Serromyia diabolica, Dominiak, Patrycja & Mathieu, Bruno, 2015

Dominiak, Patrycja & Mathieu, Bruno, 2015, Serromyia diabolica, a new biting midge species from Lebanon (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 3946 (3), pp. 436-444 : 437-443

Serromyia diabolica sp. nov.

( Figures 1–3 )

Type material. Holotype: adult male. LEBANON, Anti-Lebanon Mts., Maaraboun village near Baalbek (in the locality named Sheaibe), N 33˚55.494' E 36˚15.415', altitude 1755 m, stream and helocrene, 5.V.2012, net, leg. P. Dominiak (UG). Paratypes: same data as holotype, 37 males, 5 females ( BMNH, LU, UG).

Diagnosis. Male of Serromyia diabolica can be easily distinguish from all other dark-legged species of this genus by the presence of scarce spines on fore and mid femora as well as by sharply pointed and subapically bent parameres. Female is characterized by generally darkly pigmented legs, unarmed fore and mid femora and tibiae, and by moderately long hind claw (HC/Ta5 0.87–0.96).

Description. Male (n=10)

Head. Dark brown. Eyes bare, separated (1.0–2.6 facets) or confluent. Antenna with flagellomeres 1–4, 1–5, 1–6 or 1–7 confluent, rarely all flagellomeres separated; total length of flagellum 1.05–1.25 mm, AR 1.07–1.24; 10th flagellomere with few rows of setae, 1.0–1.3 times as long as 11th and 3.0–3.8 as 9th flagellomere ( Fig. 1 a); plume well developed. Clypeus with 1–12 setae arranged into two groups in lateral position. Palpus composed of 5 segments, all of them dark brown with paler apex. Third palpal segment with numerous sensilla capitata located in the upper half; 83–95Μm long, PR III 2.87–4.04.

Thorax. Dark brown. Scutum pruinose; transverse suture short, inconspicuous. Scutellum with 5 or 6 large and few small marginal setae. Wing slightly infuscated, radial cells well marked; length 1.97–2.18 mm, CR 0.62–0.64; wing with sparse macrotrichia present only on subcosta and radial veins.

Legs ( Figs 2 a–c). Coxa and trochanter of all legs dark brown, lacking spines. Tarsomere 4 of fore and mid legs subcylindrical. Claws small, equal-sized with bifid apices. Fore leg ( Fig. 2 a). Femur dark brown except proximal 1/3 somewhat paler; 1–4 spines present. Tibia dark brown, bearing 0–6 strong spine-like setae; strong apical spur present. Tarsomeres 1–3 paler in basal portion or uniformly light brown, tarsomeres 4–5 darker; basitarsus with 1– 2 (arranged in horizontal or vertical line) stout basal spines and one stout spine in apical portion; tarsomeres 2–3 bearing one (rarely 2) spine in apical portion; tarsal ratio TR I 1.6–1.7. Mid leg ( Fig. 2 b). Femur whole dark brown or paler in proximal 1/3; 1–5 spines present. Middle part of tibia usually slightly paler; 0–3 spine-like setae present. Tarsomeres 1–3 pale, only their distal margins darker, tarsomeres 4–5 darker; basitarsus armed with few spines; tarsomeres 1–3 bearing 2 spines in apical portion; tarsal ratio TR II 1.6–1.8. Hind leg ( Fig. 2 c). Femur dark brown, 5.2–6.4 times longer than broad, with 3 or 4 rows of ventral spines mounted on tubercles and additional single spine in preapical position. Tibia dark brown; tibial comb with 8–12 large setae; broad brush-like apical spur present. Basitarsus one shade paler than femur and tibia, with one row of palisade setae distributed on its whole length and 1–2 (arranged in vertical line) stout basal spines and one or few stout spines in apical portion; tarsomeres 2–3 bearing 2 (rarely one) spines in apical portion; tarsomeres 2–5 light brown; tarsal ratio TR III 1.6– 1.7.

