Dicryptoscena leptobranchia

Grogan, Willliam L., Díaz, Florentina, Spinelli, Gustavo R. & Ronderos, Maria M., 2016, The biting and predaceous midges of Guadeloupe (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). II. Species of the subfamily Dasyheleinae, Zootaxa 4184 (2), pp. 201-254 : 222

Leptobranchia Group

The leptobranchia group proposed by Waugh & Wirth (1976) is roughly equivalent to the subgenus Dicryptoscena ( Dominiak 2012) . Species in the leptobranchia group are distinguished by their small size (female wing length usually <1 mm), elongate elliptical frontal sclerite with two lower marginal ear-like lobes, palpal segment 3 usually as long or longer than segments 4+5 combined. Males with sternite 9 extending onto base of aedeagus or as far as beyond its apex, gonocoxal apodemes and paramere forming an asymmetrical structure, paramere elongate, fused to right gonocoxal apodeme. Females with spherical to ovoid spermatheca and subgenital plate disjunct with separate anteromedian sclerite, entire with narrow central lumen, or, with narrow transverse bridge connected to basal arms.

Waugh & Wirth (1976) included five eastern Nearctic species in this group: D. brevicosta Waugh & Wirth , D. corinneae Gosseries [as D. scutellata (Meigen) ], D. leptobranchia Waugh & Wirth , D. messersmithi Waugh & Wirth and D. navaiae Waugh & Wirth , as well as two species that Wirth (1952) included in his traverae group, D. pritchardi Wirth and D. atrata Wirth , both of which were described from specimens collected in California, USA . The third western species that Wirth (1952) included in his traverae group, D. trystyla Wirth , is a member of the D. fasciigera complex ( Borkent & Forster 1986) that we include in the D. mutabilis group ( Dominiak 2012). Díaz & Spinelli, in Díaz et al. (2011) described Dasyhelea pabloi , a species that is widely distributed in Argentina, and noted that it was the first described Neotropical species in the leptobranchia group. However, we consider our assignment of D. corinnae to this group as tentative because members of this species lack lower marginal ear-like lobes on their frontal sclerites that are present in other species. In addition, females have bridge-like subgenital plates but they lack a disjunct anterior portion that is present in most other females in this group. Males have moderately long apicolateral processes, but only slightly longer than males of D. brevicosta , however, their apicolateral processes and paramere are similar to other Nearctic species in this group. Despite that Dominiak (2012) assigned D. corinneae to the subgenus Pseudoculicoides , we do not think it belongs to that subgenus because females lack a circular subgenital plate with a central lumen and male gonocoxal apodemes are more narrow than males in that subgenus.