Rhaphium tripartitum (Frey, 1913)

Grichanov, Igor Ya. & Khruleva, Olga A., 2020, New records of long-legged flies (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) from Wrangel Island Nature Reserve (Chukotka AD, Russia), Acta Biologica Sibirica 6, pp. 551-562 : 551

Rhaphium tripartitum (Frey, 1913)

Figs 7 , 8 , 9

Material.

♂, Upper reaches of the Neizvestnaya River, 71°13'N, 179°19'W, dry gravel southern edge of river terrace covered with forb-sedge “tundra-steppe” community (Fig. 6 ), yellow pan traps, 4- 15.07.2015, O.A. Khruleva .

Additional Material.

1♂, Chukotka : Krasnoarmeiskii, Chaunsky District, 10.07.1963, K. Gorodkov (ZIN) .

Notes.

Rhaphium tripartitum was originally described ( Lundström and Frey 1913) from the North Russian locality Kambalnitsa (written later as Kambalnista) and probably was not recorded in the Palaearctic Region until recently. The only record of the species from the Nearctic Region (Northwest Territories of Canada) belonged to Vockeroth (1952). The species distribution was erroneously described in the Palaearctic Catalog ( Negrobov 1991) as "Type-locality: Kambalnista (?Finland). Distr.: Europe: North Europe; USSR: NET (Murmansk region, Leningrad region); North America". However, there were no original materials published for R. tripartitum from either Finland or Murmansk and Leningrad Regions. It was not included into the checklists of Finland ( Frey 1915; Kahanpää 2014), Leningrad ( Stackelberg 1962) and Murmansk Regions ( Grichanov 2004). In fact, the type locality of the species is a small Kambalnitsa River (68°19'N, 46°02'E) on the north-eastern coast of the Kanin Peninsula between the White Sea and the Barents Sea, belonging now to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (formerly a part of the Arkhangelsk Region).

Recently Negrobov et al. (2012) have found R. tripartitum on the Taimyr Peninsula (Zakharova Rassokha River, 72.7°N, 101.08°E). Negrobov has identified also a male from the middle part of the Yamal Peninsula as R. tripartitum (ZIN collection; Negrobov, pers. comm.).

Grichanov (2018) has reported the Nearctic Rhaphium nigrum (Van Duzee, 1923) from the Chaunskii District of Chukotka mainland, comparing a specimen in his hands with the original description of the species ( Van Duzee 1923). This species was described from Alaska (Katmai and Savonoski, Naknek Lake) and was never recorded again ( Pollet et al. 2004). A careful re-examination of the R. nigrum description has revealed that the two Chukchi males examined (from the Chaunsky District and the Wrangel Island) must be considered R. tripartitum . A male from the Chaunsky District (Fig. 7 ) is somewhat lighter than a male from the Wrangel Island (Fig. 8 ) because of its long-term storing in the museum collection (about 60 years). The hypopygium (Fig. 9 ) is identical in both specimens. Nevertheless, the types of R. nigrum must be appropriately redescribed and illustrated, because the two names may be synonymous.

Distribution.

Type locality: Russia: Nenetsia, Kambalnitsa River. Palaearctic: Russia (Chukotka mainland, Wrangel Island, Nenetsia, Taimyria, Yamalia); Nearctic: Canada (Northwest Territories).

Figures

Figure 6. Upper reaches of the Neizvestnaya River. " Tundra-steppe " plant community; a site where Rhaphium tripartitum was collected. Photo by O. A. Khruleva.

Figure 7. Rhaphium tripartitum (Frey, 1913) male collected from the Chaunskii District of Chukotka mainland, habitus. Photo by I. Ya. Grichanov.

Figure 8. Rhaphium tripartitum (Frey, 1913) male collected from the Wrangel Island, habitus. Photo by I. Ya. Grichanov.

Figure 9. Rhaphium tripartitum (Frey, 1913) male collected from the Wrangel Island, hypopygium. Photo by I. Ya. Grichanov.