Onconeura semifimbriata ( Saether, 1981 )

Wiedenbrug, Sofia, Mendes, Humberto F., Pepinelli, Mateus & Trivinho-Strixino, Susana, 2009, Review of the genus Onconeura Andersen et Saether (Diptera: Chironomidae), with the description of four new species from Brazil, Zootaxa 2265, pp. 1-26 : 13

Onconeura semifimbriata ( Saether, 1981)

Thienemanniella semifimbriata Saether 1981: 32 .

Onconeura semifimbriata ( Saether) : Andersen & Saether 2005:13.

Material examined. Allotype, pharate female, St. Vincent SuT 58 R, 22.iii.1971, A. D. Harrison. Type n° ZMBN 35, Slide n° MPM A264. Paratype. Pharate male St. Vincent, Colonairie River SuT 79A, iii.1971, A. D. Harrison, Type n° ZMBN 35, slide n° MPM-A 214. Male, México, Nuevo León Allende, Rio Ramos at Raices, 2Km W Hyw. 85, 20.ix.1998, drift net, Andersen and Contreras. One pupal exuviae, same data as before.

Remarks. The slide of the holotype of O. semifimbriata , deposited in the Museum of Zoology, Bergen is broken and can not be observed. The larva was not found.

Andersen and Saether (2005) described male specimens of O. semifimbriata from Mexico and quoted that these specimens were smaller than the ones of the type material from Saint Vincent described by Saether (1981). Both male specimens would key here into O. semifimbriata . However, Andersen and Saether (2005) also included some pupal exuviae, from Mexico regarded as additional material. This exuviae keys here to O. similispina , instead of O. semifimbriata , that is mostly because the shagreen points on sternite II are similar and not longer than the ones on sternite III. Probably both species occur sympatrically in Mexico. Several species here studied were collected in the same streams and even in the same habitat. We thus hypothesize that the material described by Andersen and Saether (2005) as belonging to a single species may actually belong to two closely related species.

Some Onconeura larvae were reared during the present work from hygropetric habitats of São Carlos (São Paulo State). Male, female, pupa and larva of this material key here to O. semifimbriata , however, these specimens are smaller than the specimens described by Saether from Saint Vincent, being of the same size of the ones from Mexico, but with a higher AR. Females have smaller cerci and larger seminal capsules than described by Saether (1989). The specimens of Onconeura cf. semifimbriata from São Carlos were sequenced (UFSCAR MPSW26, 28, 29 and 32). Pupal exuviae of the same species were also collected in Parque Estadual do Jaraguá (SP) and in Nova Mutum (MT), all of them stronger chitinized than the specimens from St. Vincent.