Bradysia urticae Mohrig & Menzel 1992

Bradysia urticae Mohrig & Menzel, 1992 (figs 15–19)

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d. Ukraine, Ternopil Region: Mykulyntsi, 49.40126° N, 25.60140° E, ca. 300 m a. s. l., vegetable garden with potato and anion on the yard of detached house, Malaise trap, 19– 21.06.2016, 1 Ơ (A. Babytskiy) (No. 114, UkrBIN-795827).

Distribution: Palaearctic: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia (Central Altai, Taymyr Peninsula), Spain (mainland), Sweden, Ukraine (first record), United Kingdom. Nearctic: Canada (British Columbia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec), USA (Virginia) (Mohrig & Menzel, 1992; Komarov, 2011; Heller & Menzel, 2017; GBIF, 2022 d; this study).

Diagnosis. Male adults reach 1.8 mm in length. Head. Eye bridge consisting of 2–3 rows of ommatidia (facets). The head of the Mykulyntsi specimen seen in frontal view and clearly has 2 rows of facets visible. Face with dense pale setae. Clypeus in the studied specimen with only 1 pale seta. Maxillary palpus 3-segmented (fig. 18). Basal palpal segment with deep sensory pit and 2–3 setae, one longer than others. Middle palpal segment short ovate, with ca. 5 long setae. Terminal palpal segment a little longer than the 2nd segment. Flagellomeres dark brown with well-separated necks and bristly setae (as long as segment width). The 4th flagellomere is 2.8 times as long as wide, length/width of 4th flagellomere of the Mykulyntsi specimen (fig. 19) is 2.73, with a basal node index of 2.31–2.39. Thorax brown. Mesonotum with black and strong central and lateral setae. Scutellum with 2 very long and strong and several shorter and thinner setae. Wing quite narrow, 1.5 mm long and 0.6 mm wide, width/length of wing = 0.40–0.42. Membrane brownish, without macrotrichia. Anal lobe slightly developed. M-fork clearly diverging; stM indistinct, in the the Mykulyntsi specimen, stM/M-fork = 0.91–0.98; R 1 very short, falls into C well before the base of M-fork; R 1 /R = 0.55–0.58; y shorter than x, both without macrotrichia, x/y = 1.49–1.56; stCuA relatively long and well recognizable, stCuA/x = 0.92–0.96; c = 0.66 w, c/w of = 0.60–0.63. Halter pale brown to yellow, with ca. 5 short black setae. Legs a little paler than thorax. Tibia, metatarsus and tarsus of foreleg concolor; in mid- and hindlegs tarsi and distal half of metatarsi a little darker than tibiae. Tibial organ of p 1 (fig. 17) with distinctly recognized comb-like row of 4 bristles. Length of spur/width of tibia: p 1 = 1.22– 1.27, p 2 = 1.45–1.64, p 3 = 1.48–1.49. Length of metatarsus/length of tibia: p 1 = 0.52–0.53, p 2 = 0.47–0.49, p 3 = 0.47. Abdomen dark brown, almost concolor with thorax. Hypopygium (fig. 15). Intergonocoxal area without differentiation. Gonocoxite a little paler than thorax, well developed, longer than gonostylus. Gonostylus attenuated, with elongated and rounded tip (fig. 16). The 3–4 subapical spines long and unequal to each other, with shorter claw-like apical tooth on the ventral side (apical tooth indistinct, in some specimens very hard to detect). Tegmen trapezoid with truncate apex (Mohrig & Menzel, 1992).

Bradysia urticae belongs to the large B. tilicola group containing 34 Palaearctic species, one of which is known only from a female. These species differ from the other Bradysia in trapezoid, membranous or weakly sclerotized tegmen with flattened apex and small, roundish, dark sensory area of basal palpal segment, located in a distinctly deep pit (Menzel & Mohrig, 2000; Menzel & Heller, 2005; Mohrig et al., 2013). Bradysia urticae is very similar to B. trivittata (Staeger, 1840), but differs, as a rule, by the darker colour of the body (darker forms of B. trivittata occur rarely) and shorter terminal palpal segments (3rd palpal segment of B. trivittata is clearly longer than the 1st and 2nd segment) (Mohrig & Menzel, 1992; Menzel & Mohrig, 2000).