Monogedania clunipes (Loew) Szadziewski & William L. Grogan & Sontag & Bojarski, 2022

Szadziewski, Ryszard, William L. Grogan, Jr., Sontag, Elżbieta & Bojarski, Błażej, 2022, A new genus of predatory midge in the Monohelea complex from Eocene Baltic amber (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2022 (919), pp. 1-9 : 2-8

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6392022

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1E20AF94-52FE-48D0-B46B-280C81E3DCC2

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E087AF-D716-FFB6-8EA6-D55B1E2CFCC6

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Monogedania clunipes (Loew)
status

comb. nov.

Monogedania clunipes (Loew) View in CoL , new combination

Ceratopogon clunipes Loew 1850: 30 View in CoL (male; Baltic amber); Meunier 1904: 234 (male; Baltic amber). Monohelea clunipes: Szadziewski 1988: 127 View in CoL (combination; male, female; Baltic amber); Szadziewski 1993: 631 (female

redescribed; Baltic amber of Bitterfeld, Germany); Sontag and Szadziewski 2011: 790 (new record; Baltic amber from

Rovno, Ukraine). Monohelea sp. A : Szadziewski 1988: 131 (male; Baltic amber).

Fig. 1–3G–H View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3

Description. Female ( Fig. 1B View Figure 1 ). Body length 1.6–2.3 mm; wing length 1.1–1.5 mm. Proximal flagellomeres cylindrical. Proboscis relatively long, palpus 5-segmented, segment 3 slender without sensory pit. Scutellum with more than 10 long marginal setae. Foreleg, midleg slender, hind leg greatly swollen. Claws of foreleg, midleg short, equal-sized, with basal inner tooth. Hind leg with single very long claw (longer than tarsomere 5), with a short basal inner tooth. Wing with both first radial cells well developed, apex with macrotrichia. Seminal capsules not visible. Male ( Fig. 1A View Figure 1 , 2 View Figure 2 , 3G–H View Figure 3 ). With more dense elongate setae than in female. Body length 1.82 mm; wing length 1.3–1.4 mm. Flagellar plume well developed ( Fig. 2A–B View Figure 2 ). Scutum with numerous, stout setae ( Fig. 1A View Figure 1 , 2A View Figure 2 ). Foreleg, midleg slender; hind leg with greatly swollen femur, tibia and tarsomeres 1–3; femora, tibiae with numerous stout setae; hind tibial comb with very stout spines; hind tarsomere 1 moderately short, swollen, with a single row of stout palisade setae ( Fig. 2C View Figure 2 ); tarsomeres 4 elongate, cylindrical; tarsomeres 5 greatly elongate, very slender. Claws small, simple, equal sized on all legs. Wing with macrotrichia on apex. Genitalia stout, short, inverted 180 o ( Fig. 2D–F View Figure 2 ). Sternite 9 with distinct caudomedian excavation. Tergite 9 tapering abruptly distally to narrow bilobed apex ( Fig. 3H View Figure 3 ). Gonocoxite short, stout. Gonostylus narrowly triangular, broad at base, gradually tapering distally to blunt apex. Aedeagus ( Fig. 2E–F View Figure 2 , 3G View Figure 3 ) entire with distinct broad basal arch; with two sub-medial caudally directed projections, one median ventrally directed spine-like projection ( Fig. 2E–F View Figure 2 , 3G View Figure 3 ).

Discussion. This new genus is distinct in having males with dense coarse thoracic setae, a greatly enlarged hind tarsomere 1, extremely slender tarsomeres 5, and an entire aedeagus that is arch-like. In the genera included in the Monohelea complex by Wirth and Grogan (1988), males have a greatly modified ventral plate traditionally called the aedeagus ( Fig. 3A–H View Figure 3 ). However, in Ceratopogonidae and other genera of Culicomorpha, the true aedeagus with a gonopore is membranous and located above the sclerotized ventral plate ( Sinclair et al. 2007).

