Tipula ( Vestiplex ) spinaventralis Starkevich, Saldaitis & Men, 2025

Starkevich, Pavel, Men, Qiu-Lei, Saldaitis, Aidas & Valavičiūtė-Pocienė, Kristina, 2025, New crane fly species of the subgenus Tipula (Vestiplex) Bezzi (Diptera, Tipulidae) from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China, ZooKeys 1264, pp. 183-206 : 183-206

Tipula ( Vestiplex) spinaventralis Starkevich, Saldaitis & Men sp. nov.

Figs 9 , 10 , 11

Type material.

Holotype: China • ♂ (pinned); W. China; [ Sichuan]; [Mount] Omei ; alt. 6500 ' [feet]; 5 Aug. 1935; Graham [leg.]; USNM; dissected . Paratype: China • 1 ♂ (pinned); W. China; Szechuan [ Sichuan]; [Mount] Omei Shan ; S. side; alt. 3060– 2000 m; 12 Aug. 1940; L. Gressit [leg.]; USNM .

Comparative material examined.

Tipula ( Vestiplex) avicularoides Alexander, 1936 : China • Holotype ♂; Sichuan, Mount Omei , Nwa Nien Pin Temple; alt. 6500 feet; 31 July 1935; Franck leg.; USNM. Tipula ( Vestiplex) bisentis Alexander, 1951 : Myanmar • Holotype ♂; N. E. Burma , Adung Valley; alt. 12,000 feet; 19 July 1931; Ward & Cranbrook leg.; NHMUK; Paratype ♂; same data as for preceeding; 4 July 1931; USNM; • Paratype ♀; Adung Valley ; alt. 14,000 feet; 24 Aug. 1931; Ward & Cranbrook leg.; NHMUK.

Diagnosis.

Tipula ( V.) spinaventralis sp. nov. can be recognized by yellow body coloration with brown thorax and darkened tip of abdomen. Antenna with flagellum dark brown. Tergite 9 ventrally with a pair of short, narrow, blackened lobes. Gonocoxite apically extended into remarkable, large, curved horn while ventromesal portion produced into blackened spine.

Description.

Male. Body length 13.1–14.5 mm, wing length 15.1–17.1 mm ( N = 2). General body coloration yellow, thorax brown, tip of abdomen dark brown (Fig. 9 A ).

Head. Yellow, vertex and occiput dusted by yellowish and provided with narrow brown vitta. Rostrum yellow, nasus distinct. Palpus brown. Antenna 13 - segmented, if bent backward slightly reaching the base of the wing. Scape and pedicel yellow, first flagellar segment yellowish brown, remaining segments dark brown. Each flagellomere, except the first, slightly enlarged at base. Apical flagellomere small, distinctly shorter than preceding flagellomere. Long verticils slightly shorter than the corresponding flagellomeres.

Thorax (Fig. 9 B ). Pronotum brown. Prescutum and presutural scutum with four greenish brown stripes, narrowly bordered by darker brown. Central stripes narrowly confluent anteriorly and at base, separated by brown ground. Interspaces dusted by yellowish grey. Postsutural scutum dusted by yellowish grey. Scutal lobe each with two greenish-brown spots. Scutellum and mediotergite brown, thinly dusted by grey, medially with brown vitta. Pleura brown, thinly dusted by yellowish grey. Legs with coxae brown, thinly dusted by yellowish grey. Trochanters yellow. Femora basally yellow, getting brown toward darker brown tips. Tibiae and tarsal segments brown. Claw without tooth. Wing pale brown, tinged with brown. Costal cell yellow. Vein m-cu joining dm at fork of M 3 + 4, cell M 1 about 2.6 as long as its petiole. Halter brown except pale base, knob brown.

Abdomen. Abdominal segments 1–3 yellow, segment 4 brown, segments 5–9 dark brown. Tergites laterally with narrow line; tergite 1 dorsally with brown spot, other tergites dorsally with vestiges of median line.

