Claraeola oppleta ( Collin, 1941 ) Kehlmaier, 2005

Kehlmaier, Christian, 2005, Taxonomic studies on Palaearctic and Oriental Eudorylini (Diptera: Pipunculidae), with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 1030 (1), pp. 1-48 : 15-18

Claraeola oppleta ( Collin, 1941) comb. nov. ( Figs 6a–e )

Pipunculus oppletus Collin : 1941: 221.

Claraeola paektusana Kehlmaier (in this article) (nom. nov. for Claraeola koreana Skevington, 2001: 435 ) [Preocc. Kozánek & Kwon, 1991a] (nom. nov. for Moriparia nigripennis Kozánek & Kwon, 1991b: 81 ) [Preocc. Hardy, 1949] syn. nov. .

Material studied

Russia 1♂ (lectotype of P. oppletus ), Jakowlewka , Spass. u. Uss. District, 24.VI.1927, coll. UMO (VC­type 599) ; North Korea 1♂ (holotype of Cla. paektusana ), Mt. Paektusan , Onsupjong, 19.VIII.1989, leg. M. Kozánek, coll. SNMB (Type No. 681) .

Redescription

Male

Body length. 4.3mm.

Head. Face dark, silver­grey to dark brown pollinose. Scape dark, with one short upper bristle. Pedicel dark, with six to seven long upper and three long and two shorter lower bristles, the longer lower bristles reaching further down than the flagellum, which is dark, rounded apically and grey to brownish­grey pollinose (LF:WF=1.4) ( Fig. 6d ). Arista dark, thickened at base. Eyes meeting for 18–19 times diameter of ocellus. F:EM:V =1:0.9:0.3. Frons dark, brown pollinose when viewed obliquely from lateral, otherwise appearing dark, with a weak median keel ending in a shining, median tubercle. Vertex very short, dark and lacking pollinosity, bearing a small and elevated equilateral ocellar triangle. Occiput dark, weakly grey pollinose, changing to brown in upper half to third.

Thorax. Prescutum, scutum, scutellum and pleura dark. Pleura greyish to greyishbrown pollinose. Postpronotal lobe dark, weakly grey pollinose, bearing about five hairs along its upper (up to 0.08mm) and some hairs towards its lower margin. Prescutum and scutum grey pollinose narrowly along anterior margin, laterally reaching almost down to wing base, otherwise brown pollinose. In its anterior half with two multiseriate dorsocentral rows of longer hairs (up to 0.15mm), that become uniseriate in the posterior half. A patch of longer supra­alar hairs is present posterior to postpronotal lobe (up to 0.2mm). Scutellum weakly brown pollinose, with 14 longer hairs along posterior margin (up to 0.15mm).

Wing. Length: 4.6mm. LW:MWW=3.3. Wing appearing slightly brownish tinged. Wing almost entirely covered with microtrichia. Only small basal cells of wing, e.g. bc, and the very beginning of cell c, and anal lobe with missing or reduced microtrichia. Pterostigma dark and complete (LS:LTC=1.0). LTC:LFC=1.5. r­m reaches dm after one third of the cells length. M 1 undulating in its middle.

Halter . Length: 0.5mm. Base, stem and knob dark.

Legs. Coxae dark, grey pollinose. Mid coxa with five to six long anterior bristly hairs at inner apical corner, followed by some shorter bristly hairs. Trochanters dark, grey pollinose with shining patches. Femora dark with narrow pale apices, grey pollinose except hind femur shining posteriorly. Femora with posterodorsal row of long, dark setae. Mid femur ventrally bearing two rows of dark peg­like spines, the anterior one restricted to apical half. Tibiae dark with pale basal fifth to quarter, grey pollinose. Hind tibia with three to four weak wrinkles midanteriorly but hardly swollen, and four to five stronger bristly hairs. Tarsi dark, grey pollinose. Pulvilli shorter than distitarsi.

Abdomen. Ground colour dark. Tergite 1 with a lateral patch of about ten long bristly hairs (up to 0.15mm), more or less arranged in two rows. Tergite 2 laterally with about 17 long bristly hairs. Tergite 3 laterally with some shorter hairs. Apart from that, only shorter scattered hairs are present on tergite 1 to 5 (up to 0.08mm). Tergite 1 laterally, tergite 2 to 5 posterolaterally grey pollinose, slightly extending onto dorsal surface along posterior margin, otherwise brown pollinose. Viewed dorsally, tergite 5 symmetrical (T5R:T5L=1.0). Sternite 1 to 5 dark, greyish pollinose. Sternite 6 and 7 dark, brownish pollinose. Syntergosternite 8 dark and brownish pollinose. Viewed dorsally, short and small, with a small dorsal depression on side of outer surstylus. LT35:WS8=1.7. Viewed laterally, slightly higher than long (LS8:HS8=0.9). Viewed caudally, membranous area ovate, centrally placed and caudally directed ( Fig. 6c ).

Genitalia.

Genital capsule dorsal view: Epandrium dark, grey pollinose, small, wider than long (MLE:MWE=0.8). Surstyli somewhat paler, grey pollinose, symmetrical and of a simple oval shape ( Fig. 6b ). Anal opening about as long as surstyli.

Genital capsule ventral view: Gonopods small but broad and equal in height ( Fig. 6a ). Phallus with a strong and straight base from which a membranous sheet emerges in its apical third, bearing numerous spines or teeth ( Fig. 6a ). The phallus itself is trifid with short ejaculatory ducts. Phallic guide long and straight, with a slim, pointed apex confined to apical quarter bearing some small spines laterally ( Fig. 6a ).

Genital capsule lateral view: Epandrium without a projecting lobe on either side. Surstylus ovate with slightly pointed apex ( Fig. 6e ). Phallus straight. Phallic guide deep and evenly bent towards surstyli, with a ventral step at the beginning of its apical quarter.

Ejaculatory apodeme narrow and tube­like.

Discussion

Collin (1941) based his description on one male and two females from Tigrovaja (Sutshan District) and two males from Jakowlewka (Spass. u. Uss. District). Only the male syntype from the UMO collection could be studied and is hereby designated as lectotype of P. oppletus to fix the name and ensure universal and consistent interpretation of the taxon. The remaining paralectotypes are deposited at the Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia ( De Meyer 1996). Due to the shape of the inner male genitalia ( Fig. 6a ), P. oppletus is hereby transferred to the genus Claraeola ( Cla. oppleta ( Collin, 1941) comb. nov.).

A new name for Cla. koreana Skevington, 2001 was necessary, because of the transfer of Eudorylas koreanus Kozánek & Kwon, 1991 to the genus Claraeola by Kehlmaier (in this article) ( Claraeola paektusana Kehlmaier nom. nov.).

Cla. oppleta is related to Cla. alata (Kozánek & Kwon, 1991) , described from North Korea and illustrated in Kozánek & Kwon (1991b). The ovate lateral shape of the surstyli (inner surstylus as in Fig. 6e ) and the structure of the phallus with its rather narrow membraneous sheet covered with fewer and shorter spines ( Fig. 6a ) differentiates it from the latter. Cla. oppleta is currently known from North Korea and Russia.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Claraeola oppleta (Collin, 1941). (a) Phallic guide, gonopods and phallus ventral view. (b) Genital capsule ventral view. (c) Syntergosternite 8 caudal view. (d) Male antenna lateral view. (e) Inner surstylus lateral view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.