Scythropochroa quadrispinosa Steffan, 1969

Broadley, Adam, Kauschke, Ellen & Mohrig, Werner, 2019, Revision of the black fungus gnat species (Diptera: Sciaridae) described by W. A. Steffan from Micronesia, Zootaxa 4683 (2), pp. 215-241 : 235-236

Scythropochroa quadrispinosa Steffan, 1969

( Fig. 17 A–B)

Scythropochroa quadrispinosa Steffan, 1969 [ Steffan (1969): 682, fig. 5 a–e].

Material studied: Holotype: Male, 19.v.1957 (not 21.v. as given by Steffan), Caroline Islands, Palau Is., Babelth-

uap I., Ngiwal, at light, leg. C.W. Sabrosky (USNMENT 2083267). Paratype: 1 male, same data as the holotype ( BPBM, without registration number).

Conservation status: Originally mounted in Hoyer’s medium and remounted in Euparal. Head, body, hypopygium and wings separated, wings under a separate cover slip on the same slide, destroyed. Thorax and hypopygium are depressed and deformed and the embedding medium turbid.

Comments. The species is characterized by rather long flagellomeres, a 1-segmented palpus, an undifferentiated patch of bristles on the apex of the fore tibia, a large ovoid gonostylus with 4 hyaline spines on the inner side and a dense bristle area at the inner basal corner of the gonocoxites. It should be mentioned that 4 spines, arranged in two pairs, represent the typical armature of the gonostylus in the genus Cratyna , subgenus Cratyna s. str, within the subfamily Cratyninae . However, Shin et al. (2019) showed that the genus Scythropochroa (along with the genera Chaetosciara , Mouffetina and Schwenckfeldina ) belongs to a new subfamily, the Chaetosciarinae, which differ from the Cratyninae by having a wing with a long R 1 that meets C at least (usually beyond) the base of the M-fork (in Cratyninae the R 1 is much shorter). As Steffan (1969) noted, the wings of the type specimens are destroyed or missing. It is therefore not possible to conclusively assign the species to either genus at present.

Distribution. Caroline Islands: Palau Islands (Babelthuap Island). Also reported from Pagan Island ( Northern Mariana Islands) by Evenhuis et al. (2010).

Figures

FIGURE 17 A–B. Scythropochroa quadrispinosa Steffan, 1969. Holotype. A. Hypopygium, left side; B. Flagellomeres 4–5 (specimen deformed and strongly bleached).