Eleniella kyseluci Berest 2001

Eleniella kyseluci Berest, 2001 —new junior synonym of Monardia obsoleta Edwards, 1938

Material studied: holotype male, with the data as specified in the original description (Berest 2001).

Berest (2001) introduced the genus Eleniella for a single new species, Eleniella kyseluci, which she classified in the tribe Strobliellini. The holotype male of E. kyseluci is poorly preserved: most parts of the body, including the antennae, are collapsed (Fig. 2); one of the wings is folded (Fig. 3), and the genitalia are cut into two portions, with the larger one still attached to the abdomen (Fig. 2). On re-examination this specimen proved to belong to Monardia obsoleta Edwards, 1938, a species of Micromyini with a wide distribution in the Palearctic region (Jaschhof 1998, Jaschhof & Jaschhof 2009). Berest’s misidentification results obviously from a preparation artifact. The long, basally disappearing CuA1 highlighted in the original description of E. kyseluci (Berest 2001: fig. 1, referred to in the text as M3+4) is in fact a fold that runs diagonally through one of the wings, which is corrugated, but is missing in the other wing (Fig. 3). Veins M1+2 and CuA2, both of which are often weak and short in M. obsoleta (Jaschhof 1998), were depicted approximately correctly. Other diagnostic characters of M. obsoleta distinguishable in the specimen in question are as follows: flagellomere nodes bear distally a small, leaf-shaped translucent sensillum (not described by Berest); there is a dense row of 11–12 postocular bristles (not described); the palpus appears to probably have three segments (not four as described by Berest), the apical one being the longest; the subrectangular claws have two tiny teeth medially; empodia are rudimentary; the arrangement of sensory buds on the wing veins is in accordance with the pattern found in Micromyini (described differently by Berest); tegmen and ejaculatory apodeme show the outline as is typical of Micromyini (not described); and the slender gonostylus is strongly tapered towards the apex and bears a thin, tooth-like spine. Also, the body size, described by Berest (2001) to be about 0.9 mm, fits M. obsoleta better than a Strobliellini, which typically are three to four times larger.