Hypopygium (Figs 10 , 11 ). Male hypopygium with tergite 9 fused with sternite 9 basally. Tergite 9 divided along midline by broad pale membrane, posteriorly with broad U-shaped notch (Fig. 10 A – C ); dorsal portion occupying the tergal area, covered with setae, posterolateral angle obtuse, posterior margin produced into rounded lobe on either side of midline. Ventral portion terminating in short, narrow, blackened, microscopically roughened lobes. Gonocoxite separated from sternite 9 by suture, apically extended into large, curved horn (Fig. 10 D ). Ventromesal portion of gonocoxite produced into blackened spine. Outer gonostylus leaf-shaped, narrow at base, flattened in the middle (Fig. 10 E ). Inner gonostylus hammer-shaped, terminating in rounded beak, lower beak blackened, weakly developed (Fig. 10 F ). Dorsal margin with crest distinctly extended. Sternite 9 with ventral lobe of A 9 s rounded at margin (Fig. 10 H ). Dorsal lobe of A 9 s reduced into small, nearly oblong sclerite, the tip with setae (Fig. 10 H, G ). Adminiculum nearly triangular in both ventral and lateral views, with distinct, basally expanded medial protrusion (Fig. 10 H, I ). The protrusion terminating in preapical denticle followed by rounded incision. Genital bridge with sclerite sp 1 absent, sclerite sp 2 in the shape of elongated plate (Fig. 10 G ). Sperm pump with central vesicle swollen (Fig. 11 A ). Compressor apodeme flattened, with median V-shaped incision (Fig. 11 B ). Posterior immovable apodeme narrowed, anterior immovable apodeme flattened. Aedeagus about 2.2 × as long as sperm pump, basally brown, distally getting yellow toward pale apex.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology.

The new species is named after the spine-shaped process located on the ventromesal portion of the gonocoxite.

Distribution.

China, Sichuan.

Remarks.

Tipula ( V.) spinaventralis sp. nov. is considered here as a member of the deserrata species group, which was proposed by Starkevich (2012), with the following discussion in Starkevich and Young (2023). Tipula ( V.) spinaventralis sp. nov. is closely related to T. ( V.) avicularoides Alexander, 1936 ( China, Sichuan) based on the shape of male hypopygium (Fig. 12 ). Both species are characterized by relatively small ventral lobes of tergite 9 and inner gonostylus with crest extended but can be easily separated by shape of gonocoxite. Tipula ( V.) spinaventralis sp. nov. has the gonocoxite broadly expanded at the base with the apex horn-shaped. In T. ( V.) avicularoides the gonocoxite has the shape of a stout spine and lacks a ventromesal extension. Another species closely related to T. ( V.) spinaventralis sp. nov. and T. ( V.) avicularoides is T. ( V.) bisentis Alexander, 1951 ( Myanmar); all share small lobes of tergite 9 and an extended crest of the inner gonostylus (Fig. 13 ). The gonocoxite is bispinous in T. ( V.) bisentis but unlike T. ( V.) spinaventralis sp. nov. the apical extension is short, spine-like.

Figures

Figure 9. Habitus of Tipula (Vestiplex) spinaventralis sp. nov., holotype A male, lateral view and label B male thorax, dorsal view. Scale bars: 5 mm (A); 1 mm (B).

Figure 10. Male terminalia of Tipula (Vestiplex) spinaventralis sp. nov., holotype A tergite 9, dorsal view B tergite 9, dorsocaudal view C tergite 9, caudal view D right gonocoxite, lateral view E outer gonostylus F right inner gonostylus, outer lateral view G left gonocoxite and sp 2 of genital bridge, caudal view H sternite 9, ventral view, tergite 9, gonocoxite and gonostyli removed I adminiculum, lateral view. Abbreviations: adm, adminiculum; ah, apical horn of gonocoxite; dl, dorsal lobe of A 9 s; dp, dorsal portion of tergite 9; sp 2, sclerite sp 2 of genital bridge; vl, ventral lobe of A 9 s; vp, ventral portion of tergite 9; vs, ventral spine of gonocoxite. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 11. Male terminalia of Tipula (Vestiplex) spinaventralis sp. nov. A sperm pump and aedeagus, lateral view B sperm pump and aedeagus, dorsal view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 12. Genitalia slide of Tipula (Vestiplex) avicularoides, holotype A tergite 9, dorsal view B right gonocoxite, outer and inner gonostyli C left gonocoxite, outer and inner gonostyli. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 13. Genitalia slide of Tipula (Vestiplex) bisentis, paratype. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.