Thrypticus intercedens Negrobov, 1967

Kejval, Zbyněk & Pollet, Marc, 2024, Long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) in the Czech Republic- 2. Corindia and Thrypticus, Zootaxa 5432 (3), pp. 411-424 : 419

Thrypticus intercedens Negrobov, 1967

Material examined. Bohemia: Kateřina (5840), Soos NNR, 50°08′53″N 12°24′24″E, 440 m, saline swamps, Schpt / Elch, 10.vi.2022, 11 ♂ ( MCH); same data, 21.vi.2023, 45 ♂ ( MCH, MAPC, NMPC, SMOC) .

Distribution. Widespread Palaearctic species, known from Europe, Russia, Turkey and Mongolia. In Europe, this species has so far been recorded from Finland, France, Norway, Sweden ( Negrobov & Naglis 2020), Germany ( Meyer & Stark 2015), Great Britain ( Drake et al. 2023) and Czech Republic (present paper).

Status in CZ. The first CZ records of this species are given herein.

Ecology. In Norway, it was collected on saline coastal meadows with Juncus gerardi Loiseleur-Deslongchamps and Atriplex spp. ( Jonassen 1990). In England, this species is mostly found at margins of ditches in botanically rich wetland sites in lowland areas ( Drake et al. 2023). In the Soos NNR, it was encountered in large numbers, and seems to be confined there to salt marshes with dominant Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani (C.C. Gmelin) and patches of Eleocharis spp.

Remarks. According to Negrobov & Naglis (2020), T. intercedens can be reliably separated from T. paludicola Negrobov, 1971 by the entirely metallic green femora, largely black surstylus and the phallus with triangular projection apicoventrally (narrower, finger-like for the latter). Jonassen (1990), who previously placed these two species in synonymy, noted some transitional conditions in shape of apicoventral projection of phallus in several specimens from Norway. This opinion was recently shared by Drake et al. (2023) who noted, moreover, that all examined British specimens of T. intercedens have “yellow-tipped femora, about a quarter on the dorsal surface and up to a third on the ventral surface, and so would be identified as T. paludicola ” ( Drake et al. 2023) . Similarly, all CZ specimens, as well as another two specimens examined from Slovakia (SMOC), display distinctly bicoloured femora, a somewhat more elongate apicoventral projection of phallus (as in Drake et al. (2023, fig. 1i)) and more or less brownish surstyli, rather gradually darkening towards black extreme tip. All these facts seem to suggest considerable intraspecific variation. A decision on whether both species are really conspecific or not, would require the examination of the type specimens, more material (from different parts of distributional range) and preferably barcoding data, which is beyond the scope of the present paper. For the time being, we concur with Jonassen (1990) and consider T. paludicola as synonym of T. intercedens .