Mycetophila britannica Lastovka & Kidd, 1975

Juergenstein, Siiri, Kurina, Olavi & Poldmaa, Kadri, 2015, The Mycetophilaruficollis Meigen (Diptera, Mycetophilidae) group in Europe: elucidating species delimitation with COI and ITS 2 sequence data, ZooKeys 508, pp. 15-51 : 23

Taxon classification Animalia Diptera Mycetophilidae

Mycetophila britannica Lastovka & Kidd, 1975 Figs 6, 15, 16, 33, 34

Material.

ITALY. 4♂♂, Sardinia, Alghero, near Nuraghe Palmavera, 40°35'N, 08°14'E, 63m, 21.xi.2005, sweeping, O. Kurina leg. (IZBE0200050, IZBE0200131, in alcohol with terminalia in glycerine; IZBE0200129, IZBE0200130, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ306, SJ313). GREECE. 1♂, Village Kerkini, Krousia Mts., 41°11'32,4"N, 23°03'59,5"E, 190m, 5. ix– 11.ix.2007, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200132, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ326); 1♂, Elodia, Cafe site, 41°12'46,8"N, 23°05'42,9"E, 10.iii-16.iii.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200134, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ17); 1♂, Village Kerkini, Cafe Elodia, 41°12'46,8"N, 023°05'42,9"E, 40m, 25. ii– 2.iii.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200135, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ323); 1♂, Village Vironia, Beabies site, 41°19'15,4"N, 23°13'39,6"E, 1150m, 9. vi– 15.vi.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200146, in alcohol with terminalia in glycerine, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ39); 1♂, Village Neo Petritsi, Sultanitsa site, 41°19'02,1"N, 23°12'05,0"E, 1485m, 30.vi-6.vii.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200136, in alcohol with terminalia in glycerine, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ9); 1♂, Village Neo Petritsi, Sultanitsa site, 41°19'02,1"N, 23°12'05,0"E, 1485m, 8. ix– 14.ix.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200137, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ31); 1♂, Village Promohonas, Procom, 41°22'38,1"N, 023°21'58,8"E, 60m, 25.ii-2.iii.2008, malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200138, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ324); 1♂, Village Neo Petritsi, Sultanitsa site, 41°19'02,1"N, 23°12'05,0"E, 1485m, 15. ix– 21.ix.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200139, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ22); 1♂, Village Vironia, Ramna site, 41°17'42,5"N, 23°11'33,1"E, 750m, 17. xi– 23.xi.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200140, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ29); 1♂, same as earlier, (IZBE0200141, in alcohol with terminalia in glycerine, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ40); 1♂, Village Vironia, Beabies site, 41°19'15,4"N, 23°13'39,6"E, 1150m, 15.ix-21.ix.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200142, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ14); 1♂, Village Vironia, Ramna site, 41°17'42,5"N, 23°11'33,1"E, 750m, 10.xi-16.xi.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200143, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ1); 1♂, Village Vironia, Ramna site, 41°17'42,5"N, 23°11'33,1"E, 750m, 8. xii– 14.xii.2008, Malaise trap, G. Ramel leg. (IZBE0200144, in alcohol with terminalia in glycerine, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ36). LEBANON. 1♂, Kesrouane Mar Elias, 33°54'N, 35°32'E, 27. v– 4.vi.2012, light trap, J. Kullberg leg. (IZBE0200145, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ315); 1♂, Kesrouane Mar Elias, 33°54'N, 35°32'E, 30.v.2012, light trap, J. Kullberg leg. (IZBE0200153, in alcohol, abdomen used for DNA sequence: SJ322).

Male terminalia.

Posterior margin of gonocoxite slightly concave ventromedially, and with abrupt and blunt projections laterally. Posterior impression wide. Anterior impression with anteriorly evenly divergent wide arms. Ventral branch of gonostylus with narrow, short and asymmetrical posterior process which bears minute warts; ventral surface with 6-9 long bristles deviating from other setosity; spine 1 and spine 2 of almost equal height and width; spine 1 sharply pointed; spine 2 blunt; spines 3 and 4 smaller, pointed and close to each other. Dorsal branch of gonostylus abruptly narrowed beyond the medial bristle; lateral margin with shallow concavity or almost straight; distal posterior process very small, separated from proximal posterior process by a narrow but distinct notch, both processes apically rounded. Posterior margin proximally from medial bristle with 5 gradually diminishing bristles followed by 2 small setae. Basal angle slightly rounded, basal margin with few setae. Distal posterior process apically with small seta, proximal posterior process apically bare. Ejaculatory apodeme with semi-rounded or proximally truncated base and without rim. Aedeagal guides wide, apically widened, extending beyond aedeagus distally, lateral impressions wide. Aedeagal apodemes laterally angular.

Intraspecific variation.

Laštovka and Kidd (1975) figured the ventromedial margin of the gonocoxite with a small convexity medially that was not observed in the studied material. They also described two different forms of the dorsal branch of the gonostylus: 1) slender and slightly narrowing beyond the medial bristle, and 2) shorter and abruptly narrowing beyond the medial bristle. The last character resembles that of Mycetophila ruficollis , Mycetophila laffooni Laštovka, 1972 and somewhat also Mycetophila suffusala . All studied specimens had the dorsal branch of the gonostylus slender, corresponding to the first form. Laštovka and Kidd (1975) found Mycetophila britannica to be most similar to Mycetophila evanida . In some studied specimens from Greece, the spine 2 on the ventral branch of the gonostylus is more massive, being longer than the spine 1. In Greek specimens the spine 2 in the ventral branch of the gonostylus is blunt while it is sharply pointed in Italian specimens.

Hosts and distribution.

Mycetophila britannica has been earlier reared from Polyporus squamosus , Armillaria mellea , Hebeloma crustuliniforme , Russula nigricans , Hypholoma sp. and Lactarius resimus ( Laštovka and Kidd 1975, Yakovlev 1994, Chandler 2010), while we have studied sweepnetted and trapped material only. Having been described from the British Isles, the species is widely distributed in Western Europe extending also to Norway and the Middle East ( Kjærandsen 2012, Chandler 2013). Except for a finding in Russian Karelia ( Kjærandsen 2012) it is not found in Eastern Europe. According to Chandler and Ribeiro (1995) and Chandler et al. (2005), Mycetophila britannica is common in the Mediterranean region including Morocco.