Pseudolycoriella zealandica (Edwards, 1927)

Köhler, Arne, 2019, The genus Pseudolycoriella Menzel & Mohrig, 1998 (Diptera, Sciaridae) in New Zealand, Zootaxa 4707 (1), pp. 1-69 : 16

Pseudolycoriella zealandica complex

The Pseudolycoriella zealandica complex consists of probably three species— Pseudolycoriella zealandica, Psl. aotearoa , and the undescribed Psl. sp. II. Individuals have a relatively large body, and thus the largest New Zealand Pseudolycoriella specimens can be found in this complex. The males of the described species are characterized by two gonostylar spines, and the trapezoid tegmen with a broad hood-like structure (hs in Fig. 12 ). Their phylogenetic relationship is shown in Figure 61 .

Discussion. The Psl. zealandica complex can be assigned to the Psl. bruckii group without any contradictions. It is not possible to state which morphological characters might be regarded as autapomorphies of this complex, because the undescribed species is located basally in the clade of the Psl. zealandica complex. Therefore, conclusions about the ground plan of the Psl. zealandica complex are not possible. It can only be stated that this complex comprises the largest species of Pseudolycoriella in New Zealand. Nevertheless, the monophyly is clearly indicated by genetic data.

Figures

FIGURE 61. Phylogenetic tree of the New Zealand Pseudolycoriella species inferred from Maximum Likelihood analysis based on three concatenated genes (COI, 16S, and 28S; total length 3,053 bp) applying the model GTR+F+R4. Ultrafast bootstrap values (UFBoot; 1,000 replicates) are given if these values are greater than or equal to 95%. Intraspecific UFBoot values are not specified. Pseudolycoriella species without available genetic data are also inserted and assigned to a species complex according to the morphological results.

FIGURES 12–13. Pseudolycoriella zealandica complex, hypopygia. 12. Pseudolycoriella zealandica (Edwards). 13. Pseudolycoriella aotearoa sp. n. Abbreviation: hs = hood-like structure.