Tipula (Vestiplex) leigongshanensis Men & Young

Men, Qiu-Lei, Young, Chen W., Starkevich, Pavel, Yu, Yong-Fu & Lei, Xiao-Ping, 2017, Two new species of Tipula (Vestiplex) from Southern China based on morphological and molecular data, with redescription of Tipula (Vestiplex) bicalcarata (Diptera, Tipulidae, Tipulinae), ZooKeys 658, pp. 63-80 : 67-68

Tipula (Vestiplex) leigongshanensis Men & Young sp. n.

Diagnosis.

Body generally brown in coloration (Figs 14-19). Hypopygium expanded and black (Fig. 19). Sternite nine with a pair of nail-shaped processes (Figs 19-20). Gonocoxite produced into a bird-head-shaped lobe (Figs 19-20).

Description.

Male. Length: Body: 11.5-12.0 mm (excluding antenna, n = 4); Wing: 16.0-16.5 mm (n = 4); Antenna: 4.5-4.7 mm (n = 4).

Head. Generally reddish brown except as noted. Rostrum light brown with brownish nasus (Fig. 14). Antenna 13-segmented, bent backward extending to root of first abdominal segment; scape reddish-brown, cylindrical, expanded apically; pedicel reddish-brown, short; flagellum brown, flagellomere subequal in length, basal enlargement black with abundant black verticils, longest ones subequal to length of corresponding flagellomeres. Palpi entirely reddish brown. Vertex without marking (Fig. 16).

Thorax. Generally brown except as noted. Pronotum brown, becoming black medially. Prescutum with three brown stripes. Scutum with two dark brown markings (Fig. 15). Scutellum with a dark median stripe (Fig. 15). Postnotum entirely brown. Pleura reddish-brown, tinged with brown at anepimeron and anepisternum (Fig. 14). Legs slender, coxae and trochanters brown, femora brown with tip black, tibiae, and tarsi black. Halteres with stem brown, knob darker. Wings reddish-brown, cells c and sc darker than ground color; stigma dark brown; Rs suffused with dark brown at origin point; discal cell transparent; several large hyaline areas at cells r, m and a (Fig. 17). Venation: R1+2 entire, discal cell narrow, elongated, petiole of cell m1 distinctly shorter than discal cell (Fig. 17).

Abdomen with basal four segments brown, remaining segments generally darker, with black distinct median and lateral stripes, sternites entirely reddish-brown (Fig. 18). Hypopygium black (Fig. 19). Tergite nine separated medially into two parts, connected with membranous extension, hind margin of tergite nine forming W-shaped emargination (Fig. 22). Ventrad of tergite nine with two semi-triangular process (Fig. 22). Sternite nine broad, not fused with tergite nine, with a pair of nail-shaped processes arising from lateral sides, caudally directed, densely covered with long black setae (Figs 19-21). Gonocoxite produced into bird-head-shaped lobe, with small light-colored depression on base (Figs 19-20). Outer gonostylus elongated, thin, generally curled as a tube (Fig. 23). Inner gonostylus produced into black beak, with horn-shaped process on its dorsal side (Fig. 23).

Sperm pump with compressor apodeme V-shaped, forming a 55° angle with posterior immovable apodeme (Figs 24-25). Posterior immovable apodeme distinctly shorter than compressor apodeme, gradually narrowed to apex (Fig. 24). Anterior immovable apodeme short, gradually narrowed to apex (Fig. 24). Aedeagus tubular, almost 2.5 times longer than sperm pump, acute apically (Fig. 24).

Type material.

Holotype male. CHINA: Guizhou Province, Leigongshan Mountain, 26°21'N, 108°13'E, 2 June 2015, Guoxi Xue leg. Paratype. 1 male, same data as holotype. 2 males, Guizhou Province, Leigongshan Mountain, 26°21'N, 108°13'E, 14 May 2016, Qiulei Men leg.

Distribution.

China (Leigongshan Mountain, Guizhou Province, Fig. 40).

Remarks.

The new species is placed in subgenus Tipula (Vestiplex) because of its male hypopygium with elongated gonocoxite, which is also supported by the results of the molecular analysis (Fig. 39). The new species is mostly similar to Tipula (Vestiplex) sternotuberculata Alexander, 1935, from Taiwan, China, in the body color and the structure of hypopygium. Tipula (Vestiplex) leigongshanensis can be easily distinguished from the latter by the bird-headed distal end of gonocoxite (distal end of gonocoxite roundly expanded in Tipula (Vestiplex) sternotuberculata as figure 32 in Alexander, 1935b), and the nail-shaped process on sternite nine distinctly thinner than that of Tipula (Vestiplex) sternotuberculata . Moreover, pairwise genetic distance between these two species is 0.086 based on the Kimura-2-parameter model (the COI sequence of Tipula (Vestiplex) sternotuberculata is unpublished data, provided by the second author). Of 40 interspecific comparisons of genetic distance values among known species, 33 are equal to or lower than 0.086, which could suggest significant genetic variation between the new species and Tipula (Vestiplex) sternotuberculata (Table 2).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a noun ‘leigongshan’ with Latin suffix ‘ensis’, referring to the type locality of the new species.