Asynapta inflatoides, Jaschhof & Jaschhof, 2019

Jaschhof, Mathias & Jaschhof, Catrin, 2019, New and rarely found species of asynaptine Porricondylinae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in northern Europe, Zootaxa 4604 (2), pp. 281-300 : 284-285

Asynapta inflatoides sp. nov.

Fig. 1 , figs 152–153 in Jaschhof & Jaschhof (2013)

This new species is, as the name suggests, extremely similar to A. inflata Spungis. In his species description Spungis (1988) pointed to the resemblance of A. inflata to A. populnea Panelius, 1965 , which makes sense, considering that the only specimen of A. populnea studied by that author is very likely a misidentified A. inflatoides (see Spungis 1988: fig. 2.9). (As shown by Jaschhof & Jaschhof (2013: 324), A. populnea is a synonym of the Nearctic A. saliciperda Felt , a species broadly similar to A. inflata and A. inflatoides .) All the specimens referred to as A. inflata by both Jaschhof & Jaschhof (2013: 316ff.) and Jaschhof et al. (2014) are, as our reexamination revealed here, A. inflatoides . As a consequence, the species description published in our Porricondylinae book ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: 316) pertains to A. inflatoides , not A. inflata , with both males and females illustrated there. Nevertheless, as shown in the present paper, both species do occur in Sweden and can rather easily be distinguished from each other.

Diagnosis. A very obvious distinction is that Asynapta inflatoides lacks metepisternal setae, which are present in A. inflata . (Note that a setose metepisternum is an exceptional condition in Asynapta , found only in A. inflata and A. breviata Spungis (including the identical A. panzari Jaschhof & Jaschhof , see below).) Other distinctions concern male genitalic structures, first of all the gonostylus, whose apex is broadly rounded in A. inflatoides ( Fig. 1 ) and characteristically flattened, like a sloping forehead, in A. inflata ( Fig. 20 , ↓ 3). The ventral parameres of A. inflatoides , which are almost parallel-sided basally, have each a short extra finger ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 152C, ↓). This finger is absent in A. inflata , whose parameral base is slightly, but appreciably, constricted ( Fig. 20 , ↓ 4). Other distinctions concern the tegmen, which is shorter and broader in A. inflatoides ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 152C), and the gonocoxal synsclerite, whose emargination is larger and whose anterior edge has almost always a lobe-like convexity medially ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 152A). The anterior gonocoxal edge in A. inflata is evenly rounded, lacking a medial convexity ( Fig. 20 , ↓ 5). As another useful piece of information, the genitalia of A. inflatoides are considerably larger compared with that of A. inflata (see Spungis 1988: fig. 2.9 versus 2.10), which correlates with differences in body size: male A. inflatoides may be up to 50% larger than male A. inflata .

Etymology. The species epithet, inflatoides , means inflata -like, with reference to the fact that the two species interpreted here closely resemble each other.

Type material. Holotype. Male , Sweden, Bohuslän , Stenungsund , Kolhättan (Ödsmål), Hällsberget, broadleaf forest, 14 April–25 May 2004, Malaise trap, Swedish Malaise Trap Project (trap 31, collecting event 515) (spn. no. GULI000024064 in NHRS). Paratypes. 16 males, 1 female, same data as the holotype (spns nos GULI000024065 – GULI000024081 in NHRS) .

Other material. Sweden: specimens from Småland, Lule Lappmark and Pite Lappmark listed by Jaschhof & Jaschhof (2013) as A. inflata ; 3 males, Lule Lappmark , Sorsele, 6 km N Ammarnäs, Bissitjbäcken, mixed coniferous / birch forest, 23 June–22 July 2016, MT, MCJ (spns nos CEC1633 – CEC 1635 in SDEI) . Finland: 2 males, Lapponia enontekiensis, Kilpisjärvi , Saana, SW slope, 15–30 June 2006, MT , J. Penttinen; 1 male, Lapponia kemensis west, Koleri , Palosaajo, 15 June–15 July 2006, MT , J. Penttinen (all in MZH) .

Notes on the geographical distribution. The distribution as presently known of A. inflatoides comprises Sweden (Bohuslän, Småland, Lule Lappmark, Pite Lappmark) and Finland, and possibly Latvia ( Spungis 2002, as A. populnea ) and the European part of Russia ( Spungis 1988, as A. populnea ). The distribution of this species in Sweden comprises both the southern and northern parts of the country, whereas the sibling species, A. inflata , appears to be confined to the south (see below the chapter of A. inflata ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Genitalic morphology of Asynapta spp. 1: Gonostylus of A. inflatoides, ventral, paratype. 2: Gonostylus of A. rickebasta, ventral, holotype. 3: Aedeagus and parameres of A. rickebasta, ventral, holotype. 4: Genitalia of A. taigensis, ventral, holotype. Scales for 1–3, 0.025 mm, for 4, 0.05 mm. Arrows refer to characters described in the diagnoses.

FIGURES 18–24. Morphology of Asynaptini spp. 18: Genitalia of Asynapta baltica, ventral, specimen from Sweden. 19: Aedeagus and parameres of A. baltica, ventral, specimen from Latvia. 20: Genitalia of Asynapta inflata, ventral, specimen from Sweden. 21–24: Camptomyia fulva, specimen from Sweden. 21: Fourth flagellomere, lateral. 22: Genitalia, ventral. 23: Ninth tergite, dorsal. 24: Aedeagus and parameres, ventral. Scales for 18, 20–22, 0.05 mm, for 19, 23–24, 0.025 mm. Arrows refer to characters described in the diagnoses.