Antocha (Antocha) integra Alexander, 1940

Podenas, Sigitas & Byun, Hye-Woo, 2013, Antochini crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae: Limoniinae) of Korea, Journal of Species Research 2 (2), pp. 167-184 : 176

Antocha (Antocha) integra Alexander, 1940

Alexander, 1940: 43; Savchenko, 1983: 106; Torii, 1992b: 177.

General body coloration yellowish. Body length of male 4.7-7.1 mm, female 5.2-6.3 mm. Wing length of male 4.9-7.5 mm, female 5.3-6.9 mm.

Head generally light gray to brown, posterior part obscure yellow. Male antennae 1.3-1.4 mm long, female antennae 1.5-1.9 mm long. Male antenna brown, female antenna somewhat lighter. Scape and pedicel of male antenna yellow above, darker beneath, scape of female yellow, pedicel yellow at base, brownish distally. Male flagellum black, female flagellum brown. Antennae bears 14 flagellomeres, which are oval, clothed with a conspicuous white pubescence. Distal flagellomeres elongate. Verticils approximately as long as respective segments. Rostrum yellow. Palpus black.

Thorax yellowish. Pronotal scutum darkened medially, sides yellow. Mesonotal prescutum yellowish, darkened medially in front, but virtually immaculate behind. Mesonotal scutum whitish yellow. Scutellum whitish. Mediotergite slightly darker than scutellum, yellowish, with remnants of indistinct dark median line. Pleura yellow. Anepisternum and katepisternum testaceous. Wing ( Fig. 1E ) whitish subhyaline. Prearcular region milky white. Veins brown and distinctly visible against whitish membrane. Stigma pale, scarcely differentiated. Haltere with light, grayish yellow stem and just little darkened knob. Coxae pale yellow to testaceous yellow. Frontal pair darker than second and third. Anterior surface of frontal and middle coxae tinged with brown. Trochanters pale yellow to yellow. Femur of male brown, dark brown or black with restrictedly brightened base. Femur of female yellowish brown. Tibiae of male light brown, tibiae of female yellow. Tarsus with basal segment light brown and succeeding segments dark brown. Claw with a single very slender subbasal spine.

Male abdomen light brown, distal segments dark brown. Female abdomen obscure yellow with slightly infuscated posterior margins of tergites and sternites and with indistinct remains of lateral and dorsal stripes. Male genitalia ( Fig. 2E, F ) brownish yellow. Ovipositor ( Fig. 3F, G ) reddish brown. Cercus serrated ventrally, sternite 8 bearing a pair of latero-caudal processes.

Flight period. lasts from late May through middle of July in Korea.

Habitats. adults are flying at margins of medium sized, fast running mountainnous rivers.

Distribution. Known from Far East of Russia and Korea.

Examined material. Holotype, 1 J, North Korea, Ompo , altitude 800 feet (approximately 250 m), 1938.07.13, coll. A. Yankovsky; 2 ¥¥, North Korea, Ompo , altitude 150 feet (approximately 50 m), 1937.06.07, coll. A. Yankovsky; 1 J, North Korea, Ompo , altitude 600 feet (approximately 180 m), 1937.06.23, coll. A. Yankovsky; 2 ¥¥, North Korea, Seren Mts. , altitude 2500-3000 feet (approximately 760-900 m), 1938.06.30, coll. A. Yankovsky; 1 ¥, North Korea, Seren Mts. , altitude 4500 feet (approximately 1400 m), 1938.07.10, coll. A. Yankovsky; 1 ¥, North Korea, Ompo , altitude 800 feet (approximately 240 m), 1938.07.13, coll. A. Yankovsky; 2 JJ, 2 ¥¥, North Korea, Seren Mts. , altitude 3500-4000 feet (approximately 1100-1200 m), 1938.07.15, coll. A. Yankovsky; 4 ¥¥, North Korea, Seren Mts. , altitude 3000 feet (approximately 900 m), 1938.07.16, coll. A. Yankovsky; 1 ¥, North Korea, Kankyo Nando , Puksu Pyaksan , altitude 5000 feet (approximately 1500 m), 1939.06.08, coll. A. Yankovsky; 1 ¥, South Korea, Gangwon-do province , Pyeongchang-gun , Jinbu-myeon , Dongson-ri , Odaesan National Park , N37.74913, E128.57723, altitude 726 m, 2012.06.22, coll. S. Podenas, entomological net; 32 JJ, 7 ¥¥, South Korea, Gangwon-do province, Pyeongchang-gun, Jinbu-myeon, Dongson-ri, Odaesan National Park, N37.74767, E128.57962, altitude 733 m, 2012.06. 22, coll. S. Podenas, entomological net.

