Macropelopia Thienemann, 1916

Chamutiová, Tímea, Hamerlík, Ladislav & Bitušík, Peter, 2020, Subfossil chironomids (Diptera, Chironomidae) of lakes in the Tatra Mountains an illustrated guide, Zootaxa 4819 (2), pp. 216-264 : 226-227

Macropelopia Thienemann ( Fig. 25 )

Head capsule broad, yellowish to orange in life, subfossil heads rather reddish-brown. Occipital margin rather dark. Mandible slender, uniformly curved; mola with 1 distal and 1 or more marginal teeth, with small dorsolateral tooth (difficult to see from lateral view). Dorsomentum with 7–9 teeth. Ligula with 5 teeth, tooth row deeply concave, outer tooth 2x as long as the median one The middle part of each tooth is quite transparent ( Fig. 25A ). Paraligula is bifid. Pecten hypopharyngis with 15–25 subequal teeth.

Remarks: Based on the shape of inner ligula teeth our subfossil Macropelopia remains belong to the nebulosa group. While points of inner teeth are rather straight in larvae of this group, they are distinctly curved outwards in notata -group (see Cranston & Epler 2013). As this diagnostic character seems to be reliable, the morphotype Macropelopia nebulosa - type is suggested.

The related genus Apsectrotanypus differs from Macropelopia in having only 4 large and 1 smaller dorsomental teeth (note that younger larval instars of Macropelopia have reduced number of dorsomental teeth), and brown head with light fields around eye spots and median pale stripe on ventral side of the head capsule.

In the Tatra Mts. lakes, M. nebulosa has been confirmed ( Bitušík et al. 2006a), however recently Michailova et al. (2014) reported the presence of M. rossaroi in two lakes on the Polish side of the Tatra Mts. Both species belong to the nebulosa -group.

Macropelopia subfossils were recorded in ten alpine lakes, generally situated at altitude below 2000 m a.s.l.

Figures

FIGURES 24–27. Ablabesmyia longistyla-type: 24—head capsule (arrows indicate thorn-like projection and segmented maxillary palp), A—maxillary palp, B—pecten hypopharyngis. Macropelopia nebulosa-type: 25—head capsule, A—detail of ligula. Procladius: 26—head capsule (arrow indicates broad tooth on the mandible), A—detail of ligula (arrow indicates paraligula). Zavrelimyia: 27—head capsule (arrow indicates thorn-like projection).