Conosia van der Wulp, 1880

Podenas, Sigitas, Park, Sun-Jae, Byun, Hye-Woo, Kim, A-Young, Klein, Terry A. & Aukštikalnienė, Heung-Chul Kim and Rasa, 2020, New data on Limoniinae and Limnophilinae crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) of Korea, Journal of Species Research 9 (4), pp. 492-531 : 505-506

Conosia van der Wulp, 1880

Conosia van der Wulp, 1880: 159-160 ; Wood, 1952: 253-254; Ribeiro, 2008: 677-678.

Type species: Limnobia irrorata Wiedemann, 1828 (monotypic).

Adult.

General: Medium to larger sized crane flies with body length ranging from 9.5 to 17.0 mm, wing length 7.0-13.0 mm. Females usually larger than males. Wing shorter than body length, especially in females. Body coloration varies from yellowish brown to brown sparsely dusted with gray.

Head: Vertex with small tubercle. Eyes widely separated dorsally in both sexes, but meet each other ventrally. Antenna 12-segmented with large, strongly elongate scape, comparatively big pedicel, first flagellomere distinctly smaller than pedicel, subglobular, but distinctly wider than remaining elongate flagellomeres. Apical flagellomere very short, button-shaped. Antenna short, reaching slightly beyond frontal margin of prescutum in both sexes, if bent backwards. Longest verticils three times as long as respective segments on basal flagellomeres, twice as long as respective segments on distal flagellomeres. Rostrum short, labella slightly elongate. Palpomeres partially fused.

Thorax: Pronotum small. Mesonotal prescutum large, raised over pronotum frontally, tubercular pits missing, pseudosutural foveae small, surface covered with abundant small dark spots, usually with darker median stripe, divided longitudinally by narrow dark line. Katepisternum naked. Meron small, thus second and third pairs of legs close to each other. Wing usually wider in males and narrower in females. Male wing often with large projection at apex of anal vein. Wing pattern includes numerous small spots scattered through the whole surface and larger spots along frontal margin. Venation: arculus present, numerous cross-veins in costal cell, R 2 short distance from base of R 3, r-m at the base of M 1 + 2, discal cell elongate, m-cu oblique, short distance beyond base of discal cell. Anal angle small, widely rounded. Tibial spurs lacking. Claw simple, spineless.

Abdomen: Elongate, usually with abundant small dark spots scattered on tergites and sternites. Male genitalia narrow. Gonocoxite elongate, simple, without ventro-mesal lobe, two pairs of terminal gonostyli. Interbase long and narrow, sometimes with modified apex. Penis simple, long and narrow. Ovipositor with long arched and sclerotized cercus and distinctly shorter hypovalva, usually reaching to about middle of cercus.

Larva.

General: Body slender, terete, yellowish, covered with dense golden hairs.

Head: Elongate-oval, depressed dorsoventrally and very reduced. Genae reduced to one pair of sclerotized internolateralia and two pairs of sclerotized externolateralia. Labrum and clypeus separated. Labrum membranous, elongate-oval with several symmetric sensory structures, anterior part produced into two truncate lobes confluent medially. Clypeus trapezoid, slightly sclerotized, anterior part with symmetrical sensory rings and cushions of long hairs. Frons reduced. Antenna reaching half the length of the mandible. Basal segment of antenna cylindrical, five times as long as width at the base. Apical segment short and sculptured. Mandible sickle-shaped, with a single sharp, curved apical tooth and small tooth at base. Maxilla elongated, approximately as long as one-third of head capsule, inner and outer parts of maxilla fused. Ventral part of head capsule connected with hypopharyngeal bar.

Abdomen: Posterior margins of each abdominal segment elevated into a transverse ridge of hairs, segments II- VII divided into anterior and posterior parts. Terminal segment narrower than penultimate. Spiracular field surrounded by four flattened elongate lobes, dorsal lobe completely reduced. Lateral lobe almost as long as width at base. Ventral lobe more than twice as long as lateral, it is almost three times as long as width at base. Each lobe with long apical hairs, these on lateral lobe almost five times as long as lobe itself, on ventral lobe almost ten times as long as lobe itself. Lateral lobe almost entirely covered with dark sclerite. Ventral lobe with two elongat- ed, narrow, dark sclerites, outer sclerite wider and longer and reaching almost middle of spiracle. Spiracle small and circular. Area separating spiracles as wide as spiracle itself. Anus surrounded by four short, white and fleshy anal papillae. Larvae are developing at the bottom of small springs covered with sand and silt.

Pupa.

General: Body brown.

Head: Cephalic crest absent. Antennal sheath short, reaching base of wing. Labrum trapezoid with blunt rounded apex. Labial lobe diamond-shaped with outgroove on inner margin. Maxillary palpus broad, transversal with small tubercles.

Thorax: Pronotal breathing horn elongated with flattened and rounded distal part. Apex of wing reaching posterior margin of second abdominal segment. Legs almost reaching posterior margin of third abdominal segment.

Abdomen: Tergites and sternites with transverse rows of acute spines anteriorly and posteriorly. Segments II- VII with numerous transverse wrinkles, pleurites II- VII with acute spines posteriorly. Terminal segment of male pupa acute and narrow. Ventral lobe (anal spine) well developed with acute tip directed upward. Posterotergal spine smaller, point-apexed, directed upward. Terminal segment of female pupa elongate. Sheath of cercus longer than valve, directed upward with acute apical spine.

Nine extant species belong to the genus Conosia . The highest diversity is in the Afrotropical Region with seven species, while Oriental Region and Australia /Oceania have two species each. One species, C. irrorata ( Wiedemann, 1828) has a very wide distribution, extending from Australia, Africa, Oceania islands, Oriental Region, West and East Palearctic. No fossil species of Conosia have been described ( Evenhuis, 2014).