Allocladius sp.

Andersen, Trond, Saether, Ole A. & Mendes, Humberto F., 2010, Neotropical Allocladius Kieffer, 1913 and Pseudosmittia Edwards, 1932 (Diptera: Chironomidae) 2472, Zootaxa 2472 (1), pp. 1-77 : 21

Allocladius sp. " Falkland Islands "

( Figs 56–60 )

Material examined. FALKLAND ISLANDS (Malvinas): Beauchine Island , 5 larvae, 9–24.xii.1980, in moss ( Bryum ), R.I. Lewis Smith ( BMNH) .

Larva (n = 3–5, except when otherwise stated). Total length 4.59–5.31, 4.97 mm.

Head. Antenna as in Figure 56 . Length of antennal segments (in µm): 9–10, 5.5–6.5, 2.0–2.5, 2.0. AR 0.91–0.92. Basal antennal segment 15.5–18.0 µm wide; blade 13.5–14.5 µm long; accessory blade 5.5–6.5 µm long. Sensilla basiconica 3.5 µm long. Subapical style of second segment 5.0–5.5 µm long. Labrum and epipharyngeal area as in Figure 57 . Premandible 71–82, 76 µm long. Mandible ( Fig. 58 ) 126–137, 131 µm long; with 4 inner teeth; seta subdentalis 2.0–2.5 (2) µm long; seta interna apparently absent. Maxilla as in Figure 59 . Mentum ( Fig. 60 ) with median tooth 27–34, 31 µm wide, with 4 pairs of lateral teeth; ventromental plate 9.0 (2) µm wide on flattened mentum. Postmentum 112–118, 114 µm long.

Abdomen. Anterior parapods about 91 µm long, not fully fused, each with about 50 longer claws. Posterior parapods each with at least 7 claws, lengths more than 34 µm.

Remarks. This larva resembles the Holarctic P. oxoniana (Edwards, 1922) in having a mandible with 4 inner teeth, a mentum with 4 pairs of lateral teeth, an antennal blade subequal in length to the width of the basal antennal segment, and posterior parapods with 7–9 claws. It is, however, much larger with a postmentum length of 112–118 µm as opposed to 73–79 µm. It could belong to the new genus to be described by Ferrington and Saether (in manuscript) or to Allocladius .

Figures

FIGURES 56–60. Allocladius sp. "Falkland Island", larva. 56—antenna; 57—labro-epipharyngeal region; 58—mandible; 59—maxilla; 60—mentum.