Polypedilum

Saether, Ole A., Andersen, Trond, Pinho, Luiz C. & Mendes, Humberto F., 2010, The problems with Polypedilum Kieffer (Diptera: Chironomidae), with the description of Probolum subgen. n., Zootaxa 2497, pp. 1-36 : 12-13

Polypedilum subgenus Pentapedilum Kieffer

Pentapedilum Kieffer, 1913: 25 .

Type species

Polypedilum (Pentapedilum) tritum (Walker) Chironomus tritus Walker, 1856: 162 .

Tanytarsus unicus Becker, 1908: 77 .

Calopsectra longiseta Kieffer, 1913: 29 .

Pentapedilum stratiotale Kieffer, 1913: 26 . Tanytarsus praeornatus Santos-Abreu, 1918: 229 . Pentapedilum muscicola Kieffer, 1924: 36 . Polypedilum (Pentapedilum) albulum Townes, 1945: 63 . Not Polypedilum (Pentapedilum) muscicola Oyewo et Saether, 2008: 79 .

Diagnostic characters. The male imagines of the subgenus differ from the males of other subgenera primarily by having setae on the wing membrane and on vein M, but no darker markings; wing vein R2+3 adjacent to R1; no frontal tubercles; projection of the superior volsella long compared to the short base and with an outer lateral seta on the projection (may be absent in some specimens of some species).

The few female imagines known have spermathecal ducts with a sharp angle and the dorsomesal lobes of gonapophysis VIII not reaching much caudal of the ventrolateral lobes.

The pupae have no frontal tubercles, reduced or absence of cephalic tubercles, less than 20 branches in the thoracic horn, conjunctive III/IV occasionally without spinules, single spur often with numerous lateral spinules on the caudolateral margin of segment VIII and no dorsal setae.

The larvae have third antennal segment usually longer than fourth; antennal blade usually shorter than flagellum; mentum with first lateral teeth as high as, slightly lower than or mostly distinctly lower than second and median teeth; mandible occasionally without dorsal tooth and ventromental plates without posterior lobes, occasionally at least 3 times as wide as high, distance between plates nearly always greater than the combined width of the four median teeth and with median apices pointing towards each other.

Remarks. The pupae of Pentapedilum are not separable from those of Polypedilum s. str., Uresipedilum and Probolum. Most larvae cannot be distinguished from those of Polypedilum s. str. The larvae of P. (Pe.) leei Freeman, 1961 and P. (Pe) sordens are distinguished by having the ventromental plates more than 3 times as wide as high, first lateral teeth of mentum only slightly lower than median and second lateral teeth and no dorsal tooth of the mandible. Polypedilum (Pe.) epleri also has a mandible without a dorsal tooth, but first lateral teeth of the mentum are as high as median and second lateral teeth.

The revision by Oyewo and Saether (2008) contains several mistakes. The synonym list of the type species is corrected here. Polypedilum (Pentapedilum) muscicola sensu Oyewo et Saether is based on a mislabeling of a specimen from Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique in Bruxelles, Belgium (IRSN) and could be given a new name. However, since there is just one specimen without locality we will refrain from naming the species. The type specimen of P. (Pe.) tritum Walker, 1856 is listed as lectotype on p. 8, but not designated as such on p. 110. The type specimen of P. (Pe.) uncinatum Goetghebuer, 1921 from IRSN is listed as holotype, but should have been listed as syntype or selected as lectotype.