Brachypogon (Isohelea) nitidulus ( Edwards, 1921 )

Dominiak, Patrycja & Szadziewski, Ryszard, 2023, Taxonomic status of two European sibling and barcode-sharing species of Brachypogon Kieffer, 1899 (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 5319 (1), pp. 145-147 : 145

Brachypogon (Isohelea) nitidulus ( Edwards, 1921)

nitidulus ( Edwards, 1921): 125 (Psilohelea) . United Kingdom ( Scotland).

norvegicus Szadziewski and Hagan, 2000: 459 . Norway. New synonym.

Brachypogon nitidulus was described from the Isle of Arran where the holotype male and other specimens of both sexes were collected. The original description of male is brief and lacks drawings. The first illustrations of male genitalia are given in a paper on British biting midges ( Edwards 1926), and they clearly show the very small cerci which are characteristic for this species and the heavily sclerotized, broadly fused parameres ( Fig. 1A ). Remm synonymized this name first with B. turfaceus ( Kieffer, 1925) and B. finniae ( Clastrier, 1961) ( Remm 1974, as junior synonym), and later also with B. crassiforceps ( Remm 1981, as senior synonym). Szadziewski & Hagan (2000) described B. norvegicus based on a false premise that Remm’s (1974) interpretation of B. nitidulus is correct (male genitalia with large cerci and middle part of parameres weakly sclerotized). It is obvious that B. norvegicus is morphologically identical with B. nitidulus and the name should be treated as a junior synonym of the latter species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Male genitalia (aedeagus barely visible), ventral view: A—Brachypogon nitidulus (Edwards, 1921), B— Brachypogon crassiforceps (Kieffer, 1925).