Abdomen. Dark brown. Genitalia ( Fig. 1 b). Tergite 9 narrowing distally, bearing two setose apicolateral lobes. Posterior margin of sternite 9 straight to slightly convex. Gonostylus slender, nearly straight, tapering gradually to slightly pointed apex. Parameres separate, each with pointed apex, bent downward in subapical half; ventrodorsal axis expanded while lateral axis narrow, thus parameres visible as broad ribbon-like ( Fig. 1 c) or as simple stick-like structures ( Fig. 1 d). Aedeagus heavily sclerotized, basal arch broad and high, median projection elongate with two lateral prongs directed posterolaterally or nearly laterally ( Fig. 1 b).

Female. Head ( Fig. 3 a). Dark brown. Eyes bare, confluent. Antennal flagellum dark brown in exception of paler proximal halves (extended from base to row of long setae) of all flagellomeres; total length of flagellum 0.88–0.95 mm, AR 1.06–1.20 (n=4). Clypeus bearing 8–13 setae arranged into two groups in lateral position (n=4). Third palpal segment 75–83Μm long, PR III 2.88–3.45 (n=4); sensilla capitata distributed as in male. Inner edge of mandibles with 10–12 teeth (8–10 coarse and 1–4 smaller).

Thorax. Scutum and scutellum as in male, dark brown. Wing distinctly infuscated, 1.75–2.04 mm long, CR 0.67–0.72 (n=5); sparse macrotrichia present only on subcosta, radial veins and sometimes (single) also at the very edge in apical portion of wing.

Legs ( Figs 2 d–f). Coxa and trochanter of all legs, tarsomere 4 of fore and mid legs as in male. Fore and mid legs with femora and tibiae lacking spines, and with small, equal-sized claws each bearing internal basal tooth. Fore leg ( Fig. 2 d). Femur pale from base to nearly 1/3 or 1/2 of its length. Tibia dark brown; strong apical spur present. Tarsomeres 1–3 as in male, paler in proximal portion or uniformly light brown, tarsomeres 4–5 darker; basitarsus with 1–2 (arranged in horizontal line) stout basal spines and one stout spine in apical portion; tarsomeres 2–3 bearing 1–2 spines in apical portion, but much more slender than those present in male; tarsal ratio TR I 1.7–1.8 (n=5). Mid leg ( Fig. 2 e). Femur whole dark brown or paler in proximal 1/3 to 1/2; spines absent, few spine-like setae sometimes present in distal half. Coloration of tibia and tarsomeres as in male; basitarsus armed with few spines; tarsomeres 1–3 bearing 2 spines in apical portion; tarsal ratio TR II 1.8–1.9 (n=5). Hind leg ( Fig. 2 f). Femur whole dark brown or slightly paler at base, 4.8–5.4 times as long as its greatest width (n=4), with 3–4 rows of ventral spines set on short tubercles. Tibia dark brown; tibial comb armed with 9–12 large setae (n=5); broad brushlike apical spur present. Basitarsus one shade paler than femur and tibia, with one row of palisade setae distributed on its whole length, 1–2 (arranged in vertical line) stout basal spines and one or few stout spines in apical portion; tarsomeres 2–3 paler, bearing 2 (rarely one) spines in apical portion, but much more slender than those present in male; tarsal ratio TR III 2.1–2.2 (n=5). Claw single, evenly curved, nearly as long as 5th tarsomere, HC/Ta5 0.87– 0.96 (n=4), with prominent tooth at base ( Fig. 3 b).

Abdomen. Dark brown. Genitalia ( Fig. 3 c). Distal margin of sternite 8 bilobate. Sternite 9 strongly sclerotized, completely divided; medial edges of both halves truncated with anterior part extended medially. Sternite 10 bearing 4 strong seate. Two functional, nearly equal ovoid seminal capsules present, both with short neck and well visible surface pores ( Figs 3 d,e); length 74–109 Μm (n=3), breadth 42–61 Μm. Rudimentary seminal capsule elongate, 23– 28 Μm long (n=4).

