Rhipidia (Rhipidia) serena, Podenas, Sigitas, Byun, Hye-Woo & Kim, Sam-Kyu, 2016

Podenas, Sigitas, Byun, Hye-Woo & Kim, Sam-Kyu, 2016, Rhipidia crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) from Korea, Zootaxa 4136 (3), pp. 515-536 : 531-534

Rhipidia (Rhipidia) serena sp. nov.

( Figs. 21–26 )

Diagnosis. Brownish gray, medium-sized crane fly. Antenna medium long with eight bipectinate flagellomeres, not reaching wing base when bending backwards. Thoracical pleuron gray with two distinct brown longitudinal lines. Wing with lots of small brownish spots in all cells. Vein Sc1 nearly reaching middle of radial sector, Rs angulate or arcuate. Rostral appendage of inner gonostylus long and armed with three small spines at middle.

Description. Color characters mostly based on pinned specimens, other characters on both, pinned and specimens preserved in ethanol. General coloration brownish gray. Body length of male 6.85–8.15 mm, of female 6.30–7.45 mm. Wing length of male 7.25–8.25 mm, of female 5.30–9.15 mm.

Head dark brown, dusted with light gray pruinosity, denser along eye margin, covered with sparse medium length, erect, brownish setae. Eyes large, narrowly separated dorsally and nearly reaching each other ventrally in both sexes. Area separating them ventrally about one ocellus width. Length of male antennae 2.15 mm, reaching to about middle of prescutum when bent backwards. Antenna of female 1.40–1.50 mm long, reaching slightly beyond frontal margin of prescutum, if bent backwards. Male antenna ( Fig. 21 ) bipectinate. Scape brown, slightly widening distally, bearing few short erect setae on dorsal surface. Pedicel same color as scape, short, slightly wider than longer. Flagellum 12-segmented. Basal flagellomere slightly widened ventrally, brown with distinct pale base and apical pedicel. Flagellomeres two to nine with two branches each, widened at base. Widening brown, base and distal part pale, branches brown, longest 1.6 times as long as flagellomere. Tenth segment with one branch subequal to length of flagellomere, brown with whitish base and distal part. Eleventh flagellomere short, with short single branch. Apical flagellomere skittle-shaped, 1.4 times as long as preceding segment. Longest verticils as long as corresponding flagellomeres. Short, erect, but sparse brownish pubescence covers branches of flagellomeres, but nearly absent from flagellomeres. Female antenna serrate, brownish with distinct pale apical pedicels. Rostrum dark brown at base, blackish distally. Palpus generally dark brown, basal palpomere rounded, brownish, second palpomere nearly cylindrical, dark brown, third and fourth palpomeres elongate, brown. Palpus covered with short erect yellowish setae. Labellum pale with slightly darkened margins.

Thorax. Cervical sclerites and pronotum brown, slightly dusted with gray. Pronotum bearing few erect dark brown setae on posterior margin in male, absent in female. Ground color of prescutum brown in male, yellowish brown in female. Gray pruinosity denser in male, less so in female. Sclerite with wide brown median stripe, orange-brown frontally. Lateral stripe reduced to frontal brownish spot. Pseudosutural fovea lighter than surrounding area, yellow in female, light brown in male. Scutal lobe brown in male, lighter in female, covered with gray pruinosity, less dense frontally. Scutellum brownish gray. Mediotergite darker than scutellum. Pleuron brownish gray in female, gray in male with two distinct dark brown longitudinal lines due to denser pruinosity. Dorsal line extending from cervical sclerites to base of abdomen. Ventral line extending from dorsal margin of fore coxa through frontal margin of katepisternum, reaches middle of sclerite, disappears on posterior margin of katepisternum and reappears on mid- and posterior coxa. Episternum with single seta frontally and three setae posteriorly. Wing ( Fig. 22 ) grayish, without large spots, with abundant small brownish spots in all cells and brownish suture at cord. Veins brownish yellow with darkenings in clouded areas. Venation: Sc1 nearly reaching middle of Rs length. Sc2 close to tip of Sc1. Additional cross-vein at middle of cell sc absent, which is present in most other Rhipidia . R2 nearly transverse, close to the tip of R1. Rs comparatively short, angulate or arched at base. R3 and R 4 +5 long and nearly parallel to each other. Cross-vein r-m well developed, slightly beyond base of discal cell. Discal cell elongate, slightly more than twice as long as wide. Basal deflection of CuA1 about two thirds of its own length before branching point of M. First anal vein slightly sinuous, second anal vein slightly arched before wing margin. Anal angle wide, posterior margin widely rounded. Length of male halter 0.95–1.15 mm, of female 0.85–1.20 mm long. Stem of halter pale with light orange-brown base. Knob brownish. Coxae dorsally dark brown, ventrally light brown, mid- and posterior coxae pale on distal margin. Trochanter brownish yellow, slightly infuscated with brown dorso-laterally with distinct dark brown rim on distal margin. Coxae and trochanters covered with long brownish setae. Femur pale brownish yellow with pale base and distal end. Tibia uniformly palebrownish-yellow. Tarsus at base same color as tibia, distal tarsomeres brown. Leg covered with dense adjacent brown setae. Male femur I: 4.6 mm, II: 5.1 mm, III: 6.1 mm, tibiae I: 6.3 mm, II: 5.6 mm, III: 6.8 mm, tarsus I: 9.2 mm, II: 5.7 mm, III: 5.5 mm long. Female femur I: 3.5–5.6 mm long, II: 3.8–5.5 mm, III: 4.5–6.6 mm, tibiae I: 4.0– 6.6 mm, II: 3.4–5.9 mm, III: 4.7–6.9 mm, tarsus I: 4.5–7.6 mm, II: 3.7–5.7 mm, III: 4.0– 5.8 mm. Claw brown, with subbasal spine.

