Asynapta breviata Spungis, 1988

Jaschhof, Mathias & Jaschhof, Catrin, 2019, New and rarely found species of asynaptine Porricondylinae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in northern Europe, Zootaxa 4604 (2), pp. 281-300 : 294

Asynapta breviata Spungis

= Asynapta panzari Jaschhof & Jaschhof syn. nov.

The Swedish distribution of A. breviata , previously comprising Bohuslän and Södermanland ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: 316), is shown here to expand to Dalarna and Västerbotten farther in the north (see the specimen data below). The specimen from Södermanland studied here caught our attention because it was collected by the same Malaise trap that two years earlier had captured an Asynapta described by us as A. panzari Jaschhof & Jaschhof. Upon description A panzari seemed to us to be well distinguished from A. breviata by having more slender, pointed gonostyli and larger, semicircular gonocoxal processes ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2015: fig. 4A). However, as we now discovered when comparing the holotype of A. panzari with our new material of A. breviata , both these putative distinctions rest upon preparation artifacts. Both gonostyli of the holotype are mounted in a position that makes for a perfectly ventral view, implying that the gonostylar apex is pointed and equipped with a small claw (see Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 4A). In most of the specimens we have seen of A. breviata the gonostyli are inclined in such a way that they reveal a broader, slightly swollen apex and a claw of considerable breadth ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 151A). One of the males studied here from Dalarna is peculiar for that one gonostylus looks breviata -like and the other panzari -like. Studying a series of specimens one is perplexed how slight tortions of the gonostyli result in markedly different appearances. Similarly, the outline of the gonocoxal lobes varies from specimen to specimen from almost subtriangular ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2013: fig. 4A) to more or less rounded, with the holotype of A. panzari exhibiting an extreme, semicircular outline ( Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2015: fig. 4A). Accordingly, A. panzari is declared here to be identical with A. breviata .

Material studied. Sweden: 1 male, Södermanland, Haninge, Tyresta, Urskogsslingan, pine forest, 24 May–9 June 2005, MT, SMTP (trap 3, collecting event 2101) (spn. no. CEC 1757 in NHRS) ; holotype male of A. panzari , same data but 8 June–2 July 2003 (collecting event 84) (spn. no. CEC 68 in NHRS) ; 2 males, Dalarna, Orsa, 4 km NW Ejheden, W Lake Långjämnaren , fresh (May 2018) firesite with young coniferous/birch forest, 26 June–18 July 2018, MT, MCJ (spns nos CEC1758 – CEC 1759 in SDEI) ; 1 male, Västerbotten, Skellefteå, Brännberget NR, mixed boreal forest, 4–15 June 2004, MT, SMTP (trap 51, collecting event 728) (spn. no. CEC 1760 in NHRS) .