Previous records for Korea. 16 JJ, South Korea, Samjong, Gayasan , Hapchon-gun , Gyeongsangnam-do, 1983.05.25 -26, coll. S. Uchida ( Torii, 1992b) .

Discussion. Antocha integra was originally described from male specimen collected in North Korea (mountain Ompo). Later species was found in South Korea ( Torii, 1992b), but again only males were collected. One male was also collected in the Far East of Russia by Savchenko ( Savchenko, 1983). No females were known so far. Original description of subgenus Antocha (Proantocha) Alexander, 1919 was based only on male characters. The most distinctive feature of Proantocha being opposable tubercles at tip of femur and base of tibia on hindlegs. Subgenus Antocha has none of them. Later Alexander (1924) added description of females belonging to the subgenus Proantocha . According to him, Proantocha females have serrated ventral margin of cercus, at the moment, when females of subgenus Antocha have smooth ventral margin of cercus. Later Torii (1992a; 1992b) described Antocha latistilus and found females of A. sagana Alexander, 1932 , males of which have simple posterior legs, but females have serrated ventral margin of cercus. To solve the confusion, Torii proposed, that females of subgenus Antocha also could bear serrated vental margin of cercus, but in addition to that, sternite 8 of females has latero-caudal processes, which are absent in Proantocha .

Antocha crane flies are specialized for developing in fast running water. Differently from other crane flies, they spent their entire life submerged. Their respiratory system is completely closed. Female ovipositor is also an adaptation for such life conditions of larvae, because eggs should be laid differently than by other crane flies. We noticed, that at least all Korean Antocha females could be easily separated because of species-specific structure of their ovipositors. At the moment, there are only two species belonging to Proantocha ( A. spinifer Alexander, 1919 and A. uyei (Alexander, 1928)) and three species belonging to subgenus Antocha , but having serrated cerci ( A. integra Alexander, 1940 , A. latistilus Torii, 1992 , and A. sagana Alexander, 1932 ). Not only serrated cercus, but the whole structure of ovipositor in these species is different from typical of Antocha (Antocha) and is similar to that of Proantocha , suggesting, that they have similar addaptations for laying eggs in fast running water and, most probably, similar adaptations of larvae. In this case, larval morphology would be more helpful for separation of subgenera, and we would expect, that A. integra Alexander, 1940 , A. latistilus Torii, 1992 and A. sagana Alexander, 1932 to be moved to Proantocha .

Figures

Fig. 1. Wings of Antocha (Antocha). A. A. (A.) bifida. B. A. (A.) dentifera. C. A. (A.) dilatata. D. A.(A.) gracillima. E. A. (A.) integra.

Fig. 2. Male genitalia of Antocha (Antocha). A. A.(A.) bifida. B. A.(A.) dentifera. C. A. (A.) dilatata. D. A.(A.) gracillima. E. A. (A.) integra, outer gonostylus, posterior view. F. A.(A.) integra. A, B, C, D, F. dorsal view.

Fig. 3. Ovipositor of Antocha (Antocha). A. A. (A.) bifida. B. A. (A.) bifida, tip of cercus. C. A. (A.) bifida, distal part of hypovalvae. D. A. (A.) dentifera. E. A. (A.) gracillima. F. A. (A.) integra. G. A. (A.) integra, ventral view. A, D, E, F. lateral view.