Discussion. Morphology. The newly described species was collected at the same locality where Ceratopogon azari Dominiak, Alwin & Gilka (Dominiak et al. 2014) was found, at a small stream and a nearby spring located at an altitude of 1755 m in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Serromyia diabolica is closely related to S. subinermis Kieffer. General habitus as well as the armature of male and female genitalia of these two Serromyia species seems to be identical. They differ only in the coloration of the legs in both sexes and in the number of spines on male fore and mid femora and tibiae. The newly described species has much more darker legs and male femora and tibiae armed with conspicuously less spines than S. subinermis . In the latter, more than 1/2 of fore and mid femora, along with middle part of fore and mid tibiae, are pale ( Borkent & Bissett 1990: 167, FIGURE 4 D: in some male specimens fore tibia is dark) ( Figs 4 a–f), and both pairs of legs in males are covered with numerous strong spines (8–16 and 12–21 on fore and mid femora respectively, 4–9 and 4–10 on fore and mid tibiae respectively; n= 7 males from the collection of the UG) ( Figs 4 a–b). According to Borkent & Bissett (1990), females of S. subinermis may have femora and tibiae of fore and mid legs armed with few strong spines. Female hind claws in S. diabolica seem to be shorter than those in S. subinermis ( Borkent & Bissett 1990: 164, TABLE 13: HC/Ta5 0.88–1.39, n=11) and more flattened in the basal portion (see Fig. 3 b and Fig. 4 g).

Discussion of molecular results. Despite numerous attempts, none were successful in amplifying 709 bp COI fragment ( Folmer et al. 1994) and 523 bp COI fragment ( Dallas et al. 2003). DNA of the targeted specimens appeared to be degraded and only one 280 bp COI fragment of Serromyia diabolica and S. subinermis Kieffer each were amplified and sequenced (Genbank accession numbers KP684929 and KP684930 ). Genetic distances of the studied specimens and the two other sequences of Serromyia available in Genbank were computed in Table 1 . Serromyia diabolica and S. subinermis have genetic differences with S. femorata (Meigen) of 18.5% and 15.8% respectively. Regarding the unknown species of Serromyia from Switzerland, S. diabolica and S. subinermis have genetic distances of 22.1% and 15.8% respectively. Serromyia diabolica has a genetic distance of 9.9% with its morphologically close species S. subinermis . Such a distance and combination of the morphological characters, lead us to undoubtedly consider S. diabolica as a separate species.

We decided to not present phylogenetic tree here because of the success to sequence only a short fragment of COI region and of the availability of COI sequences of only one identified species of the genus Serromyia (i.e. S. femorata ). Further collection would be required to evaluate the phylogenetic relationships between S. diabolica and S. subinermis , and the extent to other species would allow to investigate relationships within the genus Serromyia .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Serromyia diabolica sp. nov., holotype male (b, c), paratype male (a, d): a. antennal flagellomeres 9 – 13; b. male genitalia in ventral view; c, d. parameres.

FIGURE 2. Serromyia diabolica sp. nov., paratype male (a – c), paratype female (d – f): a, d. fore leg; b, e. mid leg; c, f. hind leg.

FIGURE 3. Serromyia diabolica sp. nov., paratype female: a. head in frontal view; b. hind leg claw; c. distal abdominal segments in ventral view; d, e. seminal capsules.

FIGURE 4. Serromyia subinermis Kieffer, male (a – c), female (d – g): a, d. fore leg; b, e. mid leg; c, f. hind leg; g. hind leg claw.

Tables

TABLE 1. Matrix of genetic distances between sequences using the Jukes-Cantor model. Corresponding Genbank accession numbers of the COI sequences of the referring species are given between parentheses.

	1.	2.	3.	4.
1. S. diabolica sp. nov. ( KP684929 , this study)	-	-	-	-
2. S. subinermis ( KP684930 , this study)	0.099	-	-	-
3. S. sp. ( HQ824525 , Wenck et al. 2012)	0.221	0.158	-	-
4. S. femorata ( KJ768085 , Stur & Borkent 2014)	0.185	0.158	0.158	-