Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomic paper
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Corresponding author:
Academic editor: Jukka Salmela
Received: 19 Jun 2015 | Accepted: 17 Aug 2015 | Published: 21 Aug 2015
© 2015 Levente-Péter Kolcsár, Edina Török, Lujza Keresztes
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Kolcsár L, Török E, Keresztes L (2015) A new species and new records of Molophilus Curtis, 1833 (Diptera: Limoniidae) from the Western Palaearctic Region. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e5466. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e5466
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Molophilus Curtis, 1833 is the most species-rich Limoniidae genus with a total number of 1006 species and subspecies, from which 97 are recorded in the Western-Palaearctic region so far. However new species are still expected from less investigated regions, like the Balkans or the Eastern Europe.
In the present article, we desrcibe a new limonid crane fly species, Molophilus balcanicus Kolcsár sp. n. from the Central Balkan area (Bulgaria). This new taxa is closely related to M. serpentiger Edwards, 1938 and M. variispinus Starý, 1971 based on the external male genital structures, but differs from its siblings mostly in the structure of the inner and outer gonostylus. Additionally, a number of species are reported for the first time from various European countries, like M. variispinus Starý, 1971 and M. occultus de Meijere, 1918 from Romania; M. crassipygus de Meijere 1918, M. obsoletus Lackschewitz, 1940 and M. medius de Meijere, 1918 from Greece; M. flavus Goetghebuer, 1920 from Andorra; M. cinereifrons de Meijere, 1920 from Bulgaria and M. corniger Meijere, 1920 from Spain.
Balkan mountain range, sibling species, distribution
Molophilus Curtis, 1833 is the most species-rich genus in the Western-Palaearctic region, belonging to Limoniidae (Diptera). The species can be easily identified based on male robust hypopigium. The females are unknown or less studied. So far, there are more than 1000 species and subspecies are described worldwide with an Australasian-Oceanian distribution center (
The material was collected by entomological net and UV light trap in Andorra, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Spain, beetwen 2010 and 2013. All the material listed here, are stored in 96% ethanol and deposited in the Diptera Collection of the Faculty of Biology and Geology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The holotype of the new species is deposited in the Museum of Zoology of the Babeș-Bolyai University (MZBBU), Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The specimens were examined with an Olympus SZ50 dissection microscope. Photos were taken using an Canon EOS 650D digital camera, attached to an Olympus SZ60 stereomicroscope, with a LM Digital SLR Adapter (Micro Tech Lab, Austria). Layer photos were finally combined with the software Combine ZP (
Head. Vertex black, with short black setae. Rostrum light brown with a few short dark setae. Palpus 4-segmented, brown. Antennae 16-segmented, yellowish, only the scape is dark brown. Pedicellus globular 1.5-1.8x wider than the flagellum segments. Flagellomeres are cylindrical to fusiform.
Thorax. Yellowish orange (Fig.
Abdomen. Dark orange - light brown, tergites mainly dark, anterior sternites lighter than caudal sternites. Both sternites and tergites are covered with long pale setae. Pleural membrane yellow. Hypopigium generally yellow (Fig.
Female: unknown.
Larva: unknown.
Small species with yellowish orange general colour, body lenght is 4-4.5 mm and wing length 5 mm (Fig.
Balcanicus (latin) = referring to the Balkan area, from where the species were collected. The name is to be deemed to be a latinized adjective in nominative singular.
Bulgaria (Balkan mountain range).
Only one specimen was collected in a beech forest, close to a small brook at 1100-1200 m. The valley of the brook was dominated by medium to large sized rocks, along with thick layer of accumulated leaf litter.
The new species is very close to Molophilus serpentiger and M. variispinus, but differs from both sibling species by the thick outer and inner gonostylus. Both of the two already known sibling species have thin outer gonostylus without hook like end (Figs
First record to Romania. The habitus, the hypopigium and the aedeagal complex of the male are illustrated in Fig.
The habitus, the hypopigium and the aedeagal complex of the male are illustrated in Fig.
First record to Bulgaria.
First record to Spain.
First record to Greece.
First record to Andorra.
First record to Greece.
First record to Greece.
First record to Romania.
The authors thanks to Miklós Bálint and László Rákosy for collecting the specimens, and to Róbert Veres and Tibor Oláh for spellcheking. The work was financed partly by Collegium Talentum and partly by IDEI grant no. PN-2-ID-PCE-2012-4-0595 of the Romanian Government.