed as outgroup. Characters and character states as in text, matrix of characters as in Appendix 1. 1—strict consensus of shortest tree; 2—strict consensus of shortest tree after reweighting according to rescaled consistency index.