Nemotelus (Nemotelus) pantherinus Linnaeus 1758

Nemotelus (Nemotelus) pantherinus (Linnaeus, 1758)

(Figures 6, 12)

Material examined. Germany 13 Jungfhde/11.6.[18]99; 1Ƥ Finknkrg./Berlin/22.6.[19]02 (H. Wadzeck).

Diagnosis. Antennal bases close to the tip of rostrum. Tip of rostrum triangular, not downturned. Postpronotum black, with a small white posterior spot. Subnotopleural stripe very narrow, linear. Fore and mid tibiae yellow or yellow-brown medially. Wing vein R4+5 forked.

3: Frontal vitta very narrow, eyes almost touching. Eyes with large dorsal and small ventral facets. Frons with a large white spot. Tergites 2–3 white. Genitalia: Rozkošný (1973), Rozkošný (1983).

Ƥ: Frons black, the space normally occupied by yellow spots with stripes of silvery hairs. Tergites black, only lateral margins and posteromedial triangles on T2–5 pale.

The female is unique among the North European species of the subgenus in having pale abdominal spots but lacking yellow frontal spots. The male of N. pantherinus does at first glance look like N. infortunatus but the two species are not closely related and the male genitalia are entirely distinct. As a field character for males one can note the dominant ground colour of sternites: white in N. pantherinus, black in N. infortunatus.

Distribution. Palearctic, from Europe to East Siberia. Not in Finland. The northernmost records of this species are from Estonia and the Uppland district of Sweden (60° N lat.).

Notes. N. pantherinus is a species associated with fens, pools, ditches and seepages. The larvae are aquatic in very shallow water or semiaquatic in water films (Stubbs & Drake 2001).

N. zichyi Kertész in Horváth, 1901 is the only Nemotelus species described from Siberia. It is only known by the female sex. The female differs from the female of N. infortunatus by the yellow postpronotum, broadly triangular subnotopleural stripe and narrowly lanceolate antennae. It is also larger than N. infortunatus with a reported body length of 6.5 mm (Lindner 1937).