Limonia episema Alexander, 1924

Podenas, Sigitas, Podeniene, Virginija, Seo, Hong-Yul, Kim, A-Young, Park, Sun-Jae, Byun, Hye-Woo, Kim, Heung-Chul & Aukštikalnienė, Rasa, 2017, Limoniinae crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) new to Korea II, Journal of Species Research 6 (3), pp. 258-279 : 274

Limonia episema Alexander, 1924

General: Male generally similar to female ( Podenas, Podeniene, 2017). Body brownish yellow, 5.7 mm long.

Head: Dark brown. Antenna 1.5 mm long, 14-segmented. Both basal antennomeres brown, flagellomeres brown, first flagellomere with yellow basal third, second to fourth flagellomeres narrowly yellow at base. Basal flagellomeres oval, distal elongate. Longest verticils up to five times as long as respective flagellomere. Apical segment approximately 1.3 as long as preceding.

Thorax: Pronotum dark brown with yellowish posterior margin. Mesonotal prescutum semi-polished, brownish yellow, brown along frontal margin. Three brown longitudinal stripes less distinct than in female, disappearing towards posterior margin of sclerite. Scutal lobe brownish yellow with yellow postero-lateral angle. Scutellum pale yellow, mediotergite brownish yellow. Pleuron obscure yellow with brownish areas along middle and ventral part of episternum. Halter 1.7 mm long, stem pale with yellowish base and brownish distal part, knob brown with paler tip.

Wing: 9.1 mm long, distinctly reaches beyond tip of abdomen. Pattern more distinct than in female (Fig. 9 in Podenas, Podeniene, 2017).

Legs: Coxae brownish yellow, trochanter yellow. Femur yellow, distally with two distinct dark brown rings preceded by pale-yellow areas, middle of femur indistinctly darkened. Tibia yellowish brown, distal part darkened. Tarsus yellow basally, turning dark brown distally. Femur I: 5.1 mm, III: 5.8 mm; tibia I: 6.45 mm, II: 6.2 mm, III: 6.85 mm; tarsus I: 6.5 mm, II: 5.8 mm, III: 5.7 mm. Claw with three comb-like spines.

Abdomen: Yellowish brown, darkened laterally.

Genitalia: Male genitalia dark brown ( Fig. 6A ): Ninth tergite transverse with widely rounded posterior margin. Postero-medial part membranous. Gonocoxite elongate, subcylindrical, without ventro-mesal lobe. Gonostylus elongate, setose, slightly curved, getting narrower distally, blunt-apexed. Paramere ( Fig. 6B ) with extended sickle-shaped blunt-apexed distal part. Penis ( Fig. 6C ) wide at base, distinctly narrower at apex, reaching to about four-fifths of gonocoxite, with distinctly curved downwards distal part, bifid at apex.

Elevation range in Korea: 850 m to nearly 1,700 m.

Period of activity in Korea: Lasts whole June and July.

Bionomics (after Podenas, Podeniene, 2017): For North Korean specimens unknown. Yadamsuren et al. (2015) mentions that species develops in wet soils, Savchenko (1983) writes, that species is flying in mixed and coniferous woods.

Examined material: 1♂ (pinned), N. Korea, Seren Mts., alt. 2800 ft., June 22, 1938, A. M. Yankovsky ( USNM) .

Remarks: Original description (Alexander, 1924) was based on four females from Sakhalin Island (now the Far East of Russia), later males were found in Japan and continental Far East of Russia, but undescribed and not illustrated ( Ishida, 1957; Savchenko, 1983).

Figures

Fig. 6. Limonia episema. A. male genitalia, dorsal view. B. paramere. C. penis, lateral view.