The aedeagus (ventral plate) is composed of a proximal and distal piece in Allohelea ( Fig. 3A View Figure 3 ); composed of two lateral pieces with a basal loop in Monohelea ( Fig. 3C View Figure 3 ); it lacks a basal loop in Isthmohelea ( Fig. 3B View Figure 3 ); it is single, plate-shaped with two sub-median projections in Downeshelea ( Fig. 3E View Figure 3 ); it is single, arch shaped, with a single apical median projection in Austrohelea ( Fig. 3D View Figure 3 ); it is single, arch shaped with two apical sub-median projections in Schizohelea ( Fig. 3F View Figure 3 ), and, in the new genus Monogedania ( Fig. 3G View Figure 3 ). Apparently, Monogedania is most similar to Schizohelea in having a similarly shaped arch-like aedeagus with two apical sub-median projections ( Fig. 3F View Figure 3 ). However, these two genera differ by seven other characters in Table 1.

Monohelea baltica Szadziewski (1988: 130) View in CoL described from males in Eocene Baltic amber with an entire aedeagus, and relatively slender hind legs armed with short equal-sized claws that we herein assign to the Holarctic genus Schizohelea View in CoL , as previously suggested by Szadziewski (1988). The single female MAIG 5624 now determined as Schizohelea baltica View in CoL ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ) confirms the new generic position of this species which was originally described from males. This female is very small (wing length 0.67 mm), like males; the wing membrane lacks macrotrichia; tarsomeres 4 are subcylindrical, hind leg tarsomere 5 with ventral basal swelling and hind claw single with long basal tooth ( Fig. 4C View Figure 4 ). The wing membrane without macrotrichia and ventral swelling at the base of female tarsomere 5 are unique characters of the genus Schizohelea View in CoL ( Table 1).

The Monohelea View in CoL complex now includes 232 extant and two fossil species assigned to the following seven genera:

Allohelea Kieffer, 1917 View in CoL , worldwide, 62 extant species ( Borkent and Dominiak 2020).

Austrohelea Wirth and Grogan, 1988 View in CoL , nine extant species from Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. Schmidt et al. (2018) reported an enigmatic specimen of the genus Austrohelea View in CoL (sex unknown, no description or illustration) from Oligocene/Miocene amber of New Zealand.

Downeshelea Wirth and Grogan, 1988 View in CoL , worldwide, 60 extant species ( Santarém et al. 2019; Borkent and Dominiak 2020).

Isthmohelea Ingram and Macfie, 1931 View in CoL , one extant species from Chile.

Monogedania Szadziewski, Grogan, Sontag and Bojarski View in CoL , new genus, one Baltic amber fossil species.

Monohelea Kieffer, 1917 View in CoL , worldwide, 94 extant species.

Schizohelea Kieffer, 1917 View in CoL , Holarctic, six extant species, one fossil species in Eocene Baltic amber ( S. baltica ( Szadziewski, 1988) View in CoL , new combination).

In the material examined, one male of Monogedania clunipes has an extended membranous portion of the aedeagus that resembles a penis ( Fig. 2E–F View Figure 2 ). However, in all other biting midges, sperm is transferred by spermatophores, but, their membranous aedeagi with a genital pore is not eversible ( Sinclair et al. 2007). We suggest that this is an exceptional case within flies that produce spermatophores when the aedeagus is everted. However, an alternative explanation is possible, as it may be an artefact of fossilization wherein the distal tube of the male genital tract was unnaturally everted in liquid amber.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Ceratopogonidae

Genus

Monogedania

Loc

Monogedania clunipes (Loew)

Szadziewski, Ryszard, William L. Grogan, Jr., Sontag, Elżbieta & Bojarski, Błażej 2022
2022
Loc

Monohelea baltica

Szadziewski R. 1988: )
1988
Loc

Ceratopogon clunipes

Szadziewski R. 1993: 631
Szadziewski R. 1988: 127
Meunier F. 1904: 234
Loew H. 1850: 30
1850
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