Abdomen. Tergites and sternites semi-polished, brownish with pale lateral margins, slightly dusted with gray. Sternites somewhat lighter than tergites. Abdominal sclerites covered with semi-erect yellowish setae.

Hypopygium. Male genitalia ( Figs. 23, 24, 25 ) brownish orange, setose. Ninth tergite transverse, posterior margin slightly emarginate at middle. Gonocoxite slightly longer than wider, with large blunt apexed setose ventromesal lobe. Outer gonostylus narrow, strongly sclerotised, dark brown, point-apexed, distinctly arched and reaching to about two-thirds of inner gonostylus. Inner gonostylus oval with large rostral prolongation strongly arched. Posterior margin of rostral prolongation armed with three small spines at middle. Distal end of rostral prolongation beyond spines long and narrow. Fleshy, comparatively small rounded lobe situated on dorsal surface of inner gonostylus above rostral prolongation. Paramere wide basally with distinctly narrowed dark brown distal part. Penis protrusive, long, simple, slightly narrower distally. Ninth sternite simple.

Ovipositor ( Fig. 26 ) brownish yellow with indistinct brownish clouds on ventral side of hypovalva. Cercus long, narrow, robust, slightly arched upwards, tip blunt-apexed. Ventral part of eight sternite slightly inflated, hypovalva very wide at base, narrower distally, tip point-apexed, nearly reaching tip of cercus.

Elevation range in Korea. Adult specimens were collected at altitudes from 1200 m to nearly 2000 m.

Period of activity. It is a late summer and fall species, flying from late June through middle of October.

Distribution. Korean Peninsula ( Fig. 31 ).

Type material. Holotype: male on same pin with paratype female, male genitalia in glycerol in micro vial on same pin, North Korea, Seren Mts., Corea, 5–6000‘, X–9, ‘37 [1937], Yankovsky ( MHNN). Paratypes: female (pinned), North Korea, Chonsani, 4000 ft., VI–27–40 [1940], coll. Yankovsky ( MHNN); female (pinned), North Korea, Pontani Paiktusan, 6300 ft., VII–28–1940, coll. Yankovsky ( MHNN); female (pinned), North Korea, Pontani Paiktusan, 5800–6370 ft., VIII–9–1940, coll. Yankovsky ( MHNN); male and three females (preserved in ethanol, wings and antennae of male slide-mounted, male genitalia and ovipositor of one female in microvials with glycerol on pins), South Korea, Gangwon-do, Pyeongchang-gun, Jinbu-myeon, Jangjeon-ri, Mt. Gariwangsan, N37.4275000, E128.5319444, 2009.07.05–09.02, malaise trap, coll. W.Y. Choi et al, ( NIBR).

Etymology. Species is named after the name of the mountain where it was collected for the first time.

Remarks. Judging on wing venation, wing pattern and especially male genitalia, the new species is most closely related to other Asian Rhipidia which have short spines on rostral prolongation of inner gonostylus, R. reductispina Savchenko, 1983 , R. degradans Savchenko, 1983 , R. flava Zhang, Li, Yang, 2014 , R. lobifera Zhang, Li, Yang, 2014 , except R. reductispina and R. lobifera have distinctly bifid ventromesal lobe of gonocoxite, while that lobe in R. serena sp. nov. is simple, not divided into two lobes. Spines of rostral appendage of inner gonostylus in R. degradans are situated at base of posterior margin, these spines are at middle of rostrum in R. flava and R. serena sp. nov. However, R. serena sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from R. flava based on the following characters. Antennae of male R. flava has seven bipectinate flagellomeres, branches of flagellomeres just slightly exceeding length of respective segments, Rs is slightly arched at base, wing patterned with indistinct cloudy spots, cell sc with additional cross-vein at the middle. Male antenna of R. serena sp. nov. has eight bipectinate flagellomeres, branches distinctly longer than respective flagellomeres, Rs angulate or arched at base, wing patterned with abundant small and rather distinct spots, additional cross-vein in cell sc missing. Mesonotum of R. flava uniformly yellow, that of R. serena sp. nov. with distinct longitudinal stripe. Blunt-apexed cercus of ovipositor of R. serena sp. nov. is unique among Korean species, but it is difficult to compare it with other regional species, because females of them mostly are unknown or insufficiently described.

Figures

FIGURES 21 – 26. Rhipidia (Rhipidia) serena sp. nov. 21: male antenna; 22: wing; 23: male genitalia, dorso-lateral view; 24: male genitalia, dorsal view; 25: male genitalia, ventral view; 26: ovipositor, lateral view.

FIGURES 27 – 31. Collecting sites of Rhipidia (Rhipidia) in Korean Peninsula. 27: R. (R.) longa; 28: R. (R.) maculata; 29: R. (R.) sejuga; 30: R. (R.) septentrionis; 31: R. (R.) serena sp. nov.