Lycoriella parva

Lycoriella parva (Holmgren, 1869)

Figs 7B, 9C

Synonyms: = curvispina Tuomikoski, 1960; = difficilis var. obscuratipes (Frey, 1948).

Literature. Bradysia (Chaetosciara) difficilis var. obscuratipes Frey — Frey (1948): 59, 82. Lycoriella (Lycoriella) curvispina Tuomikoski — Tuomikoski (1960): 79, 85; figs 17e, 18j and 19d. Lycoriella curvispina Tuomikoski — Gerbachevskaja (1969): 339; figs 208.5 and 208.9; Krivosheina & Mohrig (1986): 157; Gerbachevskaja (1988): 514, figs 208.5 and 208.9; Jakovlev (1994): 76; Rudzinski (1994): 286. Sciara parva Holmgren — Holmgren (1869): 16, 52; Jacobson (1898): 204; Lengersdorf (1930): 56; Edwards (1935): 535, fig. 1d; Bertram & Lack (1938): 51. Lycoria (Neosciara) parva (Holmgren) — Lengersdorf (1928 –30): 65. Bradysia (Bradysia) parva (Holmgren) — Frey (1948): 67, 85; Stone & Laffoon (1965): 234. Bradysia parva (Holmgren) — McAlpine (1964): 128. Lycoriella (Lycoriella) parva (Holmgren) — Tuomikoski (1967): 49; Gerbachevskaja-Pavluchenko (1986): 33; Menzel & Mohrig (2000): 385, 398, 611; Coulson & Refseth (2004): 113; Menzel et al. (2006): 114; Coulson (2008): 162; Coulson (2013): 154; Mohrig et al. (2013): 271. Lycoriella parva (Holmgren) — Heller et al. (2009): 42; Salmela et al. (2015): 87; Vilkamaa & Menzel (2019): 52; Menzel et al. (2020): 66.

Material studied. CANADA, Quebec, Kuujjuarapik, 55°17’N, 77°48’W, 150 m, hilltop, lichen- Sphagnum, 16. VII –3.VIII.1990, S. Koponen, 3 males (in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1778, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1779 and http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1780); same locality but treeline forest, window trap, 27. VII –10.VIII.1990, S. Koponen, 1 male (in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1781); Quebec, Mt. Logan, 48°52’N, 66°38’W, 1100 m, alpine zone, S. Koponen, 3 males (in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1782, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1783 and http://id.luomus.fi/ GE.1784); RUSSIA, Murmansk Province, Lapland Nature Reserve, 5 km SE of Chunozero settlement (67.64169°N, 32.68118°E), Malaise trap, 30. V –23. VI.2014, A. Polevoi, 1 male (in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1777); USA, Vermont, Mt. Mansfield, 44.5436°N, 66.6347°W, 4000 ft., alpine zone, 18. VI –18.VIII.1991, S. Koponen, 10 males (8 in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1785–1792; 2 in SDEI); New Hampshire, Mt. Washington, 44.2705°N, 71.3032°W, 5700 ft., alpine zone, 15. VI –17.VIII.1991, S. Koponen, 3 males (in MZH, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1795, http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1796 and http://id.luomus.fi/GE.1797).

Redescription. Male. Head. Face slightly darker brown than antenna, maxillary palpus pale brown. Eye bridge 2 facets wide. Face with 11–24 setae. Clypeus with 1–3 setae. Maxillary palpus with 3 segments, 1 st segment slightly longer than 3 rd segment, 2 nd segment shortest; 1 st segment with 2–5 (rarely 6) setae, with large dorsal pit with sensilla; surface of antennal flagellomeres smooth, body of 4 th antennal flagellomere 1.85–2.35x as long as wide, neck slightly shorter than wide, longest setae as long as or slightly longer than width of flagellomere. Thorax. Brown; setae pale. Anterior pronotum with 2–4 setae. Proepisternum with 4–7 setae. Scutellum with 2 long and some short and fine setae. Wing. Fumose. Length 1.2–1.4 mm. Width/length 0.35–0.40. Anal lobe small. Veins indistinct. c/w 0.55–0.70. R1/R 0.60–0.85. stM longer than fork of M. bM longer than r-m, stCuA shortest. bM and r-m non-setose. Halter yellow. Legs. Fore coxa yellow, mid- and hind coxae pale brown, other segments yellow; setae pale. Fore tibial organ forming small patch of setae in demarcated depression. Fore tibial spur longer than apical width of tibia. Abdomen. Yellow; setae pale, short and fine. Hypopygium (Fig. 7B). Yellow, like abdomen. Intergonocoxal area rather long, with large conical setose lobe. Gonocoxa narrow and long, longer than gonostylus, with rather sparse and short setosity, on medial margin very short. Gonostylus (Fig. 9C) very narrow, widest basally, narrowed in apical third, impressed on apical half, evenly narrowed towards apex, densely setose apically, with narrow and curved apical tooth; with 2–3 apical megasetae, 4 (rarely 5) medial megasetae in apical third, megasetae rather strong, slightly recurved, about as long as apical tooth; without well-differentiated whip-lash seta. Tegmen wider than long, membraneous and smoothly curved or truncate apically, slightly sclerotized and roundish laterally, with small area of aedeagal teeth. Aedeagal apodeme rather short.

BIN. BOLD:ABA5291.

Discussion. There is some variation in the structure of the gonostylus between specimens from different localities, the northernmost specimens studied by us (Kuujjuarapik, Quebec) having a narrower gonostylus than the specimens from the more southern Mt. Logan, Mt. Mansfield and Mt. Washington (Figs 7B, 9C). However, as even the European and North American specimens have the same DNA barcode—e.g., specimens with the IDs 24536-E11 from Norway (Vestvold) and BIOUG11301-E11 from Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador)—they most probably belong to one and the same species. With the character combination of the gonostylus with strong apical megasetae, few curved medial megasetae, an indistinct whip-lash seta and a strong intergonocoxal lobe, Lycoriella parva is unique among Lycoriella. The species has been recorded from Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway (mainland and Svalbard), Russia, Sweden and United Kingdom (Wirta et al. 2016; Heller & Menzel 2017; Menzel et al. 2020; BOLD Systems 2021).