Tipula (Pterelachisus) pseudobiaciculifera, Men & Xue & Wang, 2016

Men, Qiulei, Xue, Guoxi & Wang, Fang, 2016, Taxonomy on crane flies from Mountain Huang, China, with descriptions of two new species (Diptera: Tipulidae), Zoological Systematics 41 (1), pp. 89-101 : 98-101

3.8 Tipula (Pterelachisus) pseudobiaciculifera sp. nov. ( Figs 6 , 45–52 )

Diagnosis. Antenna with scape, pedicel and first flagellomere light yellow, flagellomeres two to four bicolored, black basally and yellow apically; prescutum yellowish brown with four light brown stripes; R 1+2 entire, petiole of cell M 1 distinctly shorter than discal cell; abdominal tergites yellowish brown with irregular dark brown lateral stripes; hypopygium dark brown, tergite nine produced into two high heel-shaped processes in lateral angles.

Description. Male. Length. Body 13.5 mm (not including antenna, n =2); wing 16.8 mm (n =2); antenna 4.5 mm (n =2).

Rostrum light yellow with lateral side brown, nasus light yellow, surface of rostrum densely covered with black setae, palpi black. Antenna ( Fig. 45 ) relatively long, scape and pedicel light yellow, flagellum 10-segments, the first flagellomere light yellow, two to four segments bicolored, black at slightly expanded base and yellow apically, other flagellomeres uniformly black, verticils black. Head yellow, vertex with a distinct light brown median stripe.

Pronotum light brown, darker in middle and lateral sides. Prescutum ( Fig. 6 ) light brown with four light brown stripes. Scutum yellowish brown, each lobe with two dark brown areas ( Fig. 6 ). Scutellum and postnotum yellowish brown, both with a dark median stripe. Pleura yellowish brown. Halter with stem yellowish brown, knob dark brown. Legs ( Fig. 45 ) with coxae and trochanters yellow, femora yellowish brown with black tips, tibiae brown with narrow black tip, tarsi dark brown. Wings ( Fig. 45 ) light brown, cells C and Sc darker than ground color; stigma dark brown; Rs tinged with dark brown at origin point; apex of wing tinged with light brown including bases of cells R 1+2, R 3, M 1, M 2, M 3, Cua 1 and Cua 2; discal cell subhyaline; some large hyaline areas at cells R, M and A as illustrated in Figure 45 . Venation: R 1+2 entire, petiole of cell M 1 distinctly shorter than discal cell.

Abdominal tergites light yellow, blackened laterally, sternites uniformly light yellow, hypopygium dark brown. Male hypopygium relatively large, tergite nine produced into a high heel-shaped process in lateral angle, caudal margin of tergite nine forming a shallowly V-shaped notch in middle, ventral surface of tergite nine equipped with a pair of arms ( Figs 46–48 ); sternite nine with a deep notch at hind margin, with a pair of elongated blades at lateral angles ( Fig. 48 ); outer gonostylus narrow, filiform; inner gonostylus relatively widened, apical two beaks black ( Figs 49–50 ).

Semen pump with compressor apodeme fan-shaped, forming a 30° angle with posterior immovable apodeme ( Figs 51–52 ). Posterior immovable apodeme sligtly shorter than compressor apodeme, parallel laterally and oblique apically in lateral view ( Fig. 51 ). Anterior immovable apodeme very short, gradually narrowed to the end and not connected apically ( Fig. 52 ). Aedeagus tubular and elongated, more than 1.5 times longer than semen pump, truncate apically ( Figs 51–52 ).

Material examined. Holotype. ♂, China, Anhui Province, Mountain Huang (30°13'N, 118°16'E; elev. 1 850 m), 11 June 2015, coll. Qiulei Men. Paratype. 1♂ 1♀, same data as holotype .

Distribution. China (Anhui).

Etymology. The specific epithet bases on the name of a relative species Tipula (Pterelachisus) biaciculifera , with Latin prefix pseudo, referring to the morphological similarity of the new species to T. (P.) biaciculifera .

Remarks. This new species is similar to another Chinese species, Tipula (Pterelachisus) biaciculifera Alexander, 1937 , by the colorations of body and morphological structure of hypopygium. It can be easily distinguished from the latter by the yellowish brown thorax (brown in T. (P.) biaciculifera ), the bigger body size and the tergite nine which produced into a high heel-shaped process in lateral angle (tergite nine produced into a narrowed, sword-shaped process in lateral angle in T. (P.) biaciculifera ). The new species is also similar to Tipula (Pterelachisus) obnata Alexander, 1934 from Taiwan, China, by the colorations of antenna, thorax and abdomen, but differs from the latter by the tergite nine which produced into a high heel-shaped process in lateral angle (without such process in T. (P.) obnata ).

Preliminary key to crane flies in Mountain Huang.

1. Flagellomere with branches .................................................................................................................................................................2

Flagellomere without branches ............................................................................................................................................................3 2. Generally orange-yellow in coloration; flagellomere with two pairs of branches ....... Pselliophora xanthopimplina Enderlein, 1921

Generally black in coloration; flagellomere with a pair of branches on base and one branch on apical ................................................

........................................................................................................................................... Tanyptera hubeiensis Yang & Yang, 1988 3. Tibiae and tarsi with white ring..................................................................................................... Tipulodina xyris ( Alexander, 1949)

Tibiae and tarsi without white ring.......................................................................................................................................................4 4. Rs very long ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Rs very short ............................................................................................................................ Nephrotoma huangshanensis sp. nov. 5. Segments two to four orange-yellow........................................................................... Tipula (Formotipula) vindex Alexander, 1940

Abdomen without segment orange-yellow...........................................................................................................................................6 6. Tergite nine with a finger-shaped process on dorsal side ................................................... Tipula (Yamatotipula) nova Walker, 1848

Tergite nine without such process ........................................................................................................................................................7 7. Sternite nine with two strands of long hairs; gonocoxite not elongate .............................................. Tipula coxitalis Alexander, 1935

Sternite nine without such long hair; gonocoxite elongate.................................. Tipula (Pterelachisus) pseudobiaciculifera sp. nov.

Funding This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31300551), and the start-up grant of scientific research from Anqing Normal University (044-K05000130005).

Acknowledgements We are grateful to Dr. Pjotr Oosterbroek, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for his valuable web site, the Catalogue of the Crane flies of the World, which provides lots of valuable biogeographic information about crane flies. We thank Dr. Qifei Liu, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, for his help to identify known species. We are particularly grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions to this paper.

Figures

Figures 1–6. Thorax. 1. Pselliophora xanthopimplina. 2. Tanyptera hubeiensis. 3. Tipulodina xyris. 4. Tipula coxitalis. 5. Nephrotoma huangshanensis sp. nov. 6. Tipula (Pterelachisus) pseudobiaciculifera sp. nov.

Figures 45–52. Tipula (Pterelachisus) pseudobiaciculifera sp. nov. 45. Habitus of male adult, lateral view. 46. Hypopygium, lateral view. 47. Hypopygium, dorsal view. 48. Hypopygium, ventral view. 49. Outer gonostylus and inner gonostylus, lateral view. 50. Outer gonostylus and inner gonostylus, mesal view. 51. Semen pump, lateral view. 52. Semen pump, dorsal view.