Abaristophora arctophila Schmitz, 1927

Pape, Thomas, Ulefors, Sven-Olof & Disney, R. Henry L., 2013, Palaearctic Abaristophora (Diptera: Phoridae): First female of A. arctophila Schmitz, 1927 and a new species from N. W. Russia, Zootaxa 3681 (3), pp. 249-256 : 250-253

Abaristophora arctophila Schmitz, 1927

Figs 1–13

Material examined: LECTOTYPE 3, herewith designated, RUSSIA: “Kamtschatka: / Jawino. / 7.VIII.1917 / Y. Wuorentaus ” [ FMNH]. Condition poor, without head, wings, and legs, but fully identifiable. “Anaristophora [sic] / arctophila / Schmitz 3 / n.g. n.sp. / Syntype ” “Mus. Zool. H:fors / Spec. typ. 4718 / Anaristophora / arctophila Schmitz ”.

Paralectotype 3, RUSSIA, “Kamtschatka: / Jawino. / 7.VIII.1917 / Y. Wuorentaus.” Further labels: “Anaristophora [sic] / arctophila / n.g. n.sp. / Schmitz / Syntype ” and “Rest im 1 mikr.Präp.” Head and fore legs glued to a piece of cardboard on a pin, remaining parts mounted on a slide labelled “ Abaristophora / s.str. arcto- / phila Schmitz / 3” [ ZFMK].

Additional material: 2 Ƥ 50 3 SWEDEN: Västerbotten, Vindelns Kommun, Kulbäckslidens försökspark, bog edge at Degerö Stormyr (Trap ID 59, N64° 10.899’, E19° 33.548’), 01.viii–18.viii.2003 (coll. event ID 211), Swedish Malaise Trap Project, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. [1 Ƥ 1 3 coated with goldplatinum and mounted on a SEM stub, deposited in ZMUC, other material deposited in SMNH.]

Description. Male, see Schmitz (1927, 1929, 1951).

Female. Frons brown, triangular, slightly longer than broad and protruding between antennae, equipped with numerous strong hairs. The pre-ocellar bristles are slightly further apart than the antials and situated lower on the frons than the mediolaterals. The anterolaterals are much higher on the frons than the antials and not particularly close to the eye margins. Antials are low on the frons, and a line between the antial socket and the base of the palp is in front of the antennal insertion. Postpedicel brown, without apparent subcutaneous pit sensilla. Palp light brown at base grading into straw yellowish at tip, about 4–5 times as long as greatest breadth (viewed from above), with 6 bristles and 4 times as many hairs. Proboscis light brown and very elongate, almost as long as combined length of thorax plus abdomen. Labella straw yellow with only a few small spinules in addition to the 8 hairs. Thorax brown with 3 bristles on notopleuron, the most anterior being the strongest. Scutellum with an anterior pair of hairs and a posterior pair of bristles. Mesopleuron with 9–10 hairs close behind the anterior spiracle. Abdomen with brown tergites and light brown venter. The hairs of the tergites short and sparse and found mainly in the posterior half and in particular on or near posterior margin, with hairs of T6 stronger and more numerous.

Legs mainly brown except for light brown or straw yellow fore tibiae and all tarsi. Fore tibia with 17–18 anterodorsal small spines of about equal length, proximal larger and set in a proportionally larger socket, and numerous similar anteroventral spines. Fore tarsus with a posterior hair palisade on segments 1–3 and an anterodorsal palisade on segment 1, segment 5 a little longer than 4. Mid tibia with a near dorsal hair palisade extending 0.8 time its length, with an anterior bristle just before end of first quarter and a posterodorsal bristle just above this, with 4 hair combs on the anterior face of last third and apically with an anterior and a posteroventral bristle, the latter twice as long as the former. Mid tarsus with anterodorsal, anteroventral, posterodorsal and posteroventral hair palisades on segments 1–2, and segment 5 as long as 4. Hind tibia with a dorsal hair palisade in full length, with a small anterodorsal bristle just beyond end of first quarter, 1 small anterodorsal pre-apical bristle, and a long and a short spur. Hind tarsus with a posterodorsal hair palisade on segments 1–3. Wing vein 3 with 2–3 small hairs at base, and with 4 axillary bristles. Costa expands in distal half so become about as wide as the slightly expanded tip of vein 3. Thick veins light brown. Sc very pale and fading away before encountering vein 3. Veins 4– 6 very pale and 7 not evident. Vein 4 has its pale base is sharply curved anteriorly so that it meets vein 3 at about 90o. Vein 5 is almost straight. Vein 6 starts off divergent and straight before curving apically to be about parallel with vein 5 before curving away to meet the wing margin at about 90o. Membrane almost colourless. Haltere with brown stem and dark brown knob.

Distribution. Palaearctic ( Estonia, Russia [Far East], Sweden).

Remarks. Abaristophora arctophila is morphologically very similar to A. sachalinensis , as interpreted from the detailed and well-illustrated redescription of the latter by Nakayama & Shima (2006). These authors mentioned that A. sachalinensis is distinguished from other species of Abaristophora (s.str.) by the absence of a tibial bristle on the fore tibia. Male hypopygium of Abaristophora arctophila differs from that of A. sachalinensis by presenting a slightly narrower (or more saddle-shaped) epandrium in strict, right, lateral view and having the anterior basal plate of the phallus apically truncated and with a short, posteriorly directed process. Abaristophora sachalinensis has the anterior basal plate rounded apically and without any posterior process (compare Figs 8, 9, 11, 12 with relevant figures in Nakayama & Shima 2006).

Both the male and the female from the series of Abaristophora arctophila from Sweden that were examined under the SEM had several pollen grains of Hieracium sp. sticking to the microtrichiae (e.g., on the palps, Fig. 6 ), thus indicating that the species is visiting the inflorescences of Asteraceae . The biology of members of Abaristophora is otherwise unknown ( Nakayama & Shima 2006).

Discussion and lectotype designation. Abaristophora arctophila was described from two males, none of which was designated as holotype ( Schmitz 1927). The species was later redescribed twice ( Schmitz 1929, 1951), and in both cases Schmitz explicitly referred to the “ Holotype in Mus. Helsingfors”. While it seems evident that Schmitz had a preference for the specimen in FMNH to be name-bearing, none of his works fulfil the requirement for an explicit selection given by ICZN Article 74.5, which states: “When the original work reveals that the taxon had been based on more than one specimen, a subsequent use of the term " holotype " does not constitute a valid lectotype designation unless the author, when wrongly using that term, explicitly indicated that he or she was selecting from the type series that particular specimen to serve as the name-bearing type ”. Schmitz’ (1929, 1951) use of the word “ Holotype ” is not in itself a formal lectotype designation, and there is nothing to indicate that he made a selection among the two syntypes. While the apparent conspecificity of the two specimens of the original type series may arguably make a lectotype designation redundant from a taxonomic point of view, we consider Schmitz’ (1929) reference to the FMNH specimen as the holotype justification for a formal selection of this specimen to be the name-bearing specimen and therefore to serve as a recognized standard of reference for any future nomenclatural issues relating to the identity of the nominal taxon.

The head, wings and legs of the lectotype most probably were removed to be mounted separately, but no slides were recovered neither in Helsinki nor in the Schmitz collection at the Museum Koenig in Bonn, Germany. Still, the abdomen remains fully intact and with the hypopygium sufficiently exposed to allow a detailed study, here confirming the conspecificity of the lectotype and the additional specimens from Sweden. No attempt was made to retrieve and study the strongly damaged Estonian specimen as the absence of a hypopygium would prevent a conclusive identification. The wing venation of the Estonian specimen ( Schmitz 1951, fig. 77), however, leaves no doubt that it belongs to Abaristophora (s.str.), and we consider an assignment to A. arctophila to be the best corroborated working hypothesis.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Abaristophora arctophila, female. 1. Head, anterior view. 2. Head and thorax, lateral view. 3. Proboscis, distal part of prementum and labellum, dorsal view. 4. Labellum, apico-lateral view. 5. Right palp, medial face. 6. Sensillum and microtrichiae on palp. 7. Terminal abdominal segments, left view. Scale bars: 1, 2 = 100 μm; 3 – 5, 7 = 10 μm; 6 = 1 μm.

FIGURES 8 – 13. Abaristophora arctophila, male. 8. Hypopygium, left view. 9. Hypopygium, right view. 10. Surface microsculpture laterally on hypopygium. 11. Hypopygium, posterior view. 12. Hypopygium, ventral view. 13. Surface microsculpture ventrally on base of penis complex. Scale bars: 8, 9 = 100 μm; 10 = 1 μm; 11, 12 = 300 μm.