Cladopelma inflexum ( Freeman, 1957 )

Ekrem, Torbjørn & Elisabeth Stur, 2016, NEW COMBINATIONS OF AFROTROPICAL CHIRONOMINI (DIPTERA: CHIRONOMIDAE) Abstract, CHIRONOMUS Journal of Chironomidae Research 29, pp. 4-10 : 6

Cladopelma inflexum ( Freeman, 1957)

Chironomus (Cryptochironomus) inflexus Freeman, 1957: 403 .

Cladopelma inflexum ( Freeman, 1957) , Freeman and Cranston (1980).

Material examined: Holotype male & 1 paratype female ( NHMUK), Sudan, Khartoum, x.1951, D. J. Lewis.

The species was listed as a new combination in Cladopelma Kieffer by Freeman and Cranston (1980), but later transferred to Cryptotendipes by Ashe et al. (1987) based on personal communication with P. S. Cranston. We have examined the male holotype (pinned specimen with hypopygium on separate celluloid strip) and a slide mounted female paratype ( Fig. 2 ). The presence of small frontal tubercles ( Figs 2c, d ), male gonostyli with a narrow base ( Fig. 2a ) and setae ventrally on segment X of the female abdomen ( Fig. 2b ) points towards placement in Cladopelma . The gonocoxal appendages of the holotype can be interpreted as a small wart-like superior volsella above a weak lobe-like inferior volsella ( Fig. 2a ), but this is not a completely clear structure on both sides. The presence of an inferior volsella is not compatible with the present diagnosis of Cladopelma ( Cranston et al. 1989, Yan et al. 2008), but more material of C. inflexum , including associated immatures, should be examined before eventual emendations to diagnostic characters of Cladopelma are made. The species is known as adults from Chad, Malawi, Niger and Sudan ( Freeman and Cranston 1980, McLachlan 1975).

Figures

Figure 2. Cladopelma inflexum. a) holotype male hypopygium; b) paratype female genitalia; c) paratype female head; d) paratype female head section showing frontal tubercles. Scale bars = 100 µm.