Chelifera diversicauda Collin, 1927

Wagner, Rüdiger, Plant, Adrian, Ivković, Marija & Gattolliat, Jean-Luc, 2022, New synonyms and new species of European aquatic dance flies (Diptera, Empididae), Zootaxa 5222 (5), pp. 427-442 : 428

Chelifera diversicauda Collin

( Fig. 1 )

Chelifera diversicauda Collin, 1927: 95 .

Chelifera pallida Vaillant, 1982: 379 . Type locality: “upper reaches of Lot river , Massif Central, France ”. Syn. nov.

Type material examined. Chelifera pallida : HOLOTYPE 1 ♁ (slide mounted): label 1: handwritten: Chelifera pallida Vaillant ??; label 2: GBIFCH00601690 ( MZLS); handwritten on slide: “Ch. n. sp. ♁, voisin diversicauda (some letters striked through) Collin ♁, 2* Gagneur, 8.8.73”.

Additional material examined. Numerous specimens from emergence collections from the Breitenbach ( Germany). Slides with approximate suitable collection date, or with the name ‘ pallida ’ are housed in the F. Vaillant collection ( MZLS).

Remarks. Based on the genitalia, C. pallida is recognized as a synonym of C. diversicauda , a species known from the British Isles and small streams in the lowlands and low mountains ranges of Central Europe.

Chelifera pallida was described from a single male specimen, but it was a difficult task to identify the holotype of this species and its probable collecting site. There are conflicting statements concerning time and date of collection between the species description ( Vaillant 1982: 379) and information on the holotype slide. The confirmation that the identified slide is the holotype is based on the certain match of the drawing of the genitalia ( Vaillant 1982: 383, fig. 7f) with the mounted specimen ( Fig. 1c ). The type locality mentioned in the original description is “le type a éte´ pris le 20.VIII.1971 en bordure des sources de la Drôme vers 1,500 m, par conséquent dans le sud des Alpes du Dauphiné”—this locality is in the Alps, east of the Rhône river, and evidently wrong. Data on the holotype slide state different and limited information ( Fig. 1a ). The collector given on the slide is ‘Gagneur’. In the acknowledgement section, Vaillant (1982: 405) stated that M.J. Gagneur donated a number of specimens collected in the river Lot catchment—this is west of the Rhône river. The Lot has its source in the French Central Massif (Cevennes) and runs westward to the Garonne river. The mentioned number ‘*2’ probably indicates a collection site in the upper reaches. Therefore, the type locality can be narrowed to “upper reaches of the Lot river, Massif Central, France ”.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Chelifera pallida Vaillant. a, slide with holotype; b, holotype, lateral view; c, male terminalia, lateral view (photos MZLS).