Heterangaeus mongolicus, Podenas, Sigitas, Podeniene, Virginija & Gelhaus, Jon, 2014

Podenas, Sigitas, Podeniene, Virginija & Gelhaus, Jon, 2014, A new species of Heterangaeus Alexander, 1925 crane flies (Diptera: Pediciidae) from north-central Mongolia with first description of the larva for the genus, Zootaxa 3814 (2), pp. 259-274 : 261-268

Heterangaeus mongolicus sp. nov.

Etymology. Species is named for the country of its discovery, Mongolia.

Material examined. Type specimens 113 males, 15 females and 1 specimen with undetermined sex.

Holotype, male (pinned). MONGOLIA, Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, seep stream, 47.94825°N, 107.45435°E, elev. 1528 m, 30. VI.2010, JKG #1289, collected by J. Gelhaus, C. R. Nelson, A. Reschikov (MAS).

Paratypes. MONGOLIA: 1 male (ethanol), Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, E Bayangin Gol, 12.9 km upstream of Tuul River Bridge, 48.14846°N, 107.75838°E, elev. 1596 m, 7.VII.2003, SRP#03070703, collected by O. Yadamsuren, ( ANSP); 1 male (ethanol), Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, unnamed braid of Tuul River, 48.14846°N, 107.91267°E, elev. 1564 m, 8–9.VII.2003, SRP#03070805, collected by O. Yadamsuren, ( ANSP); 1 male, Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, pool on unnamed tributary of Tuul River, on west side, 48.24734°N, 107.90589°E, elev. 1610 m, 10.VII.2003, SRP#030701001-C, collected by O. Yadamsuren, ( ANSP); 1 male, 1 female (ethanol), Tov Aimag, Zuunmod Soum; Turgeniy Gol (stream), 8 km NNW Zuunmod, 47.77758°N, 106.92780°E, elev. 1581 m, 14.VII.2006, SRP# 06071401, collected by O. Yadamsuren, ( ANSP); 37 males, 4 females (ethanol), Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, seep stream, covered with Salix shrubs and few larch Larix sibirica trees, 47.91833°N, 107.44833°E, elev. 1565 m, 28–29. VI.2009, SRP#2009062801, collected by S. Podenas, ( ANSP); 1 female (ethanol), same locality, but collected by V. Podeniene, ( ANSP); 14 males, 2 females (pinned), same locality, but collected by C. Young, ( CMNH); 10 males, 1 female and 1 specimen with undetermined sex (pinned), same locality, small seepage stream and surrounding marsh at road crossing, 29. VI.2009, SRP#2009062801, JKG #1210, collected by J. Gelhaus, ( ANSP); 12 males, 1 females (pinned); same locality, but collected 30. VI.2010 by S. Podenas ( ANSP); 11 males (pinned), Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, S of Terelj, marshy meadow, also this could be temporary rivulet after rain, covered by Betula and Salix , 47.94000°N, 107.45167°E, elev. 1626 m, 28–29. VI.2009, SRP#2009062802, collected by C. Young, ( CMNH); 10 males, 1 female and 1 specimen with undetermined sex (pinned), Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, seep stream, 47.94825°N, 107.45435°E, elev. 1528 m, 30. VI.2010, JKG #1289, collected by J. Gelhaus, C. R. Nelson, A. Reschikov ( ANSP); 2 males, 2 females, Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, seep stream, 47.94825°N, 107.45435°E, elev. 1528 m, 30. VI.2010, JKG #1289, collected by J. Gelhaus, C. R. Nelson, A. Reschikov ( ANSP); 30 males (ethanol), 12 males, 2 females (pinned); Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, seep stream, 2.2 km S of Gorkhi Davaa (Pass), 47.91736°N, 107.44845°E, elev. 1559 m, 12.VII.2011, collected by S. Podenas ( ANSP).

Larvae. 1 last instar and 2 probably third instar larvae, Tov Aimag, Erdene Soum, Gorkhi Terelj National Park, seep stream, covered with Salix shrubs and few larch Larix sibirica trees, 47.91833°N, 107.44833°E, elev. 1565 m, 28–29. VI.2009, SRP#2009062801, collected by V. Podeniene ( ANSP).

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species in genus by wing shape and venation, wing pattern and by structure of male terminalia. Wing ( Fig. 1 ) is paddle-shaped, with nearly smooth posterior margin, very shallow emarginations only at tips of both anal veins. Anal angle small, second anal cell comparatively narrow. Vein Sc2 well before base of Rs; cell m1 with short stem; position of additional cross-vein in cell m variable from same level as Rs base to about one-third of Rs length; basal deflection of CuA1 distinctly beyond branching point of M, close to base of M3. Wing with distinct brown spots surrounding all cross-veins, branching points and tips of all longitudinal veins. All spots uniformly dark, with no light “windows“. The costal cell dark, except distal end, which is transparent along vein Sc. Male gonostylus ( Fig. 3 ) club-shaped with single strong subapical spine, interbase ( Fig. 4 ) horn-shaped, ninth tergite ( Fig. 2 ) with smooth posterior margin and deep membranous lateral incisions, ninth sternite ( Fig. 5 ) with “V“-shaped incision in the middle, surrounded by wide lobes.

Description ( Figs. 1–8 , 24, 25). Adult, male (N =113). Body Length: 7.6–10.5 mm; wing length 7.6–9.7 mm. Body overall dark brown. Head: brown, covered with brownish gray pruinosity, vertex covered with sparse erect brown setae. Rostrum brown, covered with dense grayish pruinosity. Antenna 0.65–1.10 mm long, if bent backwards, hardly reaching posterior margin of head. Scape cylindrical, elongate, brown, covered with sparse grayish pruinosity. Pedicel is approximately 1/3 length of scape, getting slightly wider toward distal end, brown with somewhat lighter distal end. Flagellum 11-segmented, entirely brown. Basal flagellomere pear-shaped, with distal part wider than basal. Flagellomeres 2–9 short and compact, approximately as long as wide. Flagellomere 10 longer than preceding segment, nearly cylindrical. Apical segment club-shaped, twice as long as preceding flagellomere. Verticils long, approximately three to four times as long as respective segments. Flagellomeres dorsally covered with very short dark pubescence; ventrally pubescence on 1–9 segments comparatively long and light, exceeding half length of segments themselves, tips of ventral setae distinctly arched and directed towards apex of antennae. Palpus short, blackish, length of distal segment just slightly exceeds that of preceding segment. Palpus covered with dark setae. Thorax: generally brown in front of wings and brownish yellow behind wings. Pronotum comparatively big, dark brown anteriorly turning rusty brown posteriorly. Posterior part of pronotum covered with yellow setae, which are directed caudad. Suture, separating pronotum from prescutum, brownish yellow. Prescutum dark brown anteriorly, turning lighter posteriorly, covered with grayish pruinosity. Prescutal stripes obscure, just slightly darker than the rest of sclerite. Areas between dorsal and lateral stripes bearing long yellowish setae. Scutal lobes brownish yellow, rimmed by brown anteriorly, bearing no dark spots or stripes. Scutellum yellow. Mediotergite anteriorly yellow, turning brown posteriorly. Prothorax laterally brown. Katepisternum and anepisternum brown, meron brownish, anepimeron dorsally yellowish, ventrally brownish, laterotergite generally yellow, somewhat darkened ventrally. Katepisternum without setae. Wing: ( Fig. 1 ) iridescent with heavy dark pattern. Dark spots surrounding all cross-veins, branching points and tips of all longitudinal veins. Costal cell darkened, except distal end, where dark pattern extends along costal vein, but leaving transparent area anteriorly to Sc. Pattern of central part of wing depends on position of additional cross-vein in cell m, which is variable. If cross-vein is at same level as base of Rs, then wing has cross-band in the middle, if cross-vein distinctly removed beyond base of Rs, then cross-band is broken into two separate spots, one surrounding base of Rs, the other, surrounding cross-vein. Area between vein Cu and false vein behind it completely dark, except base of wing, area behind false vein with numerous dark spots having even darker central nuclei. Posterior wing margin unevenly darkened, just basal half of second anal cell light. Venation: vein Sc1 very long, reaching beyond branching point of R2+3 and R4. Position of Sc2 variable, but it is always situated distinctly before base of Rs, in some specimens it is even closer to the wing base, than in Fig. 1 . Base of Rs distinctly angulated and long-spurred, same with base of R2+3. Additional cross-veins in cells r3, r4, m1 and m. Cell m1 with short stem, discal cell long and narrow, approximately 2.5 times as long as wide. Position of additional cross-vein in cell m variable, changing from same level as base of Rs to about one-third length of Rs. Basal deflection of CuA1 distinctly beyond branching point of M, close to base of M3. Both anal veins strongly divergent. Posterior wing margin slightly wavy, small incisions are only at the apexes of both anal veins. Anal angle comparatively small, second anal cell slightly widened in the central part. Halter 1.10–1.65 mm long, stem yellowish at base turning brownish distally, knob brownish. Legs: frontal coxae yellowish with slightly darkened frontal face, second and third pairs of coxae brown, darker anteriorly, lighter posteriorly. Frontal trochanters yellow, second and third pairs of trochanters brownish yellow. Femora of all legs light brown at base, turning dark brown towards distal end. Darkening narrowest on frontal femur and widest on posterior. Tibiae brown with darkened apices, tarsi brown basally, dark brown distally. Legs covered with short, semi-erect light setae. Femur I: 3.7–4.8 mm long, II: 4.0–5.0 mm, III: 4.5–5.5 mm; tibiae I: 4.0– 5.2 mm, II: 4.1–5.2 mm, III: 4.8–6.4 mm; tarsus I: 6.9–9.0 mm, II: 6.0– 8.7 mm, III: 6.6–9.1 mm long. Abdomen: tergites and sternites dark brown, except first sgement, lateral margins of which are yellow. That yellow spot extends as a weak brush along margin of second tergite. Distal margins of boths tergites and sternites with light narrow posterior rims. Abdomen covered with scarce semi-erect, yellow setae, bases of which slightly erected, thus abdomen, especially of dry specimens, looks as if covered with small bumps. Male terminalia ( Fig. 2 ) same color as the rest of abdomen. Ninth tergite with straight posterior margin, which is covered by pubescence, lateral margins of ninth tergite with deep, membranous incisions. Gonocoxite with widened distal end, which is covered by short black spines and separated from the remainder of gonocoxite by somewhat narrower “neck“. One pair of gonostyles. Gonostylus ( Fig. 3 ) elongate, club-shaped with strong subapical black spine, margin on the opposite side covered with few fine setae. Interbase ( Fig. 4 ) horn shaped, slightly arched. Aedeagus ( Fig. 6 ) short and wide with darkened distal part. Ninth sternite ( Fig. 5 ) with uneven posterior margin. Central part of it with “V“-shaped incision, which is bordered by lateral lobes.

Female (N =15). Body length 9.3–9.6 mm; wing length 7.5–7.6 mm. Body coloration similar to that of male, except distinctly lighter legs. Antenna 0.95 mm long, flagellum somewhat lighter than in male. Halter 1.0– 1.2 mm long, knob whitish. Femora yellow with slightly darkened apices, color of tibiae and basal tarsomeres varies from light brown to whitish, distal ends of tibiae narrowly blackened. Distal tarsomeres blackish, tips of all tarsomeres narrowly blackened. Legs covered with short brown setae. Femur I: 3.8 mm long, II: 4.0 mm, III: 4.4–4.8 mm; tibiae I: 3.7–3.8 mm, II: 3.9 mm, III: 4.6–4.7 mm: tarsus I: 4.4–5.0 mm, II: 3.7–4.2 mm, III: 4.0– 4.7 mm long. Abdominal coloration similar to that of male, just sixth and seventh segments somewhat lighter. Eighth and ninth tergites dark brown. Ovipositor ( Figs. 7, 8 ) – tenth tergite, bases of cerci and hypovalvae brown, distal parts of cerci and hypovalvae yellow, very apex of hypovalvae whitish. Dorsal margin of each cercus blackened. Cercus each wide, tip raised upwards. Hypovalvae each wide and straight, dorsal margin bearing six pairs of strong setae, which look like long and narrow lobes. Distal-most pair separated from the rest, five frontal pairs follow each other in comb-like fashion, proximal pair being shortest, distal longest.

Larva (N=3). Last instar larvae. – Length 14.3 mm; width 2.4 mm. Larvae are hemicephalic, metapneunistic ( Fig. 9 ). Body covered with short white pubescence, which gives body whitish color. Tergum is covered with longer setae forming longitudinal line which is interrupted by area of shorter setae on the seventh abdominal segment ( Fig. 10 ). The first thoracic segment and abdominal segments 3 – 7 are longer than wider. Length of two other thoracic and first two abdominal segments exceeds width. Abdominal segments 4th – 7th with well developed ventral creeping welts, laterally elevated into humps. Creeping welts on 5th – 7th segments are considerably longer than on 4th segment and their length increases gradually towards posterior end ( Fig. 11 ). Apical part of them bears short, pale spinulae.

Head capsule. Length 1.1 mm, width 0.45 mm. Well-sclerotized, massive, dorsally depressed, narrow and elongate in shape, partially retracted within thorax. Lateral margins of head capsule parallel, posterior parts of genae are heavily sclerotised ( Figs. 12, 13 ). Dorsal sutures are short, arched and directed outward. Frontoclypeal suture is straight with side parts raised up. There are two long setae at the base of each mandible and two short setae at the base of each antenna. Seven sensory pits located around them and one pit near the middle line ( Fig. 14 ). A sensory pit is located on either side near the middle of frons ( Fig. 12 ). Two long setae and three sensory pits are situated at the base of each maxilla ( Fig. 13 ). Median groove, formed by frontal suture is as long as two thirds of head capsule. Posterior part of frons with pair of submedian pointed lobes. Clypeus is wide and trapezoidal with rounded margins. Labrum saddle-shaped with several sensory structures: one seta of medium length, five short sensory papillae and two pits on apical part on each side, a long seta and two papillae are in the middle ( Fig. 15 ). Epipharynx covered with short dense bristles. Antenna short, reaching to about one fifth of mandible’s length ( Fig. 12 ). Basal segment cylindrical, twice as long as wide, with sensory pit near the base. There are two very long subequal apical papillae (they are slightly longer than basal segment itself) and three very short sensory structures on the apex of basal segment of antenna ( Fig. 16 ). Mandible is large, heavily sclerotised and sickle-shaped, apical tooth largest ( Fig. 17 ). The first and second dorsal teeth are small, similar in size and both are triangular. Third tooth is more than twice as long as other dorsal teeth, horn-shaped. The first and second ventral teeth are small and blunt. Third and fourth teeth are large, triangular in shape, apex of fourth tooth abruptly narrowed, sharply pointed. There are two long setae at base of mandible. A sensory pit is located on dorsal surface of mandible, near the dorsal teeth. Maxillae are well developed and consist of outer lobe (palpiger) and inner lobe (galea) ( Fig. 18 ). Palpiger is cylindrical, more prominent, with large sclerite at the base. Apical part surrounded by sclerotised ring. Palpus is button-shaped with few sensory structures (exact number was difficult to establish). There are two sensory pits on the outer margin and a sensory pit on the inner margin of apical part of palpiger. Galea finger-shaped with large sclerite at the base. Apical part is sclerotised with two long setae and one papilla. Cardo arched, well developed with two very long setae and a sensory pit. There is a wedge shaped sclerite near the cardo. Hypostoma heavily sclerotised, divided into two plates each of which bears three sharp teeth ( Fig. 18 ). Connection between two plates of hypostoma without a clear separation in push-buttons. The innermost and outermost teeth are similar in size, middle tooth is significantly shorter. Prementum is flattened plate with protruding lateral lobes and apically set with short teeth ( Fig. 19 ).

Spiracular disc. Spiracular disc bears two conical elongate ventral lobes, each more than three times as long as its width at base, apically pointed ( Fig. 10 ). Spiracles are very small, oval in shape The distance between them is almost equal to the width of a spiracle. Spiracular disc is entirely covered by long setae. Lenght of the setae covering spiracular disc is almost the same as the length of the setae covering the abdomen.

Anal field. Anus is surrounded by four very short, segmented, white and fleshy anal papillae ( Fig. 11 ). Lobes are finger-shaped and equal in size, three times as short as spiracular lobes.

Distribution. MONGOLIA, eastern part of Tov Aimag (district).

Habitat. Wet, marshy places with standing or slowly running water densely covered with grass, dominated by sedge ( Carex ) and low willow ( Salix ) shrubs ( Fig. 23 ) under the cover of separate larch and birch trees ( Fig. 22 ). Larvae were found in marsh, rich organic mud under mosses. Adults were flying in a narrow range of altitudes, the lowest at 1528 m, the highest 1626 m. Flying adults are more abundant during the last days of June, flight lasts through middle of July. Males always are more active flyers than females, which usually are hiding in the grass. Both sexes are met together during the entire period of sampling (June 28–July 12).

Figures

FIGURE 22. Habitat of Heterangaeus mongolicus n. sp., general view.

FIGURE 23. Habitat of Heterangaeus mongolicus n. sp., exact place, where larvae and adults were collected in 2009 – 2011.

FIGURES 1 – 6. Heterangaeus mongolicus n. sp., male, paratype. 1, wing; 2, male genitalia, dorsal view; 3, gonostylus; 4, interbase; 5, ninth sternite, ventro-lateral view; 6, aedegus.

FIGURES 7 – 8. Heterangaeus mongolicus n. sp., female, paratype. 7, ovipositor, lateral viev; 8, hypovalvae, dorsal view.

FIGURES 9 – 13. Heterangaeus mongolicus n. sp., larva. 9, general view, dorsal view; 10, tenth and eleventh body segments, dorsal view; 11, seventh – eleventh body segments, lateral view; 12, head capsule, dorsal view; 13, head capsule, ventral view.

FIGURES 14 – 19. Heterangaeus mongolicus n. sp., larva. 14, labrum, clypeus and uppermost part of frons, dorsal view; 15, labrum and clypeus, dorsal view; 16, left antenna, dorsal view; 17, left mandible, dorsal view; 18, left maxilla, ventral view; 19, prementum